Free therapy activities
39 interactive therapy activities for therapists, parents & teens
Evidence-based, clinician-designed. CBT, DBT, play therapy, somatic, narrative. Save as PNG, email a copy, or embed on your blog — no signup required.
Circles of Control
Sort worries into what you can control, influence, or let go. The #1 anxiety management activity made interactive.
Body Map Check-in
Place colored dots on a body silhouette to show where feelings live physically. No words required.
Thought Trap Detector
Kids identify sneaky thought patterns using fun names like "Disaster Brain" and "Fortune Teller Brain."
Virtual Sand Tray
A digital sand tray: place miniature figures in a scene to express what words can't. One of the most projective tools in play therapy.
Worry Box
Write worries down, lock them in a box, and open it with your therapist. Externalizes anxiety into something containable.
Fair Fighting Rules
Eight ground rules for fights that don't end the relationship. Tap a rule to see why it matters; check the ones you both agree to.
Distress Tolerance Menu
A menu of DBT skills for surviving distress without making it worse — ACCEPTS, IMPROVE, and Self-Soothe. Pick the ones that fit you.
Urge Surfing
An urge is a wave — it builds, crests, and falls. A 3-minute timer with a rising-and-falling wave to ride it out without acting on it.
TIPP Skills
Four fast physiological resets for crisis-level emotion: cold temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, paired muscle relaxation. Each runs on a timer.
Thought Record
Classic 7-column CBT thought record with before/after intensity ratings. Walks a thought through evidence on both sides.
Wise Mind
DBT framework: reasonable mind + emotion mind = wise mind. Map yours and find the part that already knows what to do.
CBT Triangle
Thoughts shape feelings. Feelings shape behavior. Behavior loops back. Map yours and see how moving one moves the others.
Anger Iceberg
Above the water: the anger people see. Below: the feelings underneath. A naming activity for sessions and homework.
Anger Thermometer
1–10 anger intensity scale with level-specific tools. The hotter it is, the bigger the tool — what works at a 3 will not work at an 8.
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding
Five things you see, four you feel, three you hear, two you smell, one you taste. A staircase out of a panic moment.
Window of Tolerance
Map your hyperarousal, regulated, and hypoarousal zones — and the cues that tell you which one you're in.
Core Beliefs Excavator
Use the downward arrow technique to excavate the core belief sitting under a surface thought.
DEAR MAN Script Builder
Linehan's DEAR MAN — Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce, Mindful, Appear confident, Negotiate. Build a script for a hard ask.
"I" Statement Translator
Turn "you always…" into "I feel ___ when ___" — a four-part script for hard conversations.
Passive · Aggressive · Assertive
Compare three communication modes side by side. Pick a moment, see how each would sound, and rewrite it assertively.
Boundary Cards
Six kinds of boundaries with example phrases for each. Keep the ones that fit you.
Body Mapping
Color-code where activation, calm, numbness, and pain show up in your body. The map is the conversation starter.
Feelings Chart
A grid of feeling faces with words. Pick the one that matches how you're feeling right now.
Behavioral Activation
Pick an activity, predict how it will feel, do it, then rate how it actually felt. Build the case against depression's prediction.
Self-Esteem Builder
Pick the strengths that feel true about you. Then write one sentence about each — in your own words.
Self-Care Wheel
Rate six areas of self-care. Spot the wobble. Pick one tiny next step in the area that needs it most.
Grief Map
Write a letter to your grief. Track how much of the day was loss-oriented vs. life-oriented. Both belong here.
Calm-Down Jar
Shake the jar. Watch the glitter swirl, then slowly settle. Your thoughts do the same thing.
ABC Chain
Map a moment as a chain: what happened (A), what you did (B), what came next (C). Find the leverage point.
Family Map
Map three generations of your family with relationship markers. The patterns show up before the words do.
Polyvagal Ladder
Three nervous-system states — safe-and-social, fight-or-flight, shutdown. Where are you on the ladder?
Parts Map
Map the parts of you that show up in a hard moment — protectors, exiled feelings, and the Self that holds them.
SMART Goals
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Build a goal that has a real chance of happening.
Feelings Thermometer
An interactive thermometer for rating distress intensity. Simple, visual, and intuitive.
Coping Skills Toolbox
Build a personalized toolbox of coping skills, rated by how much they help. Kids own their toolkit.
Thought Detective
Walk through evidence for and against a worry thought. Cognitive restructuring as a detective game.
Gratitude Garden
Grow a garden by naming things you are grateful for. Each gratitude plants a flower.
Values Explorer
Pick values that feel true, rank what matters, reflect on life alignment. ACT-based values clarification.
The Algorithm
Your brain has an algorithm. Name the loop, see the pattern, write the update. CBT in teen-native language.
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Request a DemoFree therapy activities, worksheets & tools — for therapists, parents, and teens
Emora's 39 interactive therapy activities are evidence-based, clinician-designed, and free to use. Each is grounded in a published therapeutic framework — cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), play therapy, somatic therapy, and narrative therapy — and rebuilt as an interactive tool you can run in-session, assign between sessions, or keep on hand for moments at home.
Every activity supports Save as PNG, Email a copy, and an embed snippet for clinician blogs and resource pages. No signup. No paywall. No tracking of your activity contents.
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For clinicians
Use any activity in a session, assign it as homework via the email link, or paste the embed iframe into your own site. The activities preserve drawings, drag-and-drop placement, typed answers, and ratings, so the exported PNG is the client's actual work — not a screenshot of a worksheet template. Each page links to peer-reviewed sources and a brief clinician note behind the "For clinicians" disclosure on the activity page.
For parents & families
Activities work just as well at home. They're designed to be used alongside a therapist when one's available; they're also a respectful, age-appropriate way to talk about hard things together. Email yourself a copy of what you've made and bring it to the next session — many clinicians appreciate seeing what came up between visits.
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