Kids Yoga Stories is on a mission to make learning breathwork fun and easy for children!
We know that many children these days are dysregulated, disconnected, and distracted. We also know that children learn best when they are regulated, calm, and focused.
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Today, join us in exploring how to teach children to learn essential breathing techniques through playful and tactile means for our kinesthetic learners. To spark your creativity, we’ve offered up four ways to use simple materials like Wikki Stix and pipe cleaners to create shapes that help to practice breathing exercises, like deep belly breathing and extending your exhale.
These breathing exercises for kids not only foster calmness and focus but also prepare children to engage effectively in learning environments. These breathing activities are designed to be engaging, accessible, and, most importantly, effective in nurturing a sense of well-being in young minds.
Join us as we blend creativity with mindfulness, transforming breathing exercises into playful adventures!
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4 Fun, Easy Tactile Options for Teaching Breathwork to Children
1-Rainbow Breath
How to create your rainbow:Start by arranging colored pipe cleaners into a rainbow. Put the colors in order, bend them into an arc, and cut the rainbow arcs to your desired lengths.
How to practice Rainbow Breath:Take your pointer finger to the inside of your rainbow. Inhale deeply while moving your pointer finger along the purple arc of the rainbow, then exhale slowly while tracing back along the purple arc. Then inhale while following your finger along the blue arc of the rainbow and exhale back across the blue arc. Continue like this, inhaling and exhaling as you follow each color of the rainbow—green, yellow, orange, and red. By the time you get to the red arc, try slowing down your inhale and exhale to bring you to calm and focus.
Rainbow Breath
2-Box Breath
How to create your box shape:Take two Wikki Stix and cut them exactly in half. Create a box shape with the four equal sides. Carefully join each of the corners by pressing the Wikki Stix together.
How to practice Box Breath:Start by placing your pointer finger on the bottom left corner of your Wikki Stix box shape. Take a deep breath in for four counts as you trace your finger up to the top left corner of the box. Hold your finger on the corner as you exhale for four counts. Then take a deep breath in for four counts as you trace your finger across the box shape to the top right corner. Stop there and exhale for four counts. Repeat the pattern of inhale-stop-exhale-inhale-stop-exhale, as you take your finger around the box. Continue like this for a few minutes and then return to breathing naturally.
Box Breath
3-Extended Exhale
How to create the double-triangular shape:Take three Wikki Stix. Take two of the Stix and cross them in the middle into an X-shape. Cut one of the Stix in half. Attach each of the mini-Stix to the outside of the X-shape, so that you create two triangular shapes.
How to practice Extended Exhale:Take your pointer finger to the bottom left corner of your Wikki Stix triangle shape. Inhale deeply for 3 to 5 counts as you trace up the short side of the triangle. Then exhale slowly for 6 to 10 counts as you trace your finger along the long line to the bottom right corner. Then inhale for 3 to 5 counts as you trace up to the top right corner. Then exhale slowly for 6 to 10 counts as you trace your finger along the lone line back to the bottom left corner. Try to make your exhale twice as long as your inhale. Repeat a few times.
Extended Exhale
4-Figure 8 Breath
How to create your 8 shape:Take your favorite-colored pipe cleaner and bend it into an “eight” shape. Twist the two ends together to complete the loop.
How to practice Figure 8 Breath:With your pointer finger, touch the eight-shaped pipe cleaner. As you trace the figure “8,” practice inhaling and exhaling deeply. Focus your eyes on your moving finger and feel your belly expand and contract with your deep belly breathing.
Figure 8 Breath
You can also find little videos of those breaths on our Instagram account (Figure 8 Breath, Rainbow Breath).
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