Calming Strategies For Students

Breathing Techniques:

• • Belly Breathing

    • Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Take a deep breath! Notice your belly rise. Breathe out. Notice your belly fall. (Practice a few times)
      
      

  • Star Breathing:

    • (Link to Photo Attached) Breathe in as you trace up the star. Hold your breath at the tip. Breathe out as you trace down. Go slowly! Star Breathing Photo
      
      

  • Five Finger Breathing:

    • Stretch out one hand so that you have space between your fingers.

    • Hold up your pointer finger from your other hand.

    • Start at the bottom of the thumb - use your pointer finger to trace up your thumb as you slowly breathe in through your mouth. When you get to the top of your thumb, hold you breath. Slowly breathe out of your nose as you trace down your thumb. Repeat for all fingers until you traced your whole hand! 

    • 5 Finger Breathing (Picture)
      Kids Meditation - Finger Breathing Video
      
      

  • Lazy 8 Breathing:

    • Follow the picture - Lazy 8

    • Place your finger where it says "Enter" and slowly follow the arrows while breathing in.

    • When you cross over to the other side, slowly breathe out.

    • Keep going until you feel calm. 

Grounding Techniques:

5-4-3-2-1 Senses 

• Name 5 Things You Can See

• Name 4 Things You Can Hear

• Name 3 Things You Can Smell

• Name 2 Things You Can Touch

• Name 1 Thing You Can Taste

A-B-C Around the Room

• Have your child look around the room and name something they see starts with A, then B, then C, and so on.

• See how far they get through the alphabet. 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

• Help your child release some tension from their body by tensing their muscles and then releasing them.

• Hands and Arms: Pretend you are squeezing a hard lemon in your left hand (squeeze it as hard as you can). Try to squeeze all the juice out of the lemon! Feel the tightness in your hand as you squeeze. Release the lemon and relax. Notice how much better your hand feels once it is relaxed. Now, try this with your right hand!

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation Video

"I Am Here" Hand Trace

• Grab a paper and pencil/crayon.

• Have your child trace their hand on a piece of paper.

• Now your child will write the different things they can see around the room inside their traced hand. 

Other Coping Techniques:

♦ Drawing or Coloring

Mandalas for Children: Mandala Coloring for Children on Google Images

Crayola Coloring Pages: Free Crayola Coloring Pages

♦ Meditation

Stop, Breath & Think Meditation Video

♦ Puzzles

♦ Exercise 

♦ Listening to Music

♦ Reading a Book

♦ Journaling

♦ Looking at "Feel-Good" Pictures