Create a positive thought bracelet with your child. You can string beads, dry hollow noodles, buttons, paperclips, paper rings...whatever you've got hanging around your house. Make it fun and engaging, choose beads or items to string together that are meaningful and...
Nonverbal and Visual cues to relax are essential for establishing a relaxing, calm atmosphere for learning. Less talk more focus is how it goes in my school. Here is an idea about how to use fun, playful, engaging reminders to help kids practice relaxing several...
Deep Breathing Board Create a fun reminder to take a deep breath! Recently while at Hobby Lobby, I came across this wipe off calendar board and thought it would be a fun way to make a Deep Breath Schedule 🙂 All of these deep breathing techniques and ideas can be...
It's back to school time and the perfect time to practice relaxation techniques with your kids! Recently, the first graders and I created a "Forest of Calm" through the Vrksasana yoga pose, or "tree pose." All of the kids gathered together to assume the tree poses...
Here's a quick break for all of the kiddos you know that could use a pause and some sensory input to help them balance and calm their minds and bodies. To introduce this break or for practice, I ask the boys in my group to drop and "be a snake in the grass." First...
It's getting towards the end of the school year in my district. We are wrapping things up, saying goodbye to a year that passed so swiftly, and sending our fifth graders on to the larger horizon of middle school. Even my own daughter, Maiya, is graduating from high...
I have been enjoying sharing this book with the children I work with. Once Upon a Touch by Mary Atkinson and Sandra Hooper is a wonderful book to introduce the relaxing power of massage and to teach various massage techniques through the use of story. For ages 3-11,...
Give your child a relaxation and self-calming tool to feel deeply loved and secure in a moment's notice. The Big Bear Hug is just that, a BIG bear hug....for yourself. Next time when your child's energy is erratic and he is having a hard time settling down, help him...
Feeling loved, feeling seen, feeling heard, and feeling cared are balms for the brain! Brain science is reporting that the Prefrontal Cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher order thinking and problem solving, is at its maximum capacity when we perceive...
When I worked with very young kiddos, (aged 3-6), I created the Relaxation Backpack and the Journey to the Island of Calm to introduce relaxation practice. The Island of Calm is the destination for any relaxation practice. It's the place you and your child want...
