Use it during a CBT session, pastoral check-in, home conversation, or school-based anxiety support to help a child plan a small brave challenge, predict what might happen, and review the outcome afterwards.
In everyday CBT practice, helping children test a worry often works best when the prediction is written down before the challenge and reviewed afterwards. Designed as a child-friendly behavioural experiment worksheet, the page guides kids through a simple “brave challenge” process so they can compare anxious thoughts with what actually happened.
The printable sheet includes clear sections for “My Worry”, “My Brave Challenge”, “What Should I Look Out For?”, “What Actually Happened?” and “What Did I Learn?”. Children are prompted to name the feared outcome, rate how worried they feel from 0 to 10, describe what they will do to test the worry, notice facts during the task, and then re-rate their worry after reflecting on the experience.
The format is well suited to older primary school children, younger secondary pupils, and kids who benefit from visual, structured anxiety tools. It may be useful for CBT therapists, counsellors, school mental health leads, parents, carers, teachers, ELSAs, and pastoral staff supporting children with avoidance, social anxiety, separation worries, performance fears, or worries about embarrassment.
A reminder panel reinforces helpful CBT ideas in child-friendly language, such as feeling brave rather than fearless, giving the challenge a proper chance, looking for facts rather than guesses, and learning something useful even if the worry comes true. The playful cartoon style and example from “Professor Pickles” make the behavioural experiment feel less clinical and more approachable for children who may be nervous about exposure practice.
Best used after choosing a realistic, safe, manageable challenge, the worksheet can support preparation before an activity and reflection afterwards. It was created by Edita Stiborova.
