Why is calming breathing helpful for children?

Calming breathing is very important and helpful for children to learn. It can help them reduce stress, anxiety and panic in many different situations. There are different exercises they can try out to see which they like best. This is one of the easiest to learn and use. 

The 5 calm breaths technique

5 calming breaths is a really simple breathing exercise that uses counting to help children focus on their breath. By counting on their fingers or in their heads as they breathe in and breathe out, children can calm their breath and begin to relax.

How 5 calm breaths can help

When we are anxious we can sometimes take lots of quicker and more shallow breaths. This exercise helps children focus on making those breaths deeper and longer- which can help them to feel calmer. 

Like all calming breathing techniques- it is best to practice them when we feel calm. That way when the anxious feelings come we know what to do to help calm them down. Practising this exercise with children regularly helps them to feel confident about using it whenever they fell anxious or overwhelmed.  

Introducing 5 Calm Breaths to Children

Here is a video of Zoe demonstrating how to practice the 5 Calm Breaths exercise.

You can also download and print this 5 Calm Breaths Tally Sheet to help encourage a child to practice every day and see their progress.

You also might also like to try our bubble breathing demonstration and this NHS page has more calming breathing techniques you can use with children (or yourself!).

What is Cuddly Toy Breathing?

Cuddly Toy Breathing is a really fun and comforting way to help children to practice calm breathing. Placing a cuddly toy on their tummy helps children to be mindful of how their body moves as they breathe in and out. 

How Does Cuddly Toy Breathing Work?

Lying down and focusing on their breath helps children to feel calm and relaxed. Focusing on how their body is moving as they breathe can help children feel less anxious or worried by any other thoughts in their mind.

Practising regular mindful breathing can be good to help children to cope with anxiety or worry from other things happening around them. Doing this exercise in the morning can help children to feel calmer as they go about their day. 

Introducing Cuddly Toy Breathing to Children

Here is an animation of Mind Moose demonstrating how to practice Cuddly Toy Breathing

What is bubble breathing?

Bubble breathing is simply using blowing bubbles to help to introduce younger children to calming breathing in a fun way. By focussing on trying to blow big bubbles, children are encouraged to focus on their out breath and breathe in a slow, calm way. This can help them to understand how it feels to ‘do’ calming breathing and to see if it can work as a calming tool for them. Learning calming breathing is well established as a way to reduce stress, anxiety and panic – it is even recommended by the NHS!

Why is bubble breathing helpful?

When we feel anxious or overwhelmed, we can breathe in a shallow, quick way from our chest and can make those feelings stronger. Being able to slow our breathing down consciously and take longer breaths can help us to calm down and reduce overwhelming feelings so we can take more considered action. So it can be a great technique for children to learn so they can  calm themselves down in tricky situations. This needs practice and bubble breathing can help with that!

It doesn’t work for every child of course and it needs practice for them to be able to call on it when they are feeling overwhelmed or anxious, but learning a calmer way of breathing is a great way of introducing your child to how the breath can help them to feel calm.

Introducing the technique to a child

Here is a video of Zoë talking through and demonstrating bubble breathing which you might find helpful.

Daily tally sheet

As with any new skill, you will need to help your child practice their breathing so that eventually they can remember to use it as a tool to help them calm down when they are feeling overwhelmed or anxious. A fun way of doing this is with a tally sheet.

You can download a printable daily Bubble Breathing Tally Sheet here.