10 Breathing Exercises for Kids

Why Teaching Deep Breathing to Kids Is Important

Deep breathing is an evidence-based strategy to help children manage their emotions throughout the day. When children experience stress, hormones in their bodies are released in a fight or flight response response, causing physiological changes and activation of the sympathetic nervous system.¹ Deep breathing is a mindfulness skill for kids that reduces stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for calming the body after a perceived threat.¹

How to Teach Breathing Exercises to Kids

Teaching deep breathing exercises for kids can be a simple and fun bonding activity for families. Children naturally love to play and are more drawn to activities they perceive as fun. Framing relaxation activities as a type of play by incorporating toys, fun imagery, and silliness can make children enjoy practicing these skills.

Like any new skill, breathing exercises for kids are most easily learned during states of calm. Practicing skills when a child is calm may help the skill to be more easily accessed when a child is upset. Repetition is also a natural part of teaching a child any new skill. Be prepared to repeat instructions and practice skills multiple times.

What Age Is Appropriate to Start Teaching Deep Breathing Exercises?

It’s never too early to start teaching and modeling mindfulness at home. Studies have found that children as young as ages 3 to 5 displayed benefits from practicing mindfulness, including improvements in emotional regulation and attention.² Parents practicing mindfulness also positively impact their children by lowering their stress levels, reducing impulsiveness, and increasing children’s positive perceptions of their relationship with their parents.^3,4

Teaching a child deep breathing strategies should always be done in the presence of a caregiver. Young children are unable to use these tools independently and rely on a caregiver for support in regulating their emotions. Using mindfulness as a consequence or sending a child to time-out to independently use calming skills will often result in children resisting and/or having negative feelings about using strategies.

10 Breathing Exercises for Kids

Kids often learn best when strategies are tailored to appeal to their interests and developmental levels. These breathing exercises can be an easy way to teach your child how to take a deep breath while tapping into their natural strengths of being silly and playful.

Here are ten breathing techniques for kids:

1. The Balloon Breath

Have your child lie on their back or sit comfortably with their feet on the floor and instruct them to place both hands on their belly. Encourage your child to imagine their belly is a balloon as they take a slow, deep breath in and practice taking equally slow breaths out. Engage them in noticing their belly expand like a balloon while inhaling and deflate while exhaling.

2. Counting Breath

Sit with your child in a comfortable location. Model inhaling while counting to 5 on your fingers, holding your breath, and then exhaling while counting to 5 on your fingers. If your child needs more of a visual, you can draw a square on a piece of paper and practice tracing a finger on each side as you breathe in, hold, breathe out, and hold.

3. Snake Breath

Engage your child in taking a deep belly breath, and then, as they exhale, have them make a continuous hissing sound like a snake. Once they have the general technique down, have your child practice making both a loud and soft hiss to encourage even more body and breath control.

4. Teddy Bear Breathing

Have your child pick out a favorite stuffed animal for this exercise. While your child is lying down (or sitting if that is more comfortable), have them hold or place their stuffed animal on their belly. Engage your child in noticing how their stuffed animal rises with a deep breath in and falls with a deep breath out.

5. Bubble Blowing

Take turns blowing bubbles. Have your child start with their typical bubble blowing and then engage them in practicing blowing big bubbles. Coach your child on taking slow, deep breaths and then practicing blowing out slowly to achieve bigger and bigger bubbles.

6. Pinwheel

Using a pinwheel from the dollar store, instruct your child to blow into the pinwheel. Reflect on how different breaths affect the pinwheel. For example, fast, forceful breaths cause the pinwheel to spin briefly, while slow, deep exhales cause the pinwheel to spin for a long time. Take turns seeing who can make the pinwheel spin the longest.

7. Pizza Breath

Have your child hold their hands in front of them and visualize holding a slice of pizza or their favorite warm food. Practice taking slow, deep breaths in to “smell the pizza” and exhaling slowly to “cool the pizza.”

8. Birthday Candle Breathing

Instruct your child to hold out the number of fingers that corresponds with their age. Help them to visualize that each finger is a birthday candle. Engage your child in taking a slow, deep breath in and exhaling slowly, blowing out one birthday candle. Repeat until all candles have been “blown out.”

9. Rainbow Breathing

Have your child sit comfortably and engage them in pointing to something red that they can see. Once your child identifies an object, have them take a slow, deep breath while they look for something orange. Continue until you have worked through all the colors of the rainbow.

10. Glitter Jar

Use a glitter jar or sensory jar if you have one. Have your child shake up the jar and practice taking deep breaths while watching the glitter fall. Use the glitter as a metaphor to help children understand that calming their bodies after feeling big feelings is like the glitter falling after being shaken up.

How to Encourage a Child to Practice Regularly

Practicing daily can be simple. If you have an established morning or bedtime routine, consider adding a step to practice deep breathing. If you can fit 1 to 2 minutes of practice into your child’s daily routine, that can be enough to help them learn and practice breathing strategies. Remember, some are better than none, and practicing does not need to be perfect.

Here are some tips for encouraging your child to practice deep breathing:

• Be silly and animated because the more engaged you are, the more engaged they are
• Give them your undivided attention to make this a special time with your child
• Stay calm and encouraging because your child may need time to practice skills to really understand deep breathing
• Model the behaviors you want to show that you use deep breathing too!
• Modify any of the strategies to fit your child’s interests

Tools for Teaching Deep Breathing Techniques to a Child

There are many supports available to help your child learn deep breathing. Many popular television programs, such as Sesame Street and Bluey, include social-emotional learning and have an episode about deep breathing and coping skills for kids. There are also many children’s books about deep breathing, including Alphabreaths: The ABCs of Mindful Breathing and Breathing Is My Superpower.

If your child enjoys tablet time, they may be receptive to using an app with parent support. The HeadSpace app has meditations for children that are broken down for kids ages 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. If you’re looking for a free app, Breathwrk is a great resource for the whole family to engage in guided deep breathing exercises.

Overcoming a Child’s Disinterest in Breathing Exercises

If you are having difficulty engaging your child, that can be understandably frustrating. Taking a step back to reflect on possible reasons can be helpful before moving forward with teaching skills. If it feels like a power struggle, try allowing your child to make as many choices as possible about when and what type of skill to practice.

If your child is averse to engaging in activities perceived as “work” or “boring,” make sure you are being playful while practicing skills and labeling this time together as playtime. Finding ways to incorporate skills into activities or interests your child already enjoys also increases the likelihood they will enjoy practicing deep breathing.

Treatment Options for Anxiety in Children

While anxiety in children can be typical at times during development, symptoms of anxiety can also become persistent and negatively impact a child’s life. Some parents may not realize their child is anxious until they receive feedback from a pediatrician or teacher. This can be because children often show us they are anxious through their behavior rather than their words.

Knowing the signs of anxiety in children can help parents identify symptoms early. Signs of anxiety in children can include frequent complaints of physical ailments, seeming tense or expressing frequent fears, seeking reassurance before activities or separation, refusing to participate in school or other fun activities, and difficulty with sleep. Children with anxiety symptoms may benefit from treatment for anxiety.

Treatment options for anxiety in children include:

• Cognitive behavior therapy: CBT is a modality of therapy that focuses on the relationships between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to identify maladaptive beliefs and behaviors while finding new coping strategies. For children in cognitive behavioral therapy, ideas and strategies of CBT can be incorporated into playful activities and games.
• Dialectical behavior therapy: DBT for kids is a modality often used in intensive outpatient or in-hospital therapy programs for children to help improve a child’s ability to cope with strong emotions. It focuses on 4 main components: mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
• Play therapy: Play therapy is a therapeutic approach that utilizes a child’s natural ability to play to help children process feelings and thoughts with the support of a trained mental health provider. It can be especially helpful for children ages 3-12 and often includes parent sessions to provide education and support.
• Art therapy: Art therapy for children is a specialized form of psychotherapy that utilizes the process of making art to express and process emotions. Children who have difficulty expressing emotions verbally can greatly benefit from the modality of art therapy.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR can be extremely helpful for children who have experienced a traumatic event. It utilizes a specialized therapy protocol based on neuroscience to reprocess traumatic memories via bilateral stimulation. It is an evidence-based treatment to reduce anxiety.

When to Seek Professional Help

If you are concerned that your child may need additional support, there are professionals trained to help. Parents can typically find referrals by reaching out to their child’s pediatrician or guidance counselor. Online therapist directories can also help find a therapist for your child. Parents who wish to use their insurance benefits can also call their insurance provider to receive a list of in-network therapists.