Creative Solutions to Help You Settle Down

Hello Gardeners!

We all experience those moments when we feel worked up, overwhelmed, antsy, and a little all over the place. Previously on the blog, we've talked about grounding techniques, breathing techniques, and ways to wind down - but today we are going to look at some activities and crafts that make settling down simple and satisfying!

Have your students make #FlowerBreathers!

Any time you see a student get worked up, have them pull out their flower breather and ask them to take 10 slow, deep breaths. Using a tool like this helps kids focus on the breath because they can visualize it and it's a great way for them to practice self-regulation!

Here's what you'll need:

First, cut out and glue squares of tissue paper to cover the toilet paper tube - if you don't have time for this step, feel free to just leave them their natural color or use markers instead! Then, trace the outline of your tube on a piece of construction paper. Draw 3 small rectangles around the inside of your circle - these will act as tabs to attach to the tube.

Draw flower petals around that circle, and then cut out the shape of the flower. Next, cut out the circle - be sure to leave your tabs! Repeat this step with at least one other piece of colored paper and experiment with different flower shapes.

Attach your flower petals to your tube using glue or tape. Then, cut out strips of tissue paper and glue or tape them to the other side of the tube. Let your glue dry, then have your students take deep breaths through the tube and watch the tissue paper move with their breath!

Print out #WordSearches and #ColoringPages.

Activities likes this require focus and help gardeners go from all over the place to present in a short amount of time. You can find free, downloadable word searches here and free coloring pages here.

Create a calming sensory station in your classroom.

Fill small canvas bags with calming scents like lavender, jasmine, rosemary, rose petal and allow students to explore the various smells. Provide some stress balls, silly putty, and moon sand for some unique textures. Maybe even provide a set of headphones or an eye mask to help block out the audible and visual distraction.

The Imagination Tree has some wonderful calming, sensory activities. Click the image to see more!

Play a game like Telephone!

Telephone is a great activity to do if your students need a change of pace! If your students respond to being overwhelmed by using loud voices, this is sure to quiet everyone down. Also - it's fun! Students get to work together and laugh, which is a great way to hit the reset button.

When in doubt, you can alway pull out a grounding technique or a breathing technique to do with your whole class!

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How do you help your students settle down? We would love to hear your tips and share your activities with gardeners everywhere! Thanks for reading along, gardeners and don't forget to #PullYourWeeds!