Ready for a small outing? A trip around one’s own body is a great relaxation exercise for children of all ages. With this, children train themselves to pay attention to their bodies and learn how to perceive what it’s telling them. The only requirement? Your child should know the names of the different body parts.

Together with your child, lay on your backs. Speak with a soft, calm voice: “Relax and close your eyes. Can you feel your body? Do you feel the floor under you? Breathe deeply and concentrate on your right hand. What do you feel? Maybe a little tingling? Warm or cold? How does your thumb feel? Try to feel every finger one at a time.”

You can guide your child through every body part this way. From the right hand to the arm up to the shoulder and over to the right leg, knee and foot. Then the left side gets a turn. As soon as the whole body has been “travelled”, the exercise is complete. Let your child breathe deeply in and out, open their eyes, and then slowly stand up.

An alternative to the trip around the body is the fantasy trip. The process is similar: you and your child lay on your backs and relax. Instead of going through one’s own body, you can go wherever you’d like – in the mountains, on a beach with palm trees or flying through the air like a bird! Together with calming music, kids will quickly fade off into their dreams and calmness.

This is a great exercise for larger groups. The principle is simple: all children sit behind each other on the floor, make a chain and massage each other’s backs, shoulders, arms and necks.

Before the massage begins, you first go to each child yourself. Draw your hands lightly over theirs and tell them that they have magical hands for the day. And when they touch someone else, the other person will feel a deep relaxation.

After that, it begins, and the children massage each other. The child at the very front of the chain doesn’t have to massage anyone, and can completely relax. The last child will not receive a massage. Therefore, you should allow the children to switch places every few minutes so that every child has a chance to be at the front and at the back. As the activity leader, you can also demonstrate massage techniques or lead the massage yourself.

Want to do some calming movement? Then the game “The Plant Awakens is just the thing for you! In this game, children have to pretend they’re a plant (e.g. a tree, a flower or a blade of grass) – and a calm and sleeping plant at that.

Next, rays of sunshine “awaken” the plants. The children stretch themselves out and straighten up. A fresh breeze makes the plants sway back and forth. The breeze then becomes stronger, along with the children’s movements. Finally, the wind stops, the sun sets and the evening comes so that the plants become tired again, go back to their original positions, and sleep.

Shhhh…It’s not easy to hear the silence. Sit on the floor together with your child. Use a gong or a music triangle as the starting signal, and listen to the silence together. It’s quiet as a mouse. No one speaks, and everyone breathes easy. What sounds can be heard in the silence? Maybe a water faucet? The cars outside, or chirping birds?

At the end, you can compare what you’ve heard. Did you hear the same things? Or different noises? Next, do another two to three minutes of silence. With more practice, you can increase the length of the silence.

This is another exercise for concentration and one’s sense of hearing. This game ist best for a group of children. Collect all the children at a table. Every child must close their eyes while you let a pin drop multiple times on the table.

The children count in their heads how many times the pin hit the table. Who can listen closely and correctly count how many times it fell onto the table? As an alternative, you can use a pipette and let drops of water fall into a bowl.

Give your child a piece of chocolate. Instead of immediately scarfing down the chocolate, both of you should look at the chocolate intensely. What colour does it have? What textures or patterns can you recognise? How does it feel when touched?

Next, taste the chocolate. Savour it on the tips of your tongues, bite off small pieces and let them melt in your mouths. What kind of feeling can you feel in your mouths? How quickly does the sweetness spread over your palate?

You can also tell each child that the chocolate is magic. With every bite, you will become calmer and happier. Enjoy the chocolate together and just chill out!