This cooperative learning game is designed to help kids and adults visualize ways our stress response systems work. Action Cards are drawn that either add or take away stress to or from our Stress Cup. Players are able to watch as stressors fill their Stress Cups up and regulators help bring the levels down. But what happens if the water levels get too high and things become Stress"FULL"?! Watch Out! It's a STRESS OVERFLOW!
Watch the video to learn more about the game and see clips of it being used in real world situations!
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Learning to regulate stress and settle our nervous systems is an important life skill for all of us. Having people who help us with our stress through coregulation is a necessary part of kids learning to self-regulate. Kids can’t learn to navigate their own stress until they have a lot of repeated exepriences of other people helping navigate their stress for them or with them.
Maybe you’ve heard someone describe a person who just exploded and say, “That came out of no where,” or “It’s like they went from 0 to 90 in a split-second.” Here, you’ll see that often times people’s stress levels, or their “basal arousal levels”, start off a lot higher than we think. Then, the stressors we experience continue to add to that starting level.
Another thing you’ll see in this game is that stress comes in a lot of different forms and that even good stress adds to our “cups”. You’ll also see that different stressors pour different amounts of stress into our cups. While “big stress” certainly pours more into our cups at a time, as you play the game you’ll watch as small stress- even the stuff we go through every day and consider normal - adds up. And sometimes its the small stuff that finally makes our stress overflow!
Just like stress comes in different forms and adds to our cups in different ways, regulators also take different forms and take away stress from our cups in different ways. As you draw the regulator cards, watch and learn how the best way to keep our stress cups from overflowing is to build a life with healthy relational supports in it and to engage in regular activities that lower our stress levels throughout our days. Some of what’s on the regulator cards might surprise you!