Background information

This activity uses mindful breathing techniques to teach children how to shift emotional states. This is a practice that can settle children, and foster calm and focused attention. These practices can be incorporated into everyday life to lessen anxiety and relieve stress amongst children, educators, and families.

Please find out more about the importance of breathing exercises for our health here: The Benefits Of Breathing Exercises.

This activity has been developed in partnership with Beata Heymann from Breath Circle. You can find out more about Beata and arrange for her to come to your centre by registering here.

In this activity, you will be sharing a clip with children. The clip is a guided breathing exercise, where children will be asked to follow the instructions and actions presented in the clip. If you can, go through the breathing exercise yourself before sharing it with your children. That way you will know what is expected of them, and be able to support them through the activities.

Research has shown that spending time outdoors has many benefits, especially for children. This also applies to practices like breathwork and mindfulness. Research suggests that presenting these activities outdoors may make our minds wander less, and allow us to focus more on being present. The research also suggests that mindfulness practices conducted outside can have greater benefits to mental, physical, and social health than those undertaken indoors. Find out more here and here.

Part A: Discussion

Step 1.

Gather the children together in an open space. This activity can be presented indoors or outdoors.

If you have an activity that you use with children to focus their attention (such as three claps, a song, or a poem), you could do this now.

Once you have their attention, explain to them that they are now going to explore space. They will do this by thinking about space, stars, the moon, and the planets.

You could tune children in by singing a song, or reading a poem or book, for example:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jane Taylor
Star Light, Star Bright
The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers
Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle

More poems about space can be found here.

Step 2.

Invite children to share what they already know about space. You could pose some questions, and facilitate a discussion with the following I wonder statements:

I wonder where space is.
I wonder what we might find in space.
I wonder what it might be like to be in space.
I wonder what words we could use to describe space/stars/the moon/planets.
I wonder what things about space you are most interested in.
.

The power of pauses - Pauses have been shown to be an effective tool for encouraging children to participate in conversations because they:

• slow down the interaction
• provide the children with time to think, process, and construct a response
• allow other children to to talk
• enable educators to plan their follow-up responses to the children's comments and questions
• acknowledge and praise the children’s thinking: 'I really like the way you thought about … '

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in children, click here.

Step 3.

Invite children to recall a time when they looked up at the night sky, and pose the following I wonder statements:

I wonder if you saw the stars or the moon.
I wonder how it made you feel to look at space. What feelings did you have? Did you feel calm, excited or even a little bit afraid?

The aim here is to connect children’s experiences of space to their bodies and emotions. This can help children recognise and communicate their feelings and emotions, and support them in working towards social and emotional regulation.

Part B: Breathing activity

Step 1.

Explain to the children that they will watch a clip to help them connect to space and feel calm and relaxed. Throughout this clip, children will be asked to move their bodies gently, focus on their breath, and listen to the instructions.

Share the following clip with your children:

Breath Circle - Space (with captions) (https://vimeo.com/677549035)

Step 2.

Once you have watched the clip, spend some time talking with children about their experience of the breathing activity:

I wonder what you liked about this activity.
I wonder if you feel different in your body now.
I wonder if you feel different in your mind.
I wonder if you would like to do this again.

Part C: Possible lines of development

Children may have developed their own ideas about how to extend upon the themes presented in this activity. If not, choose one of the following ideas to explore with them:

Build a spaceship and take a trip to space! Work with children to build a spaceship (with plenty of buttons and dials for little fingers). Create a map of where to go and take a trip together.
Make a space scene out of playdough. Create some astronauts and aliens! Who can make the weirdest alien, and what planet would they live on? What other odd things might you find in space?
Listen to songs about space and do some space dancing! For example, this Spotify playlist has heaps of space-themed music, especially for children.
Space crafts! Children could create and colour stars, planets, and moons to hang in your centre (you could create a space zone).
Use the breathing exercise in this activity throughout the day to calm the children or focus their attention. This could be helpful for transition moments in your centre, such as before and after meal, story, or nap times. If you need a shorter exercise, try taking just three or five breaths.
Spend some time exploring the Zones of Emotional Regulation Chart with children. Social and emotional learning strategies seek to equip children with knowledge and skills that positively impact their ability to manage emotions and behaviours, as well as improve their interactions with peers, parents, or other adults. The chart can help children visualise their feelings and build their emotional vocabulary, shifting them away from rote responses like 'good' to more nuanced responses like 'curious', 'excited', or 'worried'. Find out more here.

Want more breathing activities? You can find some more here, or register to see if Beata can visit your centre in person.

Breath Circle - Space (home learning)

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