Calming Corner Ideas for Toddlers

Are you planning to create a calming corner for your toddlers? Let us look at some of the best ideas for a calming corner to have. But first, what is a calming corner?

What is a Calming Corner?

A calming corner is a place (inside or outside of the classroom) where toddlers can take a break, cope with bad feelings, calm down, or regulate their emotions. It serves as their safe space during a meltdown. It is not a place to punish them for being unable to handle stress but rather a place to cope healthily. It is a corner to empower toddlers by giving them the power to take back control of their emotions.  

Creating a Calm Corner for Toddlers

To have a successful calm corner, you have to consider the following:

1. Location 

It should be placed in a private area where no one will be looking at your kid inside the calm room. It should be spacious enough to allow them to move around and not too crowded with stuff or tools with a calming effect. It should be easy to find as well. 

2. Furniture

A calm corner can have comfortable bean bags for sitting and tables for doing artwork. However, make sure that these will not clutter and make the room too packed. You can choose between a bean bag or a comfortable chair that will allow them to sit while doing artwork. You can also add foldable tables that you can set up as needed. If a toddler just wants to sit reading or listening to music, then there is no need for an extra table nearby. 

3. Accessories

What accessories can you include in a calm corner? You can have inspiration and self-help signage around the calm room such as posters of breathing techniques they can follow. You can also hang posters with encouraging messages. 

Add a bookshelf where you can place self-help books, coloring books, and activity pamphlets. You can also use some parts of the shelf for art materials. 

Calming Corner Ideas for Toddlers

Warm and Cozy Calm Corner

Calming corner ideas for toddlers include is a calm corner that is warm and cozy. Start by adding a bean bag chair, some small pillows, and blankets (with prints that they are interested in). You can add an audiobook (if the kid/s love listening to some things or a bookshelf with children’s book (books of interest). 

Kids ages 6 to 8 years old find it easier to get calm when they can draw and paint so having a whiteboard or paper, pencil, crayons, and watercolor might help. 

Self-regulation Tools

Aside from comfortable seats, you can also hang self-help breathing techniques around your calm room. Meaningful posters and breathing techniques like “Star Breathing” can help them calm down.

You could also include self-regulation tools such as the feelings wheel, breathing cards, and tools like fidget toys, soft toys can your child to calm down. Our All-inclusive self-Regulation Toolkit Bundle includes coping cards, worksheets and emotional regulation tools that helps kids to learn how to regulate their emotions independently and cope with big emotions.

Another calming corner ideas for toddlers to consider is making them have busy hands. With this thought in mind, you can make your calming corner more effective by adding tools that your kids can play with. Squeeze balls and expandable balls are among the easiest tools to acquire for a calm room.

If you have toddlers in your class, adding play-doh is also a must as most kids find it invigorating when they are handling play-doh or clay. Print art that they can recreate with play-doh. For children ages 8 to 10, an activity book might be a good addition to their calming corner. 

Calm Corner as a Safe Space

Some children might find it overwhelming when they are suddenly exposed to loud noises and unnecessary rattles in their classroom. If you have such a kid in your class, make sure to turn your calm room into a safe, calm space. You can add noise-canceling headphones, puzzles, activity scrapbooks, and scissors to help your kid refocus his/her mind. 

Some kids might just need some peace and quiet and a hot chocolate drink to calm down so make sure to have it ready all the time.

Is Calm Corner Effective for Toddlers?

To utilize the full potential of a calm corner, you have to introduce it first to your toddler. Make sure they understand what a calm corner is and the goal of using it. A calm corner is a place for them to ready themselves for their class and not a place to hang out and have fun the entire day. 

Guiding your Toddler

To use the calm corner effectively, you can use the following steps to guide your toddler to self-regulate and calm down. From the start, you could guide your toddler through these steps so that your child knows how to use the calm corner independently.

• Step 1: Feelings Check In:  How are you currently feeling? Do you feel agitated, sad, demotivated, angry, or irritated?
• Step 2: Choosing a Calming Strategy – What calming strategy would you like to use? Do what makes you calm (activity or puzzle or play music with a headphone on)
• Step 3: Feeling Check In: How do you feel after using the calming strategy?
  
• If yes - Share the experience with a teacher or an adult
• If not – you could select another calming strategy
  
• Step 4: Feeling Check In – Are you feeling calmer now?
  

How to Assess your Calm Corner’s Effectiveness?

You could ask your child about their experience at the calm corner. This can help you to determine if the calming corner is helpful and take steps to improve the calm corner for your child. This also determines whether your child needs further help, like talking to a therapist.