Hot Chocolate Breathing – A calmer, more comforting New Year
Did you know you can calm your class with hot chocolate breathing?
You don’t even have to worry about having hot drinks in the classroom because all the magic happens in their imagination!
It is one of my favourite activities at this time of year because everyone loves a hot chocolate when they come in from the cold, don’t they?
So how can you use imaginary hot chocolate to calm your class?
It’s simple!
Instructions:
- Ask your children to imagine they are picking up a big mug of hot chocolate (if they don’t like hot chocolate they can imagine it is hot squash, tea, coffee, whatever hot drink they enjoy).
- Imagine the warmth of the drink in your hands, you can close your eyes if you like.
- Now hold your drink up to your mouth but don’t drink, just take a big smell of your hot chocolate.
- Breathe out slowly enjoying the smell of your hot chocolate.
- Take several big deep smells of your drink and slowly breathe out as though you are cooling your drink.
- When you are ready imagine your are taking a sip: Is it cool enough to drink? Can you feel the warmth of the hot chocolate in your mouth? Can you feel it moving through your chest and down into your stomach?
- You can repeat these steps as many times as you like.
It is such a simple process but by focusing on their breathing the children are calming themselves down immediately. They are also using their imaginations, something which is so important for children’s development and creativity.
So when are you going to treat your class to a hot chocolate?
For lots more breathing techniques to help you create a Calmer Classroom why not sign up for my newsletter and get my amazing free gifts.