These lovely calm stones are a great DIY calming tool for kids. I added a whole lot of different calming strategies to the rocks; like mindful mazes, gratitude prompts, breathing exercises, mindfulness through using your senses and positive affirmations.
They are so easy to make and great for children and adults to use as a calming tool. Have them dotted around the home, in a little bag to take on your travels or even share the calm and give them as a gift.
{Related Post: DIY Stone Puzzle and Art Activity}
Pin these DIY Calming Tool for Kids for Later
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Just painting stones alone is such a fun activity kids, but I love to gently weave in some well being skills as a bonus. In this activity you may want to prep the stones in advance to use with younger children or include some of their own painted stones in the set too. Older kids will love coming up with their own calming strategies or picking ones they would like to try.
Choosing Calming Strategies with your Kids
Choosing calming strategies to go on the stones is a really fun part of the process. You may use some of the more simple activities for younger children like tracing the lines and prompting the use of their senses to practice mindfulness. Just being together and playing with the stones is a lovely calming activity. Try stacking them, lining them up or making a stone puzzle.
Older children can choose strategies that they already use or even create new ones that they would like to try. The stones can act as an anchor for kids, a reminder of what helps to calm their bodies and minds. Just simply holding a stone in their hands and focusing on that, can help to ground kids in the moment and let feelings like anger, anxiety or worry pass.
Here is a list of calming strategy ideas that you could try:
- Listen – What can you hear? Maybe ask to find 3 things they can hear
- Smell – What can you smell? or imagine a smell
- Look – What can you see? Specifically you could choose colours or certain things to notice.
- Feel – Either to feel the stone and notice it or something around them
- Breathe – Drawing a flower, tracing a wave or just a prompt to breathe is nice.
- Mindful maze – Draw a maze or spiral and get kids to trace it
- Gratitude – Add a prompt for kids to practice gratitude
- Affirmations – Add a strengths based affirmation that kids could repeat
- Jokes or images – Make write or draw something funny
- Use the stone – Highlight natural features of the stones like bumps or lines
Here’s what you’ll need to make these great DIY calming tool for kids:
- Stones (Various shapes, we used 14)
- Posca Pen (we used this 0.7mm one and the aqua green colour is great!)
- Protection spray
- Optional – Small Bag or box to keep in or make into a gift.
Lets get Started!
If you try this activity out I would love to hear! Tag us on Instagram at @calmahoykids
How to Use Calm Stones with your kids
Use Calm Stones in a Calm Kit
These calm stones make a lovely calm kit for kids. A calm kit is a set of tools that children can use to manage big emotions or just use for downtime whenever they like. You can just add the stones to a box or bag by themselves or combine them with other tools.
Check out my favourite calm kit items for kids from Etsy.
Use Calm Stones in a Calm Corner
Add your calm stones to a calm corner. A calm corner is a safe, cozy space where kids can safely manage their emotions or just spend their down time relaxing in. A calm corner will usually have cushions and a blanket and have a choice of visual cues and calming tools. We use ours stones in our calm corner at home and love mixing them up with lots of other calming activities.
This is a list of my favourite calm corner goodies for kids from Etsy
Use these DIY Calming Tools for Kids at Home or in the Classroom
The great thing is that these calm stones are inexpensive and easy to make. So you can have a set at home, some in the garden, in the car and maybe even pop one or two in your kids school bag as a way for them to take a calm moment at school.
We boxed up a set for my son’s preschool and he was able to share them at mat time with the other children. They are then going to add them to their classroom calm space. They are a lovely way to add a little calm to a classroom or playground.
Here is a list of all my favourite calming tools for the classroom on Etsy.
Make a Mindful Gift and Share the Calm
As I mentioned before we recycled a little box and made a set of the calm stones for his classroom calm corner. This is such a lovely way to practice kindness with your kids. Making a homemade gift for someone, especially one that supports their well being is a beautiful present. You could even just leave the calm stones on the pavement or in special places and practice random acts of kindness.
If you don’t have time to make a kindness gift then you can always find a lovely homemade gift to send on Etsy. Here are some of my faves!
If you would like to practice more creative, calming activities with your children at home or in the classroom. I have lots to choose from in my store or head over to my freebie library for some free printables!
{Find lots of fun breathing activities in either my Etsy or Teachers Pay Teachers Store}
I hope you enjoy making these beautiful calm stones with your kids or for yourself, we really did love them and it was a lovely way to connect through creativity and calm! Emma x
