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🌱 Excitement Explosion 🌱
Hello Sproutly Families,
Excitement is such a joyful emotion! It means kids are alive, engaged, and looking forward to something. But here’s the truth: excitement can be just as overwhelming as sadness, anger, or fear.
When excitement bubbles over, it can sound loud, look wild, and feel chaotic. Kids might interrupt, shout, run, or have trouble settling down. This isn’t misbehavior, it’s a nervous system flooded with energy.
As a family therapist, I often tell parents: excitement is the fun cousin of anxiety. Both involve big energy in the body. The goal isn’t to calm excitement away, it’s to channel it into connection, creativity, and confidence.
In this newsletter, you will get....
Parenting Tips
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels
Helping Kids Handle Big Excitement
Name It Out Loud
Say what you see. Labeling excitement helps kids recognize it in their body instead of feeling out of control.Match, Then Guide
Start by matching their energy (“You are so pumped right now!”) before gently slowing things down (“Let’s do a few jumps, then take a deep breath together.”). Kids regulate better when they feel understood first.Create Rituals for Big Moments
Before exciting events set a routine.
“When we get excited, we do 3 big breaths and a happy dance before we go!”
Predictability helps the brain stay balanced.Help the Body Release Energy
Encourage movement before calm activities: jumping jacks, dancing, or a walk outside. Physical release keeps excitement from turning into chaos.Reflect Afterward
Once calm, talk about it: “What did your body feel like when you were that excited? What helped it settle down?” Reflection builds emotional awareness.
Activity of the Week
Photo by Nicole Michalou on Pexels
The “Excitement Channel” Game
You’ll Need:
A paper or cardboard “remote” with buttons labeled: Jump, Breathe, Wiggle, Smile, Pause.
How to Play:
When your child feels really excited, say: “Let’s use our excitement remote!”
Take turns pressing a button and acting it out: jump for 10 seconds, take 3 breaths, smile big, wiggle, then pause.
End with a “quiet high five” or a slow-motion hug.
Why it works: It gives kids a playful way to move through their energy instead of being scolded for it.
Now Available: Daisy Core Emotion Kit
Emotion Intensity Jars
Help kids see that feelings come in all sizes. The Emotion Intensity Jars turn abstract emotions into something visual and tangible. Each jar represents one feeling—like happiness, anger, or fear—and children fill it to show how strong that emotion feels: just a little, halfway, or full.
Through daily or weekly check-ins, kids learn that emotions can grow, shrink, and change over time and that’s perfectly normal. This activity helps children recognize the intensity of their feelings, build language to describe them, express emotions in healthy ways, and strengthen empathy, self-awareness, and emotional regulation.
Here is a link to our website with more information and all our products that are available. https://www.sproutlykids.com/
Excitement is one of the most wonderful parts of being a child, and one of the hardest to manage. When we help kids learn what excitement feels like in their body and how to move through it safely, we teach them confidence, self-awareness, and joy.
Instead of asking kids to “calm down,” we can teach them to “tune in.” That’s where emotional growth begins.
Warm regards,
Millie & Melissa
The Sproutly Team
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