Worry Monster Activity: Feed the Monster, Then Plan Worry Time

Make a friendly monster, then type or draw your worries and feed them to it. It keeps them safe until worry time: practice sorting them, then plan a short worry time each day.

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Feeding the monster means saving worries for worry time, not avoiding them forever: come back to them.

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Not for intrusive OCD-type thoughts without the clinician's framing. Worries about safety or being hurt go to a trusted adult right away.

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How to play

  1. Make your monster: pick its shape, color, eyes and a name.
  2. Tap a worry to feed it to the monster, or type or draw your own and drag it to the mouth. Munch! The monster keeps every worry safe until worry time.
  3. Practice worry time: take each worry out and ask, can I do something about it? If yes, it gets a small plan. If not, talk it over with a grown-up, then let it float away for today.
  4. Pick a short worry time each day, and get your worry card.

About the technique

Feed the Worry Monster combines two ideas. The first is worry postponement. Thomas Borkovec and colleagues asked chronic worriers to notice worries during the day and save them for a set daily worry period, and found that this stimulus control approach reduced the time spent worrying in adults (Borkovec et al., 1983). A later controlled study found that stimulus control training also reduced anxiety and insomnia symptoms (McGowan & Behar, 2013). The second is externalizing, from Michael White and David Epston’s narrative therapy, which separates the person from the problem so the problem can be faced together (White & Epston, 1990). Tamar Chansky’s work for parents turns worry into a character that children can talk back to (Chansky, 2004/2014).

For a child, feeding a worry to a monster makes postponement concrete: the worry is noted, set aside, and returned to later at a planned time. Giving the worry a separate form also helps children feel less defined by it and more able to talk about it. Worry postponement is a common part of cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety, supported by a few small controlled studies in adults; it has not yet been tested in children, and the monster character has not been tested on its own.

It suits children and groups. Make sure the worries are revisited at worry time; the aim is postponement, not avoiding worries forever. For intrusive thoughts of the kind seen in OCD, use it only within the clinician’s treatment plan, because repeatedly setting thoughts aside can work differently there. Worries about safety or being hurt are never for the monster: they go to a trusted adult right away.

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For therapists: how to run it

Goal

The child puts worries into words, separates them from themself, and learns that worries can wait for a set worry time.

In session

  1. Let the child build the monster first: choosing its look and name makes the worry something outside them that you can both talk about.
  2. Ask: what does the worry say to you? The child types it or draws it. For younger children you can type what they say, in their words.
  3. Feed every worry: all of them wait for worry time (a worry about being hurt or unsafe goes to a grown-up now instead). Then practice one worry time together: for each saved worry ask, 'Can you do something about it?' Make one small plan for those (homework, a talk with a friend). For ones they can't change, comfort the child and talk it through, then let it float away until the next worry time.
  4. Plan worry time with the child and a parent: same time and place each day, 10 to 15 minutes, not right before bed. Copy or print the card.

As homework

  1. When a worry pops up during the day, feed it to the monster and tell it: I'll think about you at worry time.
  2. At worry time, take out the saved worries with a grown-up. Make a small plan for the ones you can do something about; talk the others over, then let them go until tomorrow.
  3. Tap Copy for my therapist on the result card, then paste it into your therapist's secure messages (client portal), or bring it to your next session. Nothing is saved, so copy or print before you close the page.

With a group

  1. Press Play together and share the link. Your screen shows the monster; each child feeds it from their own device.
  2. Worries stay on each child's device. The shared monster only shows that a worry was fed, never what it said.
  3. Each child then sorts their own worries and gets their own card. Invite, never require, children to say one worry out loud.
Mandated reporting

Exercises like this can lead to disclosures of abuse, neglect or risk. Know your reporting duties before you start, and pause if one comes up.

Good to know

The monster doesn't make worries vanish: it holds them until worry time, a short set time each day for looking at them. That is scheduled worry (stimulus control), plus the narrative idea of treating the worry as something outside the child. For a worry about being hurt or unsafe, tell a trusted grown-up straight away.

Worksheets that pair with this tool

Worry Coping Skills for Kids Worksheet

Worry Coping Skills for Kids Worksheet

Three illustrated pages with eight child-friendly strategies, from Bubble Breathing to a Worry Box.ChildrenAnxietyCoping skillsBehavioralCBTPsychoeducational+3Free PDF 3 pagesCycle Of Anxiety Worksheet

Cycle Of Anxiety Worksheet

Map the four-step loop from anxiety to avoidance, short-term relief and long-term anxiety growth.Adults and teensAnxietyCBTExposure and ERPPsychoeducational+2Free PDF 3 pagesDeep Breathing Worksheet

Deep Breathing Worksheet

One page with a paced inhale, hold and exhale cycle, plus guidance on when to practice it.Adults and teensChildrenAnxietyStress and burnoutCBTMindfulnessPsychoeducational+4Free PDF 1 page

Sources & credibility

Method
Worry postponement (scheduled worry time) and externalizing the worry
Developed by
Thomas Borkovec and colleagues, 1983 (worry stimulus control); Michael White and David Epston, 1990 (externalizing); Tamar Chansky, 2004 (worry as a character for children)
Approach
CBT for anxiety, narrative therapy
Evidence
Practice-based (limited trials)In Borkovec's study, postponing worry to a set daily period reduced time spent worrying (tested in adults; not yet in children), and worry postponement is a common part of CBT for anxiety. Turning the worry into a character is widely used in child anxiety work but has not been tested on its own.

References

  1. Borkovec T. D., Wilkinson L., Folensbee R. & Lerman C. (1983). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(3), 247–251. Source
  2. McGowan S. K. & Behar E. (2013). A preliminary investigation of stimulus control training for worry: effects on anxiety and insomnia. Behavior Modification, 37(1), 90–112. Source
  3. White M. & Epston D. (1990). Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends. W. W. Norton.
  4. Chansky T. E. (2014). Freeing Your Child from Anxiety (rev. ed.; 1st ed. 2004). Harmony Books.

How it was made

Built by the Mentalyc team from the original method and the published sources listed here. Nothing you enter is stored.

Questions people ask

What is worry time for kids?

Worry time is a short, set time each day, usually 10 to 15 minutes, when a child looks at their saved worries with a grown-up. When a worry pops up during the day, the child puts it aside for worry time instead of thinking about it all day. At worry time they sort them: a small plan for the ones they can act on, and comfort and letting go for the ones they can't.

How does a worry monster help a child?

Feeding worries to a friendly monster helps children put worries into words and see the worry as something separate from them. The monster holds the worries until worry time, when the child and a grown-up take them out again and make a small plan.

When should worry time be?

At the same time and place every day, early enough that it isn't right before bed. Many families pick after school or after dinner, at the kitchen table.

Should every worry wait for worry time?

Yes, everyday worries all wait, even big ones: saving them for one short time a day is what makes worry time work. The sorting happens at worry time: make a small plan for the worries you can do something about, and talk over and let go of the ones you can't. The one exception is a worry about being hurt or unsafe: tell a trusted adult straight away.

Is worry time a CBT technique?

Yes. Worry postponement, or scheduled worry time, comes from CBT for generalized anxiety: worries are noted and saved for a short daily slot instead of being chewed over all day. Studies in adults show it can reduce worry, and it is often adapted for children with a worry box or monster.

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Your game designer
Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson, MSc

Michael's background combines doctoral training in clinical psychology with research on motivation, learning, and emotional regulation.

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Table Of Contents
  1. About the technique
  2. For therapists: how to run it
  3. Worksheets that pair with this tool
  4. Sources & credibility
  5. Questions people ask
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Children should use this with a parent, therapist or teacher, not on their own.

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