Calming Boxes

Calming boxes and/or spaces are great tools to have in order to help manage the strong feelings of your children within the home setting. A calming space is a designated space in your home that anyone in your family can go to if they are experiencing a negative emotion. It is not a time-out corner or a place that you should send your child if they are in trouble. It should be a place where they can choose to go to help calm themselves down. As long as your child is being safe, they should be allowed to be alone in this space (or monitored from a distance). In this manner, they may start to learn how to deescalate and self-regulate. This does not mean that you have to avoid conversations about their behavior or actions but it means putting a pause on these conversations in order to allow both parties to calm down. Resuming these conversations when everyone is feeling calm allows these conversations to be more civil, effective, and long-lasting. Make this space as comfortable and calming as possible with the help of your child. It can include pillows, stuffed animals, and any other object that could help them to calm down without necessarily being just a space in which to play. I would recommend you modeling the use of this calming space by going there whenever you are experiencing a negative emotion. It is helpful for children to see appropriate responses modeled by their caregivers whenever possible.

Calming boxes can be created using shoe boxes or any other type of box that can hold many different calming items. Encourage your children to decorate these boxes in any manner that they would like such as with coloring utensils, stickers, glitter, etc. in order for them to be a part of the process. After doing so, work with your children to fill the box with items that they consider to be calming. Below are pictures of calming boxes made within the school setting as well as a list of potential ideas to include in this box. This calming box can go in your calming space or, if you do not have a calming space, they can just pull it out when needed.