Balloon Breaths, A Mindful Breathing Exercise for Children.

Balloon Breaths introduce children to mindful, deep breathing. Breathing into our bellies sends a signal to our bodies that we want to relax. Balloon breathing not only can help us to feel calm, but it fills our body with energising oxygen, it can help promote restful sleep and help us to learn to manage our emotions.

There are many types of breathing exercise and techniques, so its a good idea to try and practice a few different breathing exercises with your child. Once they find a few that they like, its easier to incorporate them in to every day life. The idea is that taking a mindful breath becomes as habitual as brushing our teeth or riding a bike. It takes practice and modelling, but it can become our natural response to stress. Try out the Birthday Cake Breaths exercise and Buzzy Bee Breaths exercise.

{Download your free Balloon Breaths Printable here}

Mindful breathing is also a really handy tool for children, as you can do it anywhere, even in the hardest situation. You don’t need to sit down and close your eyes for five minutes, it can just be one or two breathes. You can practice without drawing attention to your self or causing any embarrassment, whether its anxiety before a test or dealing with hard feelings from not being picked in a sports team, the breath is always there to help bring some calm in these situations.

In this free printable I have included a poster with a hand painted Balloon, which could be laminated and used as a prompt or hung up in a calm corner or zen den at home or in the classroom. I’ve also included a mindful colouring sheet and an instructions card.

Below you will also find a more detailed script on how to initially introduce Balloon breaths to children. I hope that this will be a useful activity for you to use with your own children or with in a preschool classroom. Please I ask that you only use for personal use, but do share with anyone who you may think might find the resource useful.

A Balloon Breaths script for parents and educators that helps young students calm themselves by focusing on their breathing. (Download Script here)

1. Explain: “We are going to try a fun activity called Balloon Breaths, we are going to use our breath to fill our bellies just like a balloon.”

2. Suggest: “Imagine that you are holding a brightly coloured balloon between your hands, as it fills with air your hands expand and as the air deflates your hands get closer, that’s how our bellies will feel.”

3. Model: “Now let me show you first, I relax my shoulders and sit up tall, put my hand on my belly and take a big breath, I feel my belly getting bigger! and whoosh the balloon is deflated.”

4. Guide: “Now its your turn, firstly relax your shoulders and give them a wiggle. Sit up tall and pop your hand on your Belly. Now, take a slow, deep breath in through your nose and send the air into your belly. Imagining that you are filling your balloon, then blow out slowly, letting your belly get smaller. Try it again, but this time if you feel comfortable close your eyes. Imagine your favourite coloured balloon slowly filling with air and as you breathe out, let it go”. If children struggle they can put a sticker on their belly or lie down on the floor with a soft toy on their bellies.

5. Closure: Invite children to describe their experience and ask them what they noticed in their bodies.

The key to incorporating mindful breathing into your life is to remember. Try adding themed activities to the breathing exercise to really build the practice in to your child’s memory.

Benefits of Mindful Breathing

When we breathe more mindfully and stay connected to the present moment, we release endorphins, chemicals that have a calming effect.
Mindful breathing improves our immune systems.
Mindful breathing lowers our blood pressure and our heart rate.
Mindful breathing helps us to cope with the stress by activating the vagus nerve, which calms the stress response
Mindful breathing can reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety
Mindful breathing can increase our empathy and compassion both for others and ourselves

Mindful breathing supports us mentally, emotionally and physically and is a very simple, free and effective tool.