Elementary Resources

Welcome! 

Welcome to the elementary page designed to provide social emotional learning opportunities.  Here you will find some information on ways to help support your kiddo with activities, lessons, stories and other fun tidbits.  We will continue to update as we find more acitivities. 

Youth and Adolescent Mental Health Resources In Ingham County

Click here to access a comprehensive list of local providers in our area. 

Videos

Why do we lose control of our Emotions?

Self Esteem

Resources & Activities 

Print out activities to help with mental health

Conflict Resolution Coloring book- Siblings getting on each other's nerves, well print each a copy to help them learn about problems and ways to resolve them peacefully.

Calm down Turtle Breathing - there are many big emotions happening right now for all, work as a team with your student to help calm those feelings through turtle breathing.  This is great for Discovery students 

Coping Skills - Here are some great ways to help Explorer students practice ways to work through some strong emotions.

Breathing Visuals - Parents we know you are feeling emotions too, here are some great things to use for yourself and your kids to help calm those feelings.

Social Skills at home

Free Apps:

Daniel Tiger’s Grrrific Feelings

Breathe, Think, Go with Sesame

Touch and Learn Emotion

Emotional ABC Classroom

The Social Express

Smiling Minds

Mindful Powers

Mind Yeti

Mindfulness Resources

What is Mindfulness? 

Mindfulness is simply noticing what is happening right now.

Mindfulness is taking notice of how your body feels and what you see, smell and taste. Maybe you even feel emotions in your body, perhaps through a tightness somewhere, or a good sensation.

When you notice what is happening around you, it can help you to calm down when you’re sad, angry or frustrated. Mindfulness helps you deal with tough emotions, and mindfulness can make you happy and feel good. To learn more about the benefits of mindfulness click here: Why Mindfulness? 

Scroll down for some kid friendly video explanations. 


Ozzy Explains Mindfulness

Recommended for grades PreK - Second 

Kids Explain Mindfulness

Recommended for grades Second and up. 

How can we practice mindfulness? 

There are many different activities and ways to incorporate mindfulness into your everyday life at home and at school. See below for several different resources and ideas:

Practicing Mindfulness With Your Senses 

By mindfully observing our senses we can better attend, enhance our memories, become better problem solvers, better our relationships, and increase creativity.  Below are some lessons you could do with your child.

Seeing

Here is an activity to teach your child mindful seeing:  

Listening

Here is an activity to teach your child mindful listening:

Smelling 

Here is an activity to teach your child mindful smelling:

Tasting

Here is an activity to teach your child mindful tasting:

Practicing Mindfulness With Breathing Techniques 

Breathing techniques can help us calm our bodies by slowing our heart down, lowering our blood pressure, and sharpening our focus. Therefore, breathing can help us calm uncomfortable feelings such, as anxiety, hyperactivity or anger. 

Mind Yeti: A  Guide to Slow Breathing 

Part Two can be found at:

Belly Breathing 


Here is a fun video that teaches kids the technique of belly breathing through song. (Recommended for young ages)

More resources & videos for belly breathing can be found below:

What is Belly Breathing? 

Breathing with  Shapes

Here is a video that models how a child can use shapes for deep breathing. You can use these Shape Visuals for the Video 

Additional shape breathing resources:

Calm-Down-Brain-Break-Breathing-Exercise-Cards.pdf

More Options


Here (above) you can  access  8 different breathing activities your child can try at home. 


Below are some additional breathing activities:

Practicing Mindfulness With Physical Movement

Mindful movement can help us release uncomfortable feelings in a healthy way. In addition, it can help us practice our breathing techniques and increase our concentration - of  course, it also helps us promote a healthier  physical body. 

Calming Exercises for Kids: Breathing and Stretching

Here is a video of a monkey completing some stretches with calming music in the background. Have your child play follow the leader with the monkey while completing the same slow body movements while trying to mimic his breathing. 

Cosmic Kids! Yoga &           Mindfulness                              

Cosmic Kids! has a variety of yoga YouTube videos for kids 3+. See an introduction video of the the channel above and links to some of our favorite videos below:

Yoga for Kids l Yoga with Adriene


Here is a great option for students that are older & want to try yoga without any animation or stories. 

Other Resources/ Activities:

Flow- GoNoodle is a great channel for many different mindful physical movements. Click below:

Other Resources/ Tools 

 Apps 

Below are apps that utilize mindfulness techniques for kids:

** Stop, Breath & Think

** Smiling Mind 

** Mindful Family 

** Sleep Meditations for Kids 

Headspace 

Calm 

**Free

Sincerely, 

Discover and Explorer School Social Work Team