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May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, an essential period dedicated to emphasizing the significance of mental health in our everyday lives. This month presents an excellent opportunity for educators to integrate mental health, social-emotional awareness, and emotional regulation resources and activities into their curriculum, setting students up for a healthier summer break.
Engage with students of all ages through research-based, low-preparation activities tailored for Mental Health Awareness Month. Additionally, this guide offers insights and suggestions from TPT Teacher-Authors on how to seamlessly incorporate mental health activities into daily teaching practices, whether you’re a school counselor, special education teacher, or general educator.
Teach Healthy Habits and Self-Care Practices
To bring Mental Health Awareness Month into your classroom, start by teaching students how to care for their well-being. While basic healthy habits include washing hands, eating a nutritious breakfast, and getting enough sleep, it’s equally important to incorporate emotional self-care practices.
- Display positive affirmations on the classroom wall to encourage students to speak kindly to themselves.
- Create a list of calming activities for students to use when feeling anxious or self-critical.
- Encourage students to write themselves encouraging notes or letters for difficult times throughout the year.
Teacher Tip
Every time a student navigates a lab challenge, collaborates with peers, or revises their thinking, you’re already engaging them in mental health education. The key difference lies in acknowledging it. Highlight it. Discuss it. Normalize it. This approach leaves a lasting impact on students.
-Kristin from Teaching Muse
Self-Care Handouts To Promote Mental Health And Wellness For Teachers, Kids, Etc
By Counselor Chelsey
Grade: Any
Subjects: Classroom Community, School Counseling, Social Emotional Learning
Support your school’s students, staff, and families with activities focused on self-care and fostering healthy routines during Mental Health Month. These resources are ideal to have readily available or to distribute to promote wellness.
2026 Goal Setting & Well-Being Journal for Students | SEL & Mental Health
By Teachers Resource Force
Grades 6th-12th
Subjects: Character Education, School Counseling, Social Emotional Learning
Utilize this well-being journal personally or with students to help them reflect, set objectives, and monitor progress towards developing positive habits. This resource includes SEL activities for middle school students to deeply consider their emotional health and establish measurable goals.
Anxiety and Test Prep Brochures for Teens
By The Counseling Teacher Brandy
Grades: 8th-12th
Subjects: School Counseling, School Psychology
These brochures offer students strategies to relax when stressed or before a test. They provide tips on test-taking, preparation, and stress-relief techniques applicable throughout the academic year.
Have Daily SEL Check-Ins with Your Students
Mental health is integral to daily life; therefore, SEL check-ins should be routine. Integrate Mental Health Awareness Month activities into your May curriculum or begin early in the school year to embed social-emotional learning (SEL) into your classroom culture.
- Begin class with a “Roses and Thorns” session where students can share their day’s highlights and challenges.
- Use stickers with various colors or faces on desks to signal when students are having a tough day.
- Encourage students to maintain an emotions journal to document stress levels, daily events, struggles, and progress in key life areas.
Over time, journaling becomes a safe outlet for students to process their feelings and build self-awareness in a calm, low-pressure way. I also make it very clear that this is just for THEM. I will never force students to share what they complete (although they are always welcome to).
Daily Social Emotional Learning Journal Prompts for Coping Skill Development
By Root and Sprout Learning
Grades: 3rd-8th
Subjects: Character Education, School Counseling
This SEL bell ringer (or morning journal) resource enhances student self-regulation and coping skills through 30 engaging journal prompts. By integrating ELA reading and writing with SEL and mental health curriculum, students will deepen their understanding of resilience and strengthen their coping strategies.
Worry Workbook: Worry Activities & Journal for Anxiety Management
By Counselor Keri
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: School Counseling, School Psychology
Seeking an effective tool for managing worry in school counseling and classrooms? This printable worry workbook includes SEL activities for elementary students to explore what worry is, how it affects the brain, the physical sensation of worry, and effective strategies for coping both at school and home.
French Mental Health Check-In – Poster & Google Slides Template
By Parfaitement Parnell
Grades: K-10th
Subjects: Classroom Community, French
This French language template allows students to check in on their mental health daily. It pairs well with other Mental Health Awareness Month activities, enabling students to monitor their moods and emotions effortlessly every day.
Let Students Express Their Emotions Creatively
Creative assignments are some of the most impactful ideas for Mental Health Awareness Month.
Art can be a quiet way for students to process what they’re going through … and even small, consistent opportunities for creative expression can make a big difference.
Art, music, dance, and theater provide safe spaces for students of all ages to express themselves, regardless of what they’re feeling.
- Assign an “Emotional Art” project, allowing students to use any artistic medium to convey their current emotions.
- Have students create a playlist of songs that reflect their feelings, along with explanations for each song’s inclusion.
- Encourage groups to design Mental Health Awareness Month posters to display around campus, reminding peers to stay mindful of their mental health.
Teacher Tip
Children love talking about themselves! Acting out feelings and scenarios helps young students get involved with trying out calming strategies, instead of listening to a lecture about them.
-Michelle from Cozy in Kindergarten
Positive Affirmations: Coloring Journal & Affirmations – Health and Wellness
By Allie Szczecinski with Miss Behavior
Grade: Any
Subjects: Health, School Counseling, School Psychology
Enhance self-esteem in students with a coloring journal featuring positive mantras and affirmation cards. This resource includes 25 coloring pages with uplifting quotes, along with 25 half-page cards featuring watercolor backgrounds.
Mental Health Coloring Pages for Kids: 8 Exciting Designs for Fast Finishers
By Glitter Meets Glue – Art Projects and Crafts
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: Classroom Community, Coloring Pages, School Counseling
These mental health coloring pages serve as a hands-on activity for school counselors working with children and teachers needing social-emotional learning resources. They’re ideal for early finisher activities, brain breaks, or quiet time tasks.
School Counseling Bundle: Resilience, Optimism, Gratitude and Wellness
By WholeHearted School Counseling
Grade: 1st-8th
Subjects: Character Education, School Counseling
This Woodland Wellness Warriors bundle aims to cultivate hope, optimism, resilience, and strength-based practices among young people. It includes prompts for a JENGA game, a SCOOT lesson and game, a board game, and conversation starters.
Guide Students Through Emotional Regulation Techniques
Emotional regulation is a vital skill for students of all grades, whether teaching preschoolers to recognize emotions or introducing mindfulness to high schoolers. Assist learners in understanding how to break free from disruptive emotional patterns and experience their emotions healthily and calmly.
- Implement deep breathing exercises during stressful classroom moments, like testing days or when the class becomes rowdy.
- Explore calm-down corner ideas to create a safe emotional space within your classroom.
- Educate students on why their emotions trigger physical reactions, with age-appropriate explanations of the physiology of emotions and regulation.
Teaching about the brain and emotions has been a game-changer. Once kids understand how their brain processes information and that their feelings all have jobs, they are better able to understand how to regulate their emotions and control the situation instead of having their big emotions control what happens next.
Mindfulness Activities Guided Meditation – Calming Strategies & Self Regulation
By Bright Futures Counseling
Grades: 1st-6th
Subjects: School Counseling
Looking for a way to help your students practice mindfulness? Each of these guided meditations has a theme to help your students become calmer and more focused, and they are great to use with small groups, individuals, or the entire class.
Emotional Intelligence & Self-Regulation Activities for SEL – Understand Emotion
By Mikey D Teach – SELebration Learning
Grades: 3rd-6th
Subjects: Classroom Community, Social Emotional Learning
Help your students learn about and understand their emotions, how to self-regulate, and more! This resource gives you the opportunity to talk about emotions with your kids. They will identify emotions within themselves, identify emotions within others, learn how to deal with their emotions, and make plans to self-regulate.
Social Skills Lessons for Managing Emotions – Feelings, Coping Strategies & SEL
By Pathway 2 Success
Grades: 5th-10th
Subjects: School Counseling, Social Emotional Learning
Use these lessons to teach older kids how to manage their emotions, including understanding emotions, using self-control, dealing with anger, dealing with disappointments, how actions impact others, and more. This resource includes 10 core lessons, each with several activities for extended practice.
Build Kindness into Your Classroom Culture
Mental Health Awareness Month activities provide great value to your students, but employing them throughout the year can be equally beneficial to you! Educators who cultivate a low-stress, kindness-centered classroom environment can better focus on their own mental health, helping to prevent burnout in future school years.
- Establish a student compliment system where peers can write kind notes about one another.
- Greet each student with a kind word as they enter the classroom.
- Incorporate brain breaks for high school students to foster friendships and camaraderie among their peers.
Teacher Tip
Have an approach that is calm, empathetic, and patient. Teachers are a student’s anchor in a sea of overwhelm. Make sure you (the teacher) can add perspective and value to distressed students.
-Patty Ann from Patty Ann’s Pet Project
Stress Management Bulletin Board | Rainbow Theme
By College Counselor Studio
Grades: 4th-7th
Subjects: Health, School Counseling
Managing stress can be difficult. Use this bulletin board to provide students with healthy stress management tips and skills throughout finals, testing season, or the new year! Tips cover anxiety reduction, anger management, and counselor support.
Mental Health Awareness Month Reading Comprehension Passages Activities SEL
By Student Savvy
Grades: 5th-9th
Subjects: Close Reading, Health, Reading Strategies
These reading passages delve into various mental health awareness topics, offering a great way to integrate social-emotional learning into reading comprehension lessons. Use the passages for reading assessments or encourage students to reflect on each one in regular assignments.
Help Students Monitor and Improve Their Mental Health with TPT
This May, incorporate a range of Mental Health Awareness Month activities to support students dealing with anxiety, stress, and the everyday challenges of emotional wellness and regulation. With a curated set of high-quality, low-prep resources for Mental Health Awareness Month, you’ll equip students with the necessary tools to identify and manage their emotions, making a tangible difference in their lives.
