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 could be 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 that they are going to explore the water. They will do this by sharing what they already know about water, and will participate in an activity where they get to be water!

Step 2.

Share the following image with children (also available here):

Invite children to have a good look at the image and share their thoughts about what they see, think, and feel about it. You could use the following I wonder statements to guide them:

I wonder what this is a picture of.
I wonder what you can see in this picture.
I wonder what this picture makes you think about. Does it make you think about swimming, playing in the water, being at the beach, or feeling cool on a hot day?
I wonder how this picture makes you feel. Does it make you want to swim or play on the beach, or does it make you thirsty?
I wonder if this picture makes you feel happy or sad. Or does it make you feel calm or excited?
.

‘I wonder' statements - using statements that begin with 'I wonder … ' is a great way to get children to share their ideas. 'I wonder … ' statements don’t necessarily have a correct response, so they leave children open to explore and share their ideas without fear of being wrong. Find out more open-ended questioning tips here.

Step 3.

Use the following I wonder statements:

I wonder how watching water makes you feel. How do you feel when you are watching water rushing down a river, tricking along a creek, or crashing onto the rocks during a storm? How do you feel when you see it raining? Does it make you feel calm or excited?
I wonder how being in the water makes you feel. Do you enjoy it? Does it make you feel calm or excited?

The aim here is to connect children’s experiences of water to their bodies and their 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 children that they will watch a clip to help them connect to water, and make them 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 - Water (with captions) (https://vimeo.com/677550160)

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:

Play with water! Set up a water table or some buckets of water. Give the children some cups, spoons, sieves, funnels, and jugs to play with. You could also provide them with a range of water toys. As they play, talk to them about how the water makes them feel.
Does it float or sink? Using buckets or tubs or water, invite children to take a range of objects from the garden or around the room (with your approval) to test if they float or sink. Objects could include small stones and shells, sticks, wooden blocks, feathers, plastic bowls or spoons, and small pieces of fabric. You could also make some boats to float!
Paint with water. Give children a cup of water and a paintbrush. Direct them to ‘paint’ with the water on a path or wall. What happens to their paintings?
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 - Water (home learning)

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