News Photo by Julie Riddle A computer screen displays a poster offered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and available to schools to help kids reduce stress.

ALPENA — Schools can order stickers, posters, magnets, and other free resources designed to help children combat stress in the classroom.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Stay Well program announced this week that it wants to give schools resources to create and maintain a calm learning environment.

The program will give schools “Create your calm”-themed materials that demonstrate simple breathing and emotional grounding exercises students can use when feeling overwhelmed, anxious, tense, or distracted.

The Stay Well website also offers webinars offering strategies for addressing behavioral and mental health issues among students.

The Stay Well program was created to help Michiganders through the mental health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many other emotional health resources — including videos aimed at stressed teachers, tip sheets for offering emotional support to kids, and a webinar for teens who want to know how to help their struggling friends — can be found at Michigan.gov/StayWell.

Calming breathing exercise

* Breathe in for four counts.

* Pause for four counts.

* Breathe out for four counts.

* Pause for four counts.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Some tips for helping a stressed child

* Notice the child’s feelings out loud.

* Allow the child to talk about things that may be causing stress.

* Resist the urge to fix every problem.

* Help the child get adequate rest, food, and exercise.

* Monitor the child’s exposure to news about trauma.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services