How to Teach 5-Finger Breathing to Kids
Katie Taylor, CCLS Child Life On Call for SmileMakers Inc
How often should children practice guided breathing? Let’s look at the benefits and ways to teach it before we answer this question.
Guided breathing is a technique that helps children relax and calm their bodies. Children who practice guided breathing regularly tend to sleep better at night and wake up feeling refreshed. (Source: headspace.com)
Children who practice guided breathing regularly also tend to get less anxious and stressed, because they have learned coping skills to help them through complex or difficult experiences.
1. Mindfulness teaches children how to pay attention.
2. Teaching mindfulness helps children
learn to focus and remember things.
3. Children who learn mindfulness at an early age are better prepared to handle stressful situations later in life. (Source: mindful.org)
We all know that breathing is essential. It is something that we don’t need to learn to do…we are born and our body just does it! This is why it's one of my favorite things to encourage kids to practice - they are already experts!
Although we learn about the exchange of oxygen to carbon dioxide in grammar school, we rarely learn about how the act of breathing can be used as a coping tool or strategy.
As a Child Life Specialist,
I have found that teaching both patients and their families simple breathing
techniques can be extremely beneficial for them to cope with numerous feelings
that come with being hospitalized or undergoing medical treatments.
One way to teach children to breathe deeply is to focus on making breaths slow and fast and feeling the difference between the two. First, we try 5 seconds of fast breaths, then we try 15 seconds of slow breaths. Which feels better?
Using a 5-second technique is a great way to start the idea of slow breathing. SmileMakers has the perfect accessory to help teach the 5-second technique--finger puppets!
Put either thePAW Patrol Finger Puppets orAnimal Finger Puppets on one hand. Slowly lift each finger, explaining that the goal is to take a deep breath in for the entire puppet show (or all 5 fingers) and once the puppet show is done, explain that the goal is to breathe out the entire time the puppet show goes away (individually put each finger down).
Another great way breathing can be used as a coping
tool is by controlling their breaths. When teaching this strategy, I use pinwheels
and beach
balls. These are great options to help children focus on controlling how
fast or how slow they can breathe. 
recommendation is daily breath exercises for best results. To incorporate it daily, make it FUN!
