5 Relaxation Games for Children and Families
Both at home and at school, children can experience a lot of stress. Many worried mothers and teachers come up with daily activities to combat this issue. Relaxation games for children are a great way to help them overcome this feeling.
It’s important to watch the rhythm of life that children have, which generally they get from their parents. Being so little, they don’t really think about it. They just want to keep jumping, playing or doing other activities. However, they also need a little peace and calm in their lives.
Because of the fast-pace life that many families have, relaxation games for children are great ways to balance the stress from daily life. Additionally, they’re great for adults too!
You can do these activities as a whole family. As a result, you actually help strengthen family bonds and create good vibes at home.
Advantages of relaxation games for children
Strategies that help adults relax don’t work the same way with children. Teens and adults can go for a walk, take a yoga class, or chat with friends to release pressure.
On the other hand, for kids, games help release all of the built-up emotions. Some of the advantages of relaxation games are:
- Effectively combat mental and physical stress.
- Help improve concentration and learning.
- Bring peace and calm.
- Reduce anxiety and panic attacks.
- When kids feel calm, they sleep better at night.
Relaxation games for children can be very therapeutic. They’re also a physical stimulant for both their body and mind. It’s important to have a wide variety of these activities. That way, kids will always have fun and want to play them.
Relaxation games for children and the whole family
1. Painting mandalas
This technique helps kids, teens and adults relax. When painting a mandala, both hemispheres of the brain, the right and left, work together.
To make this activity more fun, you can play soft music in the background. There are templates that you can find in brochures, magazines, or online. All you have to do is print off the mandala on a piece of paper, one for everyone. Then, they can color them however they want.
2. Spring
This game helps kids relax by concentrating on all of their muscles. It consists of telling a story where kids are blocks of ice in a forest that are frozen in the winter.
Then, children need to play pretend. The story continues when spring comes. Little by little, the ice starts to melt, and kids can focus on relaxing each part of their body.
“Because of the fast-pace life that many families have, relaxation games for children are great ways to balance the stress from daily life. And they’re great for adults too!”
3. Relaxation games: Blow out the candle
This game is based on learning to breathe deeply. You breathe in through your nose slowly. Then, you let it out little by little through your mouth while blowing out a candle.
For this game, you need to maintain good posture, then play again every time the flame goes out. For each round, you take a step back to move a little farther from the flame. This way, you concentrate more and breathe a little stronger.
4. Crumble, smash and scribble papers
For this activity, you just need sheets of paper. Then, place them on the table next to crayons, colored pencils, and markers. Have your child scribble all over the paper.
Then, they need to crumple it into a ball and crush it with their hands, pretending that it’s a ball of dough. When they open and close their hands, your child will release negative energy. Additionally, he’ll improve his fine motor skills.
5. The turtle
The objective of this game is to regulate your child’s emotions through concentration and relaxing. He must imagine that he’s a turtle and is inside his very calm shell while observing everything around him.
Then, he needs to breathe in through his nose and breathe out through his mouth. Afterwards, ask him to poke his head out and start walking slowly. Finally, have him lie on the floor and close his eyes to rest.
All of these activities will help children feel more relaxed, clear their mind, and get rid of negative thoughts or emotions that make them stressed out. Then, you can turn them into positive feelings for them and their environment.
As a family, when you play together, you show support for those feeling of overwhelming stress. With the help fo these games, you can create a calm environment where you can work through problems and relax.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Justo, C. F. (2018). Relajación creativa, creatividad motriz y autoconcepto en una muestra de niños de Educación Infantil. Electronic Journal of Research in Education Psychology, 6(14), 29-50. http://ojs.ual.es/ojs/index.php/EJREP/article/view/1260
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- Snel, E. (2013). Tranquilos y atentos como una rana: la meditación para los niños con sus padres. Editorial Kairós.
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