ANTs Automatic Negative Thoughts Activity
Conquering Automatic Negative Thoughts with Fun and Memorable Characters
Does your child think or talk negatively about situations, themselves or others frequently?
Introducing the innovative resource designed to help children identify and overcome Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs). Our engaging and memorable ANT characters make learning about cognitive distortions fun and accessible for kids. This resource can empower children with the tools to challenge negative thinking patterns, promoting emotional resilience and positive mental health.
Step-by-Step Activity Guide:
Step 1: Stop the ANTs
- Action: Introduce the concept of ANTs to your child. Explain that these are negative thoughts that can get into your brain automatically and make them feel upset or worried. Our ANTS all have a name to make this fun and memorable for your child. Show them each one and ask if they’ve ever had a Negative Nelly in their brain!
- Thought-Stopping Technique: Teach your child to recognize when an ANT appears and use a simple thought-stopping technique, such as saying "Stop!" out loud, clapping their hands, or visualizing a stop sign. This helps interrupt the negative thought.
Step 2: Reflect on the Situation
- Action: Encourage your child to take a moment to think about what just happened that caused the ANT to appear. Ask them to describe the situation briefly.
- Discussion: Use prompts like "What were you doing when you started feeling upset?" or "What happened just before you had this thought?" This reflection helps identify the trigger for the ANT.
Step 3: Identify the ANT
- Action: Show your child the ANT characters and their descriptions. Each character represents a different type of negative thought (e.g., Shrinking Shannon, Blaming Borris, All-or-Nothing Orla).
- Choosing the ANT: Help your child pick the character that best matches their negative thought. This step personalizes the process and makes it more engaging. It personalises the thought and allows your child the language to name what thought they're having instead of leading to self blame or shame.
Step 4: Investigate the Truths
- Action: Teach your child to question the negative thought by asking themselves if there is any real evidence to support it. Encourage them to think critically about the situation.
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Questions to Ask:
- "Is this thought really true?"
- "What evidence do I have that this thought is accurate?"
- "Have I felt this way before, and what happened then?"
- Discussion: Guide your child in evaluating their answers and considering alternative perspectives. This helps them see that not all negative thoughts are based on facts.
Step 5: Flip the Thought
- Action: Once the negative thought has been questioned, help your child come up with a more balanced or positive thought to replace it. This is known as flipping the thought.
- Positive Reframe: Encourage your child to think of something positive or realistic about the situation. If they're struggling, offer suggestions or ask them what they would tell a friend in the same situation.
- Ask for Help: Remind your child that it's okay to ask for help if they're finding it hard to flip the thought on their own. They can talk to you, a teacher, or another trusted adult for support.
Example Activity:
- Stop the ANTs: Your child says, "I can't do this math problem. I'm going to fail."
- Reflect on the Situation: Ask what happened. "I got stuck on a math problem during homework time."
- Identify the ANT: Together, choose Catastrophizing Carl because your child is imagining the worst-case scenario.
- Investigate the Truths: Discuss if there's real evidence they'll fail because of one problem. They might realize they usually do well in math.
- Flip the Thought: Help your child reframe it to, "This problem is hard, but I can try my best or ask for help."
Key Benefits:
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Promotes Self-Awareness:
- This resource helps children recognize when they are experiencing ANTs. By becoming aware of these negative thoughts, kids can start to understand their impact on emotions and behavior.
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Enhances Emotional Regulation:
- By identifying and challenging ANTs, children learn to regulate their emotions more effectively. This leads to improved emotional stability and reduced anxiety.
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Builds Positive Thinking Skills:
- This visual encourages kids to replace negative thoughts with positive, realistic ones. This shift in thinking promotes a more optimistic and constructive outlook on life.
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Develops Critical Thinking:
- The resource teaches children to question and evaluate their thoughts critically. This skill is essential for problem-solving and making informed decisions.
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Encourages Mindfulness:
- By focusing on their thoughts and feelings, children practice mindfulness. This helps them stay present and reduces the tendency to dwell on negative thoughts.
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Supports Communication:
- Provides a common language for children and adults to discuss negative thoughts. This shared understanding fosters open communication and allows for targeted support.
This resource includes one A4 metal board that can be used as a whiteboard over and over again. It also comes with 15 metal square tokens with the ANT characters velcroed on the opposite side.
As a bonus, there's a guide included with step-by-step instructions for parents, teachers, and therapists to facilitate discussions and activities.
Product details
Materials and Sizing
Postage info
As a self-employed mum, I’ve created a system that keeps home life balanced while setting clear expectations for my lovely customers:
🖌️ Monday – I design all outstanding orders.
🛠️ Tuesday – Everything is prepped, made, and finished.
📦 Wednesday – Orders are packed and dropped off for shipping.
This routine runs like clockwork 99% of the time!
If you place an order on a Thursday, it will be designed the following Monday, made Tuesday, and shipped Wednesday.
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Let customers speak for us
Absolutely brilliant resource for anyone with a child struggling with their emotions. Lovely pictures and helps simplify things for them if they are struggling to find their words. A friend has already asked for the shop name so they can buy one
My kids have been drawn to the vibrant colours and easy to understand visual symbols. Really like that it is metal rather than flimsy plastic. thank you!
These are great resource and beautifully made. I especially like that the tiles could be made our own.
I absolutely love this, a gift from a friend. I then gifted her one and a colleague bought herself one. I work as a teaching assistant and so have two kids so I use it to remind me of self care and how to help them!!! Lovely company! I would love to buy a journal from you !!
Lovely, useful and cute. Will be using it daily.
As a mother of 4 kids, I think I need it!
Delivered in a beautiful packaging and within a week. I am 100% happy.😊
I purchased this and some other items for my son a few months ago, he absolutely loves them! I just purchased two more personalised name matching mats for friends children as birthday presents. They will love them - thanks 🙏🏻
This visual timetable is perfect for my daughter who struggles with organisation. We’ve only been using it for a few days and I can already see improvements in her anxiety about getting out of the door with everything she needs for school. Such a great resource. Thank you
I bought the key ring for my 12 year old daughter, the quality is amazing and the leaflet to explain how to use it is so thorough.
She hasn’t use it much yet, but she’s keeping it close by ready for when she’s feeling overwhelmed or anxious.
Great toolkit for teens and pre-teens.
I’m over the moon with this beautifully crafted tool to help my toddler learn how to spell and write his name. He already loves playing with it and using it to help him. Thank you so much!
I purchased these along side a negative emotions keyring set and had a custom design created also.
The order arrived very quickly, and they are amazing. Such a lovely size and easy for my children to use, they have already started.
Couldn't be happier for the customer service and the products.
Thank you!
Having our now, next, then board has transformed our lives from a constant battle of wills and tantrums from our 3 year old, to a calm and collaborative environment. She loves to look at the tokens and help to make decisions about what she wants to do. We've spent a lot more time on things that are important to her, like sticker books, baking and painting. We've also managed to get her outside more by offering her the tokens playground, park and farm and letting her choose. She's also understanding that some things are more inevitable, like doctors appointments and nursery.
The tokens communicate so clearly that she has no problem identifying what the activities are. They are beautifully crafted on aluminium, and the only issue we have is that she would love to play with them!
Kim is friendly and professional. She was more than willing to help me confirm my order and adjust it when I'd made mistakes. I am already planning to add more tokens to our collection. Couldn't recommend her more to any parents of headstrong pre school children.
I'm a repeat customer of Craftly, and Kim remains my favourite small business of all time.
Her product quality is amazing, her customisations are wonderful, her communication is excellent.
I will use her again and again.
Such a great idea to help children manage their big feelings! We've been using this over the weekend and can already see the difference in how quickly my daughter is able to calm down.
I'm a repeat customer with Craftly because I think their products are fantastic and created with genuine love. This lanyard with the 'now and next' mini timetable is a perfect gift for my non-verbal nephew. Most recommended!
I let my Son (9) open the planner when it arrived and he was so pleased with it. It's given him the ability to be a little more independent and take on that responsibility of managing his routines without getting overwhelmed or frustrated. He sets all his tokens up ready for the next day himself. We've been using it for almost a couple of weeks now and it's made such a difference! Instead of me having to keep track of everything he has to do I just have to say, have you checked / completed your planner! He loves it as I'm not "nagging" (his words!) him and I love it as it's released some of my own mental load. I also love the magnetic tokens as he is neurodivergent I don't think he would have coped with the velcro (noise/sensation). I had considered a routine board before but dismissed them because of the velcro. I love that we can also write things if needed and Kim suggested a separate board for spare tokens which was a great call to keep the board clear and not overwhelming. His younger sister (age 3) now also wants one! I think it will be a great gift for her for when she starts school in September with a new unfamiliar routine to manage. Great versatile lovely product, but for a child with ADHD it's made a huge impact - thanks so much!
Why buy from us?
Hi, I’m Kim, a mum, maker, and big believer in the power of mindfulness for both kids and grown-ups. I started Craftly because, like so many parents, I was feeling overwhelmed and unsure how best to support my child’s big feelings.
Over the past 12 years, I’ve been designing routine, emotions and learning resources alongside my lovely mum - a Teaching and Emotional Literacy Support Assistant with over 24 years of experience. Together, we listen closely to what families and children actually need, and we create tools that are simple, visual, and made with purpose.
