Stress Activity

Stress Activity
Items needed:

Balloons (non-helium quality)

Large trash bag

Kitchen trash bag

Marker
Prior to activity:

1. 
   Blow up about 20 -30 balloons.
   
2. 
   Use the large trash bag to transport the balloons to your program location.
   

Activity:

Define stress: our body’s response to change. It is an individual thing. A situation that one person finds stressful may not be stressful to another person.

Ask participants to stand up (or raise hands) if they have felt stressed at one time or another. Then ask them to share things that cause them stress (money, job, children, in-laws, bills, household chores, family, co-workers, etc.). Use the marker to write each stressor on a balloon. Toss the balloons on the floor as they are marked.
After the audience is finished sharing stressors, ask for a volunteer to see how many stressors/balloons they can handle. Hand the volunteers balloons, one at a time, until they start popping loose. Then ask for a second volunteer to come up to help keep more stressors off the floor.
Explain that we can’t do everything alone and often need to call on others to help manage our stress. Ask your volunteers if a trash bag would help them to manage more stressors. The trash bag is a tool to help manage the stress. The stressors still there, but instead of popping out all over the place they are controlled by the trash bag. The key is to learn how to manage your stress.
Ask participants to list their top 10 personal stressors and 10 ways they react when stressed (cannot sleep, headaches, eat, etc). Next have them list things they love to do. Then ask participants to think of ways to make time for the things they love to do.
Make a stress plan. Start with one of the items listed on your top 10 personal stressor list. Write down what you plan to do to prevent or deal with that stress. Will you need to involve others to carry out your plan? If so, how will you involve them? Then write down how you hope things will change. Try out your plan to see how well it works. Praise yourself for your success. Plan how to be successful in dealing with other stresses.
As you make room in your life for things you love and replace stressful feelings with feelings of peace and calmness, you will find your personal and family life more satisfying. You are likely to find that you are more successful in your work, more effective with your children, and more at peace with yourself.
Adapted from The Principles of Parenting for UGA Cooperative Extension by Christa Campbell, Elbert County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent.