Deep breathing has so many benefits for kids and adults alike. Deep breathing increases oxygen to the bloodstream to benefit the body’s organs and muscles to perform optimally. It can help maintain the body’s oxygen and carbon dioxide balance. Deep breathing can aid in digestion while also increasing energy levels. Deep breathing helps to regulate the nervous system and enhance focus and cognition. It can also help with emotional regulation, relaxation, and can aid in pain relief, and reduce anxiety. Try some of these fun deep breathing techniques with your kiddos.
Teddy Bear Belly Breaths
- Have the child lie on their back and place a teddy bear on their stomach.
- They should breathe in deep through the nose and watch the teddy bear rise.
- Then, breathe out through the mouth, and watch the teddy bear go down.
- This helps them visualize the deep belly breaths.
Smell Flower, Blow Bubbles
- Imagine holding a flower in one hand.
- Instruct the child to sniff the flower deeply and slowly through the nose.
- Then, imagine while exhaling through pursed lips you are blowing out bubbles slowly and controlled. (Or imagine blowing one of the biggest bubble possible.)
- This encourages deep inhalation and controlled exhalation. Expand the belly on the inhalation and let the belly sink while exhaling.
Color Breathing
- Ask your kiddo to pick a color that makes them feel happy and another color that represents a feeling they want to let go (like stress or anger).
- Have them visualize breathing in the happy color and filling their body with that color or light.
- When they exhale, have them imagine that the negative feeling’s color is leaving their body.
- This visual aid promotes a positive mindset and calm emotions while working on mental imagery.
Five-Finger Starfish Breathing
- Have the child spread their hand out like a starfish.
- Use their other hand’s index finger to start at the base of the thumb of the starfish hand.
- Breathe in while tracing up to the tip of the thumb.
- Breathe out while tracing back down to the inside of the thumb.
- Continue breathing in and out with each up and down motion while tracing around each finger, slowly and controlled.
- This tracing technique provides a physical guide for breath pacing and can be soothing due to its rhythmic nature. It also provides tactile feedback and sensory input through the tracing which can bring a calming affect.
Bumblebee Breaths
- Instruct the child to sit comfortably. They can close their eyes or lower their gaze.
- Have them take a slow deep breath in through their nose.
- As they breathe out through their mouth, have them make a humming sound like a bumblebee.
- Repeat several times, encouraging them to feel the vibration of the hum in their body and through their lips.
- This technique incorporates sound and “feel” and is great for helping kids drown out external noise. Plus, what kid doesn’t like to make funny noises out of their mouth?
Balloon Breaths
- Have your kiddo imagine holding a small balloon in their hands, pretend that their belly is a balloon, or imagine that their entire body is a balloon.
- Instruct them to take a deep breath in through their nose to fill the balloon.
- Have them expand their belly as the balloon grows.
- If they visualize holding the balloon, their hands can get bigger (spreading apart) with the inhalation. If imagining their whole body as the balloon, they can become more upright in posture with arms extending away from their body with each deep breath in. If imagining their tummy as the balloon, they can watch their tummy get bigger with each inhalation.
- Slowly exhale through the mouth to deflate the balloon, having their belly go down, hands decrease in width, or body and arms reverting back to center while letting the air out slowly.
- Encourage your kiddo to imagine the balloon changing color with each breath. Have your kiddo exhale with sound similar to the Bumblebee Breathing.
- Visualization techniques can help with mindfulness and mental imagery practice while also making deep breathing more engaging and fun.
Infinity Loop Breathing
- Print out or draw an infinity loop picture to place on the wall. You can use an 8.5 x11 inch sheet of paper.
- Use the index finger to slowly and intentionally trace around the infinity loop, starting from the middle.
- Slowly inhale while tracing around the infinity loop in 1 breath.
- Then, slowly exhale while continuing to trace the infinity loop 2 times in that one exhale.
- Try to maintain a consistent flow and tracing cadence.
- It is important to cross the midline each time in a crisscross formation when tracing. Watch how your kiddos are tracing, making sure they are not just tracing left and right circles, but crisscrossing in the middle.
- The benefit of the infinity loop tracing and crisscrossing is that it works on coordination, crossing midline, and uses both sides of the brain.
- You can also follow this technique to perform deep breathing while tracing any shape. You can inhale while tracing one side of the shape while exhaling with the next. Feel free to follow whatever breathing and tracing cadence/pace that would be beneficial as long as it is intentional and slow.
Conclusion
The hope of providing these deep breathing techniques is to make these exercises engaging and fun in order to help your kiddos regulate their body. Practice these techniques often when they are already regulated and in a calm state so that they can become familiar with the steps and processes. The goal is for your kiddos to learn these strategies so that it becomes natural for them to use whenever they need to calm or center themselves. Provide deep breathing visuals to utilize and refer to. Model these techniques to help your kiddos learn the steps. Perform alongside them. It’s more than likely you will benefit from them just as much as they do.
Deep breathing techniques are simple but effective and beneficial for the body, for all of us. Adjust and add spins to how these deep breathing techniques are performed and make up your own. Remember, be creative and have fun!
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