In Pre-school we do a daily calming activity. It might be a mindfulness exercise, relaxation alone or in a pair or a type of meditation. It is approximately 5-10 minutes we take in our day to calm down, relax and regroup before continuing with the days’ activities. 

This is what we do: 

• Ask the children to sit on the floor or pillow ‘criss-cross applesauce’
• Turn down the lights (when possible)
• Ask them to close their eyes if they feel comfortable doing so (some children do not like it and that’s ok)
• Take a deep breath in….and out 
• Then I put on the video on speaker to listen to the music/guidance
• To bring the kids back again after the exercise, I stop the music, I ask them to take one more big, deep breath in….and….out
• We open our eyes and stretch ourselves a bit; lift your hands all the way up in the air, roll your shoulders and head and slowly move on to the next part of your day
• I often send the children 3-4 at a time to the bathroom, this is a nice slow transition out of the relaxation into the rest of the busy day

You can find lots of videos on YouTube. I couldn’t make a playlist because lots of the videos I use are ‘Made for kids’, which are protected by the COPPA Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act on YouTube. It’s for the online protection of children, which I so fully support and respect.

So I’ll tell you what I use to search with instead. I’ve found lots of great content with these:

• Guided meditation for kids
• Mindfulness exercise for kids
• Calm down music for children

We normally put the videos on a speaker, so the children just listen to the music and instructions.

Tips:

It took our group of 23 preschoolers about a week to start settling down to the calm moments. It is very difficult for the children to settle down at first, but as they get used to the idea and have experience of the practise, they do enjoy it too.

This is how we started; one teacher sat in front of the group, modelling what to do. The other teacher walks around the group silently trying to not disturb anyone. A small tap on the shoulder brings a restless child back into the exercise and a rhythmic ‘Sshh…’ helps the kids focus back on task.

At times I find it easier to do the guidance myself. When the kids have had a restless day, it’s really hard for them to settle. I put on some classical / relaxation music and as I observe the group I can react to them and adjust the guidance accordingly. When they cannot settle, I give them a few things to do like put their hand on their chest or belly and follow the breath and how it feels on their hand. If they start settling, then I just do some breathing exercises and maybe a story.

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Relaxation with balls

After having the calm moments a regular part of our days, we moved on to a pair relaxation exercise. I paired the children and advised them that one is the ball master and the other lies down on the floor on their belly. We have a lot of kids in the group, some were on mats and others on blankets and other soft furnishings.

Take a colleague or a child as your partner and then show the pairs how to run the ball along the arms and legs, around the back and return. I advised the children that we will avoid bottoms and heads. When done, switch places!

I was so happy to see how the kids got into the practise really easily and did a fantastic job relaxing each other!

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Enjoy!