Teaching students to use calming strategies is crucial for students to learn how to manage their emotions independently, a key stepping stone to building a healthy relationship with self and others. If you're planning to create a calm down kit for your classroom, you can use the following ideas as inspiration.
#1 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Interactive Feeling Tools
Feeling tools are a great visual guide for students to identify and process their feelings. Learning how to recognize their emotions help them to develop self-awareness and communication skills.
Developing the skill to reflect on how they feel can empower students to take control of their emotions and make appropriate decisions when they feel overwhelmed.
These tools can be used before and after using the calming strategies. For little ones, these interactive emotion wheels and charts are also helpful for them to build on their feelings vocabulary.
#2 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Calming Strategies Posters and Sensory Tools
Calming Strategy Posters
You can include visual calming strategies tools in your calm down kit. These tools guide students and teach students to take responsibility to manage their feelings.
Sensory Tools
You could also include sensory tools for students to calm down. Some ideas are stress balls and fidget toys that students can play with while having fun. For example, stress balls is also a great sensory tool that has a unique design to engage students. It can be used by students who need something to squeeze to relieve anxiety and stress. You could also choose tools that are quiet and can be used quietly and independently at the calm corner without disrupting the class.
#3 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Mindful Breathing Techniques
In the calm down kit, you could also include mindful breathing techniques that students can use at the calm corner. These techniques can be used for self-regulation in the classroom and at home.
When kids use breathing techniques, they gain greater awareness of how to use their breath to calm down independently. If your student gets frustrated and has trouble self-regulating, you could implement fun breathing techniques into your daily classroom routine so that your student can use them effectively when feeling frustrated or overwhelmed.
These visual cards make it fun for kids to learn breathing techniques. Focusing on our breathing can reduce our heart rate, calm the mind and relieve anxiety which can prevent tantrums from getting out of control.
#4 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Yoga Poses
Yoga poses are also a fun physical activity you can include in the calm corner. Yoga helps to calm the mind and body. The pandemic can be stressful for kids when the usual day-to-day activities and routines are disrupted.
Bring Mindfulness into the Classroom
Practicing yoga regularly can reduce stress, anxiety and improve focus and well-being. You could also introduce yoga as part of the daily classroom routine. For example, you can do it once or twice each week to get up and stretch or to give your students a brain break.
We have created printable yoga cards that you could print from home. This resource provides clear visuals with easy-to-follow directions for each yoga pose. You can place these cards at the calm down corner for students to use when they feel dysregulated.
#5 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Reflection Sheets
Reflection sheets can help students to reflect on how the calm corner helped them to calm down and process their emotions. It could also help them learn how to respond better when a similar situation occurs.
Our All-inclusive Bundle Calm Down Corner Kit includes various versions that allow students to write or draw. The visuals also help guide young students to complete the reflection sheets easily. We have also included calm corner tracker sheets that help parents and teachers can use to track behavior at school or home.
#6 Calm Down Kits for Classrooms: Explain The Purpose of The Calm Down Corner
Ensure that students understand how to use the calm corner. It is a place for them to calm down when they feel overwhelmed, not a place to relax and unwind during class. Students need to be taught how to use the various tools in the calm corner. For example, if you have breathing techniques, sensory tools - you could show your students how to use some of these breathing techniques or sensory tools.
After using the calm corner, you could also remind them to place the tools in their original place before rejoining the class.
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