4 Fun Relaxation Exercises For Children

In this article, we will share four relaxation exercises for children that promote their physical and mental health.

Play is an important part of children’s development. Children must run, jump, dance, move and explore. With that said, they sometimes also need to relax and be calm.

If you teach children these techniques, they will have the power to relieve their own anxiety, stress and insomnia. They will also be able to control their emotions and behaviors better.

In addition, the exercises can improve their mood. Best of all, this relaxed, calm state eliminates all boredom. Welcome to fun relaxation!

Try these relaxation exercises for children and see how effective they are

Jacobsons and Schultz methods

The Jacobson method is one of the most popular in the world. The technique involves contraction and subsequent relaxation of different muscles or muscle groups.

It’s pretty simple. Lie down on the floor together and encourage the child to tense up and then relax different parts of the body. The child should notice a progressive release that spreads throughout the body.

You can start with individual muscle groups such as the hand or neck. With training, you can gradually increase the level of difficulty.

The Schultz method is an autogenous relaxation exercise that is suitable for children over the age of six. Schultz divided the method into two levels: upper and lower. It is based on experiences of weight and warmth.

When lying on the floor, ask the child to concentrate on the parts of the body that seem to weigh more (legs or arms) and that feel warmest.

When the child feels a change and that he or she is free from tension and weight, do the same with the upper body. Continue like this until all the muscles are relaxed.

To make it easier for the child to follow the instructions, you can suggest that he or she pretend to be a robot. As such, you have to move in a very mechanical way.

To then relax, the child is transformed into a rag doll with a soft body free from muscle tension.

Rejoue

Rejoue is one of the most fun techniques. In French, rejoue means “replay”. Let’s test!

This method claims that the essence of life consists of pairs of opposites. We have heat-cold, day-night, up-down, black-white, activity-rest, etc. Rejuetekniken collects relaxation exercises for children based on these pairs.

The exercise uses a lot of rocking, which is meant to imitate the movement of a rocking chair. So the child uses almost all of his muscle groups to swing forward, backward, to one side and then the other.

This duality comes into play when the child has to tense certain parts of the body and soften and relax others. You can only swing effectively if your body relaxes enough.

Another exercise is stretching. It teaches young children to distinguish between the experience of stretching and relaxation.

For example, you can ask the child to extend his arms to the sides as much as possible and stay in that position for a few seconds. Then encourage the child to slowly relax.

He or she will feel a stinging sensation after doing it a few times.

Relaxation exercises for children that can be performed with friends

Sometimes children chase each other and it is difficult to calm them down. It is also much harder for them to concentrate and focus after so much playfulness. In this mode you can try the “feather play”.

It is a very simple activity to perform. Put on some relaxing music in the background and divide the children’s group into pairs.

One child should lie on the floor, while the other child uses a feather against his partner’s skin together with the music. Then they change position.

There is another activity similar to this that involves a soft ball. It is also performed in pairs. A child is lying on the floor with his eyes closed.

The other massages his partner’s body with a small soft ball in the same way as when applying soap.

Visualize pleasing images

If there is one area that children are very good at, it is imagination. They are so free thinking and we can use this to help them relax. A good way to calm them down is to use visualization.

Ask the child to lie down on the floor and concentrate on breathing for a few minutes. Then ask him or her to focus on what you are saying out loud. Encourage the child to imagine a large, peaceful field.

The grass in this field is perfectly cut. Ask the child to breathe in the scent of the field, hear the birds singing or feel the structure of the flowers.

Visualization is very versatile. You can use any landscape: the beach, the mountains, or you can even talk about scents. As you can see, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

The main goal is to help children have fun while relaxing.

In other words: do it in such a way that they do not think of it as a task. To do this, an important aspect is to ensure that the adults model correct behavior for the children.

Remember that imitation is an important way for children to learn new things.

One last note: these relaxation exercises for children can also work for adults. It’s good to stay young at heart!