Teaching children simple calming strategies helps them recognize when they are upset and gives them tools to manage emotions in healthy ways. Children can experience big feelings. Knowing what to do when those big feelings happen is an important skill that children should learn.
Why are calming strategies important?
Teaching children calming strategies helps them understand that they can have control over the big feelings they experience. This can empower children to have greater self-awareness, self-management, confidence, and empathy. These are skills that build the foundation for children to mature into adults who are skilled at managing their emotions in healthy ways.
How can you teach your students calming strategies?
There are a variety of calming strategies we can teach students to help them manage emotions when they start to feel overwhelmed.
1) Model calming strategies for your students:
Show children what calm and emotional control looks and sounds like by modeling it. Let’s use an example in which you spilled your coffee. You could say, “I am so frustrated that I spilled my coffee. I’m going to take five slow breaths, clean up the mess, and then pour myself another cup.”
In this example, you:
- named your emotion (frustration)
- selected a calming strategy (slow breaths), and
- focused on something you can do to fix the situation (pour another cup)
Children are always watching and learning from us. By modeling calm and controlled responses, they will learn that they can control how they respond to big feelings, too!
2) Brainstorm a list of simple calming strategies with your students and practice them when they are calm.
Create a classroom list of simple calming strategies by asking your students to help you come up with ideas. You could suggest some common strategies, such as:
- slow breathing (or various kinds of breathing exercises)
- taking a drink of water
- asking for a hug
- counting backwards
When you involve your students in the process of creating the list of calming activities, they are more likely to remember and use those strategies when they need them.
3) Practice the simple calming strategies with your students regularly when they are calm.
Practicing the classroom list of calming strategies when your students are calm will help them develop muscle memory and make it easier for them to remember when they are upset.
Try this fun activity to show your students how calming strategies can work:
- Ask your students to jump up and down ten times to raise their heart rate. Guide them to notice how quickly their hearts are beating.
- Next, ask them to stop jumping and take five deep, slow breaths. Once they’ve taken the breaths, ask them to notice how their heartbeats have slowed down.
- Explain how the same thing happens in our bodies when we use a calming strategy to cope with a big emotion. Our hearts might beat quickly when we feel mad or frustrated, but taking a break or breathing deeply can help us calm our bodies and minds.
When a child successfully uses a calming strategy to manage emotions, be sure to praise their efforts. Be specific by saying something like, “I’m so proud of you for taking five slow breaths when you were upset! That really helped you feel better.”
4) Create a home or classroom calming corner.
Designate a space in your classroom or at home where children can go to feel better when they are upset or need a few moments to regroup. Provide familiar calming strategies and tools that children have experience using, such as breathing exercises, soft pillows or stuffed animals, coloring materials, or music.
Consider the five senses when selecting items for your Calming Corner, as engaging our senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch helps to refocus our brains from upset to calm.
Teach your students that the Calming Corner is a place they can go when they are feeling upset and need space to use a calming strategy to feel better.
Don’t have the space for a dedicated Calming Corner? Make it mobile by placing helpful calming activities and resources in a basket that can go with children wherever it is needed.
Teaching children simple calming strategies helps them learn how to take charge of big feelings at a young age and will serve them well as they mature into adulthood!
This social emotional learning resource to teach children calming strategies was authored by the Watson Institute’s special education consultant, Katie Bentz, M.Ed.
If you have questions or concerns about the Watson Institute’s use of this information, please contact us.