Tips To Help Your Child

Fizzy Lemonade
Jump up and down or shake your body as fast as you can for as long as possible. Now, stop and feel your body fizzing like lemonade. This exercise helps you feel the energy in your body and helps you to notice the difference between moving and relaxing.

Pencil
Stand or sit up tall, with your legs together. Raise your arms above your head and clasp your thumbs together with your fingers pointing upwards. Stand very tall and stretch your whole body, squeezing your legs together and squeezing your arms against your ears. Squeeze your whole body as tight as you can. After about 10 seconds of squeezing tight, let your arms go and relax. This exercise shows you how a good stretch held for a few seconds can help you feel relaxed and energised.

Butterflies
Give yourself a massage and let your finger lightly flutter like a butterfly all over your face, neck, chest and arms. This exercise shows you how a gentle massage can help you feel better.

Thumb Massage
Hold your left hand with your right hand, placing your right thumb in the middle of your left palm. Very gently, stroke and circle your thumb around your palm. This exercise is to help you feel relaxed. You can do this whenever you are feeling stressed or anxious.

Icy Breaths
Imagine you are blowing on a cold window. Take in a deep breath, open your mouth and breathe out very slowly and steadily. Can you see how misty the window is? Repeat the exercise. This exercise is to help you control your out breath to help you feel relaxed.

Bubble Breaths
Imagine you are blowing bubbles of peace into the room. Imagine you have a pot of bubble liquid. Take in a breath. Slowly and gently blow bubbles into the room. As you blow out the bubbles, imagine they are filled with peace and the whole room is filling up with peace. Do you feel peaceful? This exercise is to help you use your breath and your imagination to become relaxed.

Balloon Breaths
Imagine you are blowing up a balloon. Take in a deep breath, and steadily and slowly blow up your huge balloon. See the balloon getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Now close your eyes and imagine the balloon floating into the air. As you stand there, feel yourself becoming very quiet and peaceful. Repeat this exercise 2 or 3 times. When you are feeling cross, you can blow up the balloon, fill it with cross thoughts, put it on the floor and stamp on it. This exercise is good to help you focus on breathing deep into your stomach to help you relax.

Affirmation
Close your eyes and say to yourself quietly, I am calm, I am quiet, I am peaceful, I am calm, I am quiet I am peaceful. This exercise is good for you to learn how to use your thoughts to help you feel relaxed and peaceful.

Butter on Toast
Lie down on the floor and imagine you are a piece of butter melting on warm toast. Feel the whole of your body sinking into the floor as the butter melts. Enjoy the feeling as you relax all your muscles. This exercise is good for helping you to focus on relaxing your muscles.

Body Relax
Sit or lie and stay as still as you can. One by one, ask or command each part of your body to relax and be still. Relax your left leg, relax your right leg, relax your stomach, relax your back, relax your left arm, relax your right arm, relax your shoulders, relax your neck, relax your head. This exercise is good for helping you to concentrate and teaching you to relax yourself.