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Breathing exercises for kids to encourage diaphragmatic breathing and shallow chest breaths as effective ways to manage big feelings and deep emotions in a fun way.
Did you know that the way we breathe can influence our mental state and even our physical health? That’s right, healthy breathing habits can help us cope with stress, manage anxiety or even prevent asthma attacks.
Efficient breathing techniques like controlled breathing exercises for kids can improve lung capacity and reduce stress.
They are especially useful when dealing with anxiety-inducing situations (like exams!), negative thoughts, or stressful situations. Did you also know that kids who practice breathing techniques have lower levels of stress and get along better with others?
Breathing exercises for kids are as simple as sitting up straight, keeping your shoulders relaxed and taking deep breaths from your diaphragm. The simple instructions below will help your child develop a healthy breathing pattern.
See also: 17 Positive Discipline Tools You Need
How to Teach Kids to Breathe Properly
First and foremost, it’s important to understand what healthy breathing is. When we breathe, air flows into our bodies, supplying our organs with oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.
The inhalation is called the inspiration, and the exhalation is referred to as the expiration.
Some common bad breathing habits are shallow breathing, breathing with your chest, or breathing with your stomach. When we breathe with our stomach, our diaphragm (the muscle that helps us breathe with ease) doesn’t get enough air.
To teach your child to breathe properly, explain the different components of breathing. Show them that their stomach moves in and out when they breathe, and that it should rise and fall as they inhale and exhale.
Breathing Exercises for Kids: Easy Instructions
Just start at the top! Take a moment to relax, sit up straight and make sure your shoulders aren’t slouched. Make sure that you’re not holding your breath, either. Let’s start with a breathing exercise for kids with anxiety.
Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and try to focus on relaxing your mind. You can also try “happy breathing”: sit up straight and smile, then breathe in and out very deeply. This breathing exercise for kids can help you calm down and focus on the present moment.
What are the types of breathing exercises for kids?
There are a few different types of breathing exercises for kids that encourage deep breathing. Some examples include balloon breathing, counting breaths, bunny breathing, bubble breathing and feather breathing.
One of the easiest breathing exercises for kids is belly breathing and the best way to learn is through videos of deep breathing techniques.
You don’t need any supplies or gear, and these abdominal breathing techniques can be used anywhere and in the moment whether you’re in a group of friends or on your own for your mental health.
Deep Breathing Exercises for Kids
1. Bumblebee Breath
to practice bumble bee breathing you should be sitting comfortably with your legs crossed, encourage your child to breathe through their nose for a count of 4.
As your child breathes out, encourage them to make a humming or a bee buzzing sound on the exhale.
They can put their fingers in their ears as they exhale. If they close their eyes, they can become even calmer through the process. This is a comforting and calming way to breathe, and a powerful way to release big emotions.
Video Of Bumblee Breathing
2. Tumble Dryer
Another great breathing exercise is the Tumble Dryer. Tumble dryer breathing exercise is really fun for young children.
First, sit in a cross-legged position and have your index fingers pointing towards each other in front of the mouth.
Then when the child exhales, have them move their fingers around in a tumble dryer motion which creates a swishy sound.
3. Dragon Fire Breaths
This is a great exercise that imitates dragon fire breathing. First, have your children interlace their fingers underneath the child. Then have them inhale and lift up the elbows to sort of frame the face.
Then have your children lower the elbows back down on the exhale. This breathing exercise helps build strength and is a good energy producing technique.
It can help us all feel brave or give us more energy when we feel tired which are some great benefits of mindfulness.
4. Hot Air Balloon
The hot air balloon exercise has a relaxing effect and is vivid on imaginations.
To practice, this breathing exercise for kids, sit in a cross-legged position and cup the hands around the mouth. Take a deep breath through the nose and blow ours slowly through the mouth.
As you exhale, grow your hands outwards as if you are blowing up a giant hot air balloon. You can sway from side to side as you admire your hot air balloon!
5. Tongue Tube
This is a fun breathing exercise for kids that can curl their tongues into a tube or straw. When you inhale, suck the air in through your tongue and exhale through the nose. This is refreshing on the throat and very cleansing.
6. Belly Breathing
Belly breathing is simple, is the handiest tool when out and about and involves taking controlled breaths which calms children. First inhale through the nose and ask your child to pretend that they are blowing up a balloon in the belly.
Have them pause for a few seconds and then exhale slowly through the mouth. Take a 2 second pause and then repeat the exercise as needed.
7. Bubble Breathing
The bubble blowing breathing technique is a child favorite. You can use a soap bubbles wand and have your child practice blowing their bubbles.
When children do this, they learn how to breathe properly and this helps manage anxiety and anger. Wait a few seconds before blowing the next bubble. This can be done outside on a nice warm day and is a lot of fun for little ones.
8. Mountain Breathing
Mountain breathing can be completed standing up or sitting down. To start, inhale through the nose and raise the arms above the head. Then bring your palms together above the head and imagine you are as tall as a large mountain. Exhale through the mouth and bring the palms together in front of the chest.
9. Shoulder Roll Breath
The shoulder roll breathing exercise is simple and effective and can be used to calm down angry children quickly. First have the child sit cross legged and then ask them to take a deep breath through the nose and relax the body. Roll the shoulders up to the ears as they inhale and then have your child exhale and bring the shoulders down and back, as far down as they can go.
This feels really good for adults too, and it’s a great technique to try if you’re an exhausted mom and trying to get some sleep!
10. Five-Finger Breathing
The five-finger breathing technique is very popular in schools. Have your child stand or sit with a straight back and open the palm wide with all five fingers spread out. Slowly use the other hand to trace the fingers up and down while breathing and repeat this process for all 5 fingers.
11. Cartoon Breath (or Happy Breathing)
This breathing exercise for kids is best used when your child feels upset, angry, or frustrated. It helps your child slow down and collect their thoughts, while also getting rid of excess CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the blood.
All you have to do is have your child sit or lie down, place one hand on their stomach, and the other on their upper chest.
As they breathe in, they should move their hand that’s on the stomach up towards their face, and their hand on the chest should go down. As they breathe out, they should bring their hand back to their chest, and the hand on the stomach should go back down.
This breathing exercise can be done in conjunction with the “counting breaths” technique: every time your child exhales, they should count to 10 and then start again.
12. Colored Breathing Exercise
This breathing exercise for kids helps with relaxation, focus, and self-esteem. It’s a great breathing exercise for kids who are a bit more advanced, as it requires your child to visualize colors, shapes, and images. Have your child take a couple of deep breaths, then close their eyes and imagine a color.
Once they have their chosen color in mind, your child should try to expand it, then contract it, and then expand it again. This breathing exercise works best when your child is coloring inside the lines, so to speak. That is, they should visualize the color on a shape or image that they have in mind. For example, if they are trying to focus on patience, they should visualize a yellow shape on the ground.
13. Long Deep Breathing Exercise
This breathing exercise for kids is best when your child is feeling calm. It’s great, too, if your child is having trouble sleeping!
Have your child sit up straight and make sure their shoulders aren’t slouched, then slowly breathe out. Once they’ve expelled all the air from their lungs, they should hold their breath for 10 seconds, then slowly breathe in.
This breathing exercise helps your child learn how to control their breathing, while also making sure they get enough CO2 (carbon dioxide) out of their blood.
Practice breathing exercises regularly
Breathing exercises are important, but they don’t get anywhere without practice. Make sure your child practices these breathing exercises regularly, preferably every day.
They can do so at school, during a break or even before bedtime. When your child practices breathing exercises, they are not only improving their lung capacity but also their focus and relaxation skills.
Regular breathing exercises for kids can help them manage stress, anxiety, and insomnia. They can also help your child get along better with others and be more confident!
How to Use Breathing Exercises For Kids In The Moment
When big feelings and emotions come up, breathing exercises can help, but how can you implement these strategies?
Connect: Look them in the eye or gently touch their shoulder to really create an emotional connection.
Name the feelings: If the feelings are big like anger, anxiety or disappointment that can be scary so helping your child acknowledge those feelings can help them understand what is happening.
Find a quiet space: your child should have space where they feel safe where they can calm down and get connected with their feelings privately.
Breathe together: Practice using the breathing exercises together and talk through each step.
Give them a comforting cuddle (if they’re ready): Some children like to cuddle and hug, while others need some space and time before they can hug you. Follow them and respect their wishes, and hug when they are ready.
What is Calm Breathing?
Calm breathing is a way to calm children’s breathing (and even adults) using breathing exercise techniques. This is particularly helpful to kids who are feeling anger, anxiety or experiencing stress.
The purpose of breathing exercises for kids isn’t to eliminate anxiety, anger or distress, but to manage it and minimize those big feelings.
Why Calm Breathing is Important?
When children are feeling distressed and are experiencing big emotions, they go into this fight or flight mode which is essentially them believing they are in danger, even if they are not. When children panic, the breathing patterns become more shallow and quick, which makes the anxiety and emotions ramp up farther into the stress of the whole situation.
When we enter the fight or flight mode, less oxygen enters the brain and we cannot think clearly. This makes so much sense if you’ve ever tried to tell a toddler mid-tantrum to calm down and they just don’t seem to hear you.
So to combat this, we need to get the children’s attention and get oxygen back to the brain and instill calm and control back into the moment.
Breathing exercises can help bring your children back into control of their bodies and ease their stresses. If you use calm down corners as a means of calming your children, make sure you breathe with them first before putting forward the calm down corner practices.
Deep Breathing Benefits For Kids (How Can Breathing Exercises Help Children)
- deep belly breath helps reduce tension in stressful situations
- Helps to ease anger, anxiety and big feelings
- Helps create peace and calm with slow breaths
- Helps to control your emotions in a great way
- Promotes appropriate social behaviors
- Strengthens sustained attention
- Lowers the heart rate and blood pressure
- Is good for happiness
- Helps with focus and concentration
How can you teach belly breathing to your child?
You can teach belly breathing to your child by asking your child to breathe normally and get them to tune into their current feeling.
Then ask your child to place one hand on the belly above the belly button and one the upper chest and ask them to breathe in through the nose and fill the lungs with air downwards towards the belly.
See if your child can notice that the bottom hand rises during their breath in.
Ask your child to release their breath slowly and exhale through the mouth, noticing that the bottom hand lowers back down in the process.
Ask your child how they feel after their deep breath and see if they notice any difference.
Keep practicing and try to go for deep belly breaths instead of shallow chest breathing (which does not help with easing anxiety.)
If your child is having a tough time learning to belly breath, you can have them lay down on their back and place a stuffed animal on their belly so they can see the object move up and down as they breathe.
Other tips for belly breathing for kids
Start Young: Deep and calm breathing can be a very valuable tool for children of all ages. Toddlers could have trouble with belly breathing, but they can learn to slow down their breaths when they are feeling angry or anxious. Older children, elementry age and up will have an easier time with belly breathing.
Count: Encourage your children to count to three when inhaling and then counting to 4 when exhaling when practicing deep belly breathing. some children will be able to do longer counts. Keep in mind the actual length of the inhale and exhale is not as important as focusing on the task of breathing.
Practice Before The Storm: Teaching your child to use calm down breathing techniques when they are in mid-tantrum is going to be ineffective. Practice your deep breathing when your child is calm. By practicing during calm moments, your children will be equipped to use this calm down tool in moments of anger or anxiety. You can even use these breathing techniques when calming your children down during bedtime routine.
Work Closely With Your Child: all children are different and when you are practicing feel breathing there should be no pressure to do breathe in one exact or right way. Do what makes your child comfortable, so that they will be comfortable when it’s time to use the tool.
Mindful Breathing Books For Kids
If you want to have some mindful breathing books for your kids calm down corner, here are some excellent options.
Peace Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee MacLean
Piggy can get sad and angry when things don’t go his way, especially when life is so busy and there are so many places to go. Find out how young piglets can find peace in this crazy busy world.
Buy this book on Amazon.
Puppy Mind by Andrew Jordan Nance
This book is all about a young boy who finds out that his mind works like a puppy’s mind and is always wandering away. He learns how to train his mind and feel present in the moment through breathing exercises. The boy becomes a strong and caring master of his puppy mind!
Buy this book on Amazon.
Breathe Like a Bear by Kira Willey
This is a book designed to teach kids to manage their breath emotions and bodies with 30 simple short breathing movements that can be used anytime and anywhere.
Buy this book on Amazon.
The Lemonade Hurricane: A Story of Mindfulness and Meditation by Licia Morelli
This book teaches children to be still and breathe. This is really great for children who behave like a “hurricane” and run through the house.
Buy this book on Amazon.
Alphabreaths: The ABCs of Mindful Breathing By Christopher Willard PsyD
Children can learn the ABC’s and the basics of mindfulness to connect them with nature and fill their hearts with gratitude.
Buy this book on Amazon.
Conclusion
Breathing exercises are important, but they don’t get anywhere without practice. Make sure your child practices these breathing exercises regularly, preferably every day. They can do so at school, during a break or even before bedtime.
When your child practices breathing exercises, they are not only improving their lung capacity but also their focus and relaxation skills. Regular breathing exercises for kids can help them manage stress, anxiety, and insomnia.
They can also help your child get along better with others and be more confident! Breathing exercises can help your child with all of these things and more.
They are simple to teach and easy to practice, so there’s no reason not to encourage your child to breathe better.
