Relaxation Cards for Children: 20 Calming Activities
Give children simple ways to practise relaxation and find what helps them feel calm.
These relaxation cards for children provide 20 different relaxation exercises that can be used during ELSA sessions, individually or with a small group. The cards were created from ideas shared by ELSAs about the relaxation activities they use with children, making them a practical collection of simple exercises to try.
Print and laminate the cards, then keep them together on a key ring so they are easy to have to hand whenever you want to introduce a relaxation activity. Children can work through the different cards and discover which activities they particularly enjoy or find helpful.
Having a selection of relaxation exercises means you can adapt your approach to the individual child. What helps one pupil to relax may not work for another, so trying different activities can help children begin to identify the strategies that suit them.
The cards can be used as part of the relaxation section of an ELSA session, as a short activity between more focused tasks or whenever a child would benefit from taking a pause and changing the pace of a session.
The resource can help children to:
- explore different ways to relax
- develop awareness of what helps them feel calm
- practise simple relaxation techniques
- build a collection of strategies they can use when needed
- recognise that different relaxation activities work for different people
- develop confidence in choosing strategies that feel right for them.
A practical collection of relaxation activities for children that gives ELSAs plenty of ideas to try and helps pupils build their own toolkit of calming strategies.
Download: Relaxtion Cards
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These are fabulous, can’t wait to start using them I’ve also found reading your summary of the mindfulness chat really worthwhile and it has answered a lot of questions for me. Thank you
Thank you for all your lovely resources we have brought and down loaded the friendship skillls intervention , i cant wait to start using it .:)
Fantastic resource, useful for a range of age groups. We have more children who are anxious and this is a great way to encourage ways to relax and have fun practising!
I made these books for my ELSA group, they love them. One of the children also attends a group delivered by an outside agency, he took them with him to a session and they loved them too……. 🙂 Thank you.
Fabulous, thank you for the feedback. Really great to hear how the resources are being used with children. Makes my sharing and making them really worthwhile 🙂
Fab! I will print off these cards and make a relaxation book for my ELSA pupils and teachers too!!!