Help children process upsetting or confusing events with this gentle, trauma-informed social story designed to support emotional safety, coping skills, and reassurance during difficult times.
This SEL resource helps students understand that scary things can happen in the world while reminding them that adults work to keep children safe. Using calm, child-friendly language and supportive visuals, students learn coping strategies, emotional expression, and ways to seek support when feeling worried, overwhelmed, or anxious.
“When Scary Things Are Happening Around Us” is a gentle, reassuring social story designed to help children process fear, worry, and confusion when they hear about or experience scary events in the world around them. This resource provides clear, child-friendly language to normalize feelings, explain that adults are working to keep kids safe, and introduce healthy coping strategies.
This social story is ideal for use after:
- Scary or upsetting news events
- Community emergencies or incidents
- School safety drills or lockdown discussions
- Changes in routine that increase anxiety
- Heightened worry due to world events
⭐ What This Social Story Helps With:
- How to talk about worries safely
- Understanding big, scary events in an age-appropriate way
- Naming feelings like fear, worry, confusion, and sadness
- Reassurance around safety and trusted adults
- Learning simple and healthy coping strategies
- Encouraging communication and emotional expression
- Ways to ask trusted adults for help
- Calming and grounding strategies
📚 Perfect For:
✔ School counseling
✔ SEL lessons
✔ Classroom community support
✔ Autism & special education
✔ Crisis response support
✔ Anxiety and worry lessons
✔ Small groups or individual support
Best Suited for Use With:
- Elementary classrooms (Grades K–5)
- School psychologists, counselors, and social workers
- Special education and inclusion settings
- Individual check-ins or whole-group SEL lessons
- Home–school connection and parent support
🧠 Skills Addressed:
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
- Emotional regulation
- Coping skills
- Anxiety support
- Self-awareness and reassurance
This social story is written in a neutral, supportive tone and avoids graphic or alarming details, making it safe for a wide range of learners. It can be read aloud, revisited as needed, or used as part of a calm-down routine.
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What Teachers Are Saying:
"This was exactly what I needed to support my students after a recent event in our community. The language is so gentle and reassuring, making it perfect for even my most sensitive learners. It really helped normalize their big feelings without overwhelming them."
"I keep this social story on hand for whenever we have safety drills or difficult news days. It does a wonderful job of explaining that adults are here to keep kids safe while giving students concrete steps, like talking to a trusted adult, to manage their worry."
"A beautiful, supportive resource for uncertain times. I love that it avoids graphic details and focuses entirely on helping children feel safe and understood. The illustrations and simple text made it easy for my students to connect with."
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What You Will Receive:
1 high-quality colour PDF file
8.5"x11" in size
15 pages
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How to Use:
1. After uploading product, save file to your device
2. Print either at home, or via local print provider or online print service
3. Bind, laminate, or place in duotang to use with your students
4. Alternatively, display the lesson electronically/on-screen by opening the PDF and choosing full-screen/presentation mode.
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Personal Note:
Should you require a different file format or size, let us know and we can do this for you.
We love what we do and so would appreciate your feedback and review so we can continue to provide practical resources to our fellow educators. THANK YOU.
