TIME
• 30 min
COPING COOTIE CATCHER
A tool for self-care
OBJECTIVES
• Students will identify self-care/coping strategies they can use
• Students will make a “tool” to help them use strategies
MATERIALS
• Blank sheet of paper per student
• Coloring supplies
• Folding instructions
• Coping Strategies list (optional)
LESSON INTRO
This lesson gets students creating a “cootie catcher” as a tool for them to use when they’re feeling low.
Students will begin by identifying self-care or coping strategies that they like and writing those into the
cootie catcher for access later.
LESSON STEP BY STEP
1. Ask a Go-Around-Question: What has made you feel happy in the last few days?
2. Next, ask the group to brainstorm ways they like to calm down, relax, feel good, or take care of
themselves. Track the ideas on a whiteboard.
If students are having a hard time coming up with a list of coping strategies, you can pass out the
Coping Strategies Handout
for reference.
3. Using the class-generated list and/or the handout, ask students to write down eight favorite things they
do to feel peaceful, happy, and calm. They will need these later to put into their “cootie catcher”.
4. Transition to making the cootie catcher. There is likely a student in class who can help guide the class
to fold it, but if not, use the folding instructions here:
5. When students are on this step, they should open the Cootie Catcher to
write the 8 strategies on the
inner flaps (see orange arrows in the diagram to
the right).
6. On the eight outer sections (blue arrows), students can write eight different
words that make them feel great!
7. Finish folding. Once the cootie catcher is complete, end by having students
write four ideas or things that make them feel happy on the outer quadrants
(yellow arrows) such as breath, nature, connect, laugh.
VARIATIONS
You can choose to run this activity in real time: introducing strategies and showing students how to fold,
etc… OR give this as a homework assignment and invite students to a show and tell later on!
FACILITATOR TIPS AND NOTES
If a Cootie Catcher is new for you, check out one of these videos so that you get the idea:
How to Make a Cootie Catcher!
(1:41)
Make a Cootie Catcher (Origami Fortune Teller) wikiHow
REFLECTION & WRAP UP
1. Invite students to try out their new tool! Consider splitting into pairs for students to try and show off
their work.
2. When you meet up with students again, ask them when and how they’ve been using their Cootie Coping
tool!
NOTES
• Source: Teachers Pay Teachers
• Educational Standards: CASEL: Self-Management
