Wellbeing - Activities for Children
Here are a few wellbeing activity ideas that you can do with the children within your setting.
Calming glitter jar
Take a jar or plastic bottle and fill ¾ with water.
Add clear glue, food colouring and glitter.
Seal the lid with hot clue.
Shake and watch the glitter move.
Listen to the bell
Children sit somewhere comfortable and close their eyes.
Ring a bell and ask them to focus on the sound as it fades away.
When they think the sound has gone, they can open their eyes.
Feel the beat
Children jump up and down or do jumping jacks for one minute.
Ask the children to sit down and place their hands on their heart.
Encourage them to pay attention to their breathing and how their heartbeat feels.
How is the weather?
Help the children relate their feelings to different weather patterns.
(happy =sunshine, lonely =cloudy)
Just as the weather emotions come and go.
Feeling emotions is perfectly normal and naming them helps us have power over them.
Five senses gratitude
Ask the children what can they see that they like?
What is their favourite thing to listen to?
What do they like to taste?
What do they like to touch?
What smells do they like?
Hot cocoa breathing
Ask children to close their eyes and pretend they have a big mug of hot chocolate in their hands.
Tell them to slowly bring the mug close to their face, take a deep breath in, smelling the chocolate, and slowly blow away the steam.
Sensory scavenger hunt
Go outside to find things the children like – how do they smell, feel, look?
