🌈Welcome to the Zen Zone.🕊️

If you find yourself in need of a calming minute, here are some resources that you might find helpful.

Blow Bubbles

To be able to blow bubbles, you need to be able to control your breathing. Blowing big bubbles means taking big, deep breaths. This can be very relaxing!

Watching the bubbles float away, dancing in the air can help ground you too. Not to mention, when they pop, you can imagine it's your extra energy 'popping' out of your system!

Worry monster/doll

A problem shared, is a problem halved.

Sometimes, if you have a worry, just getting it out can help you to feel better. Having a worry doll/monster you can tell your worry to is a great way to share your feelings.

Just tell your doll/monster whats bothering you, and it will keep that worry for you - so you don't have to!

You can then talk about the worries/bothers/problems together.

You could make your own worry monster, or you could use a doll or toy you already have.

Just a minute

This is an online resource with lots of one-minute videos to help meditation. There's a Kids Section, with meditation videos designed especially for children!

Cosmic Kids

We have used this in Nursery! Some of the videos can be a little bit long and tricky, but we often find that the children enjoy the stories and try to complete the yoga moves the best they can. They can all be found on YouTube, or there is a Cosmic Kids App available to download too.

Take some time out and listen to some relaxing music.

This is something we do during snack time in Nursery. We spend time, enjoying our fruit and milk, listening to calming music and talking about what we have done during the day. We think about what we have enjoyed, who we have played with and how we have been kind to others during the day.

There are lots of 'relaxing music for children' videos available on YouTube, but here are some of our favourites:

This one has lots of our favourite Disney songs, played on the piano. We enjoy naming the films as the songs and pictures play!

This one has lots of cheeky monkeys and other animals - we enjoy talking about the animals we can see.

This one has lots of underwater animals to watch. We like to watch the fish swimming, and we talk about what we can see

Lead by Example

Set aside a time where you put away technology and spend time doing something you enjoy, together. You could cook, do so some arts an crafts or read a book. Give each other your full attention, and resist checking phones/emails during this time.

Be Thankful

At the end of the day, take some time to share the good things that happened that day.  This can help you to appreciate the positives, rather than focus on any negatives.

You could make a 'jar of happiness', where you write the things that have made you happy and put it into the jar. At the end of the week/month/year, you can then pull out the happy memories, and remind yourself of all of the positive things you have experienced during that time.

ELSA Support from School

Miss Bensley, our ELSA Lead, has put together lots of resources to help children (and parents!) understand and control their emotions. Some of it might be a little advanced for nursery children, but there are lots of things that might be useful - it doesn't hurt to give it a try!

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

Sometimes, just taking a minute to think about things that help make you happy can be enough to keep you grounded. Have a go at a gratitude scavenger hunt - to find things you know you already like, and maybe find some new likes too!

Cbeebies Daydreams

This is a one hour 'wind-down', brought to you by Cbeebies. It aims to focus on the finer details of the world to help you relax.

Sensory Bottles

Sensory/Galaxy bottles are a really good resource to help calm down. Watching the glitter swirl around and settle in the bottle can be a fantastic way to stop and take a calming minute. You can buy sensory bottles online, but it is also very easy to make your own. The instructions can be found below.