Regulation Activities
Starting our projects with a regulation activity is how we create space for making. Below are some examples of activities.
Games
Freeze Dance – turn on music. When music stops children have to freeze. Anyone caught moving is “out”
Clap Patterns – The leader creates a clapping pattern. Children have to listen and repeat. Let two kids be the leader.
Body Part Mix Up – The leader will call out body parts for the children to touch. For example, the leader calls out “knees” and the children touch their knees. Create one rule to start. Each time the leader says “head” touch your toes instead of your head. This requires the children to stop and think about their actions and to not just react. The leader calls out “knees, head, elbow”. The children should touch their knees, TOES and elbow. Continue practicing and adding other rules to change body parts.
Emotion poses -- Call out an emotion (start simple: happy, sad, upset, excited) and have kids silently act out the emotion with their movement or body pose. Progress to more complicated emotions (disappointed, bored, jolly, surprised) . Option: Ask kids to write different emotions they’ve been feeling in the chat, and then pick a few to call out to the group and have everyone create a pose for that emotion. Highlight how different the poses are and how emotions aren’t “good” and “bad” but could be on a continuum of high and low energy, and pleasant and unpleasant.
Names to Move by: Introduce yourself by saying your name and making a movement to go with it, then making a clap. Children repeat your name and movement and clap and then next child goes. (via Fiddleheads)
Simple Mindful Activities
Guided sensory challenge: Just looking around, or thinking of all time-favorite memories, you can just think of these things or write a list. Find 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
Hand Rubbing: Holding your hands together, with palms facing each other. Rub your hands together quickly.
What do you notice? What is the temperature of your hands?
Now, stop rubbing your hands, what do you notice now?
Are your hands still warm?
Are they cooling down? Are they tingling? What else do you notice?
“Help Now” resilience skills:
Push against the wall
Slowly drink a glass of water
Count backwards from 20
Name six colors you can see right now
Follow Along Movement
Stationary/ Body Scan: Take a moment to think about how your body feels. Stand or sit still and imagine a warm light (any color) starting at your head, and slowly scanning all the way down your body. As it moves, think about how each part or section of your body feels. Does it feel good, neutral, or in need of some attention?
Stand up and wiggle your body as much as you can for ten seconds to get the wiggles out (or start with the Shaking Countdown above)
Seated stretches:
Sitting tall in your chair, take a big inhale, feeling your lungs and stomach fill with air, on the exhale twist just your upper body, starting from your chest, with your upper body following, twice toward the back of your seat, looking in the same direction you’re twisting- looking over your shoulder as far as is comfortable. Take a few breaths here, twisting a tiny bit further (if it feels good) on each exhale. Return to the center on your inhale, and exhale to twist the other way.
Sitting tall in your chair, bring one foot up to the top of your opposite knee (Making a figure four shape), keeping your back straight, lean forward to stretch your hips as far as is comfortable. Bring both legs out straight in front of you, shaking them out. Do the other side.
Take a big breath in and bring your shoulders up to meet your ears. Exhale and release them back down.
Seated stretches (from NYT)
Start by looking over each shoulder and noticing where your gaze lands. Now, start the stretch on the right side by dropping your right ear to your right shoulder. Take two fingers to the top of your neck behind your left ear and find the sternocleidomastoid muscle, the little valley that runs down your neck. Gently walk your fingers down this muscle, palpitating as you go. Repeat on the other side. Now look over your shoulders again and notice how far you can see. You can do this stretch standing or sitting.
For another seated stretch to help you open your shoulders, release tight chest muscles and combat poor posture, scoot to the edge of your chair or stool, extend your arms behind your back and interlace your fingers. Try to keep the palms together and actively roll your shoulders back and puff up your chest. To deepen the stretch, start to lift your clasped hands. Hold the stretch for up to a minute.
Seated Cat/cow
Sit at the edge of your chair with both feet flat on the floor. Rest your palms on your knees. As you inhale, press the chest forward. As you exhale, tuck your chin to your chest and round the spine forward. Repeat three to five times, following your breath.
Side stretch: Inhale and sweep your arms overhead. Hold your left wrist with your right hand, keep your arms by your ears, exhale and bend toward the right. Hold the stretch for five breaths, inhale to center, switch your hands, exhale and bend to the left. Hold for five breaths. Inhale back to center, release the grip on your hands, exhale and twist to the right, letting your hands fall to the outside of your thigh or chair. Hold for five breaths, inhale to center and repeat to the left.
Standing sequence 1:
Now that we got all the wiggles out, stand still like a mountain- your arms to your side.
Feel your spine- all the little bones in your back - stack on top of each other as you stand straight and tall. Test your straight back by tucking your hips toward the front of your body, crunching your stomach like you might if you had a stomach ache, and then sticking your bottom out, swaying your your back. Return to your “neutral” spine, straight up and down.
(This can also be done seated) Feel your head sit right on top of your spine. Test it out by sticking your head out in front like a chicken and then lean it back by crunching your chin to your neck. Return to the center and then tilt one ear toward your shoulder, keeping your face forward. If it feels good, you can gently place that same hand on your head for an extra stretch. But be gentle with your body- especially your head and neck! Return to the center and then bring your other ear toward your shoulder. Return to the center, feeling your head right on top of your spine. You can think about the image of someone pulling a string from the top of your head.
Feel the ground under your feet, and then sway side to side and front to back, feeling the way your toes grip the floor and your body shifts to balance as you move. Is it easy or hard to stay upright? Does your body have to work harder to stay standing when you sway one particular way? Just notice how your body responds to the movement.
Stand still like a mountain again.
* If they still need to get more wiggles out, do a few rounds of crouching down into a little rock shape, and then exploding out like a volcano into a star jump.
Take a deep breath in and bring your arms up to touch over your head, breath out and bring your arms down the center of your body to rest on your heart or on your belly. Can you feel your heartbeat? Where do you feel it most? Put your hands there- this is your anchor spot.
With your hands on your anchor spot (heart or your belly), take three big, deep breaths. Inhale through your nose, feeling your lungs and then your belly fill all the way up with air.
Hold your breath in and count to three and then exhale (breathe out) through your mouth, feeling the air empty all the way out of your body, and the slightly cool feeling of the air passing through your lips.
Standing sequence 2: (chair pose)
Reach your arms up over your head, and as you breathe out, bend your legs just a little bit, and put your arms on your thighs, like you are about to sit in a chair. Straighten your legs as much as you can, lean all the way forward, bringing your fingers to reach toward your toes or touch the floor in front of you.
Inhale and come up like a gopher looking around, keeping your back flat, bringing your hands to rest above your knees. Exhale back into your forward fold.
Inhale roll up through each vertebra in your spine until your head is the very last thing to come up.
Standing sequence 3: (Star pose/ warrior two)
From your mountain pose, jump out into an X, or a star shape with one foot in front and one foot behind, with your arms wide open to the sides. Bend your front knee but keep the other one super straight. Gently turn your head to look over your front foot.
Straighten both legs, and stretch your arms high up over your head.
Do the other side: Jump so your other foot is in front and stretch your arms out to the side again. Bend your front knee. Gently turn your head to look over the front foot.
Straighten both legs and jump your feet together.
Standing sequence 4 (Cat/cow)
Come to your hands and knees- this is called table top- because your back is flat like a table.
Take a big breath in and look up to the sky, while your belly goes down to the ground.
Breathe out and look down at your belly button, arching your back like a halloween cat.
For a challenge: from table top, see if you can take one hand off the ground and stretch it out in front of you. Bring it back to the ground and try the other hand. Bring it back to the ground and try to straighten one leg back behind you, and then the other leg. Can you lift one hand and one foot off the ground at the same time? Is it easier or harder to balance if you lift the hand and foot on the same side or opposite sides?
Body scan at the end: Be still for a moment. Take three big, deep breaths and notice how your body feels. Does it feel any different than it did in the beginning?
Breathing Exercises
Anchor breathing -- Run in place, jog with high knees, do butt kickers, or jumping jacks for ten seconds (count backwards down from ten) and then say: If you feel comfortable, close your eyes, or soften your gaze looking at something still in front of you. Starting with the top of your head, and moving down your body, pay attention and try to feel where in your body you feel your heart beat hardest. Place your hands, one on top of the other, on that spot. If you feel it in two places, place one hand on each spot. It could be your heart, your belly, your throat, or anywhere else. This is your anchor spot. Anytime you feel yourself getting upset, put your hands on this spot and see if you can feel your heart beating again, and take deep breaths until it slows down.
Extended exhale breathing/counting breaths -- engages the parasynthetic nervous system to promote calming : count inhale 1, 2, 3, exhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Increase with capacity
Smell the Flower/ Blow out the candle -- Hold an invisible flower in one hand and an invisible birthday candle in the other- Smell the flower, taking a deep inhale through your nose, hold your breath in for three, two, one, and then exhaling through your mouth, blow out the candle in your other hand.
Bee breath -- Take a deep breath in, filling your lungs all the way up with air, and exhale with a humming noise through your teeth, buzzing like a bee.
Lion’s breath -- Take a deep breath in, stick your tongue out, and breath out making a roaring noise with your exhale
Finger breathing --Have kids trace the line of their fingers, inhaling while raising up the outside of the index finger and exhaling while tracing the fall on the other side - going back and forth along the fingers
Conductor breathing -- Stand up, breathing in, swoop your hands up over your head, on the exhale, bend at your waist, swinging your arms down and behind you, and breathe out with a big WHOOSH
Bubble breath -- Inhale, expanding your arms overhead like you’re in a bubble; lower on the exhale
Beginning/Ending Rituals
Rose + thorn : each child notes something that is a rose and something that is a thorn in their day (not necessarily bad, but hard right now!)
Body scan / tense and relax each body part
Diads (from Fiddleheads): Instruct children that they will be sharing in a sincere way. Explore the concept of sincerity. Sincere means from the heart. As their friends are sharing, they will be listening Mindfully. Go over mindful listening. (Listening with eyes, ears and heart.) After each person shares, the group will respond by reflecting. You may say cool, or oh, or wow, and then repeat what they said.
For example, "I am really good at Math" and the responder says, "Cool, you are really good at Math."
More themes:
"If you really knew me you'd know that..."
"I am good at…” or “One of my strengths is..."
"My favorite sport is, my favorite animal, my favorite subject in school, my favorite..."
Kind Wishes: Group, Ages Pre K to Adult, (2 to 30 people) (Emotional wellness,
empathy (theory of mind skills), imagination.) Go around and make kind wishes for ourselves, for each other, and for others in our lives: Instruct children to close their eyes and think of a wish for themselves. A wish for their heart that will give them peace or joy. It may be a wish about our family or our own lives.
Example: May I be happy. May I have lots of fun. May my wishes come true. May I make
lots of friends... May you continue to be able to make people laugh. May you make lots of
friends... May my grandma get better soon, May my mom feel less stress over the holidays.