Belly breathing is usually the first breathing skill children learn, because they can feel it working: a hand on the tummy rises on the in-breath and falls on the out-breath. This free printable belly breathing poster turns that into four picture steps a child can follow without being able to read.
What is on it
Four numbered steps with a balloon that grows and shrinks: hand on your belly, breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly, do it four more times. At the bottom there is a short tip for grown-ups. It is designed to hang at a seated child's eye level.
Who it is for
Children from about three to eight, at home or in a classroom. Three-year-olds usually need an adult breathing alongside them and a toy on the belly to watch; by five or six many children can follow the poster on their own. It is also a good first poster for a new calm corner, because belly breathing is the base that every other breathing technique builds on.
How to use it
- Print it and hang it where calming down happens: the calm corner, the bedroom, the classroom reading nook.
- Practice together when your child is calm. Lie down, put a small stuffed animal on the belly and watch it ride up and down.
- Give it a short name, like "balloon breaths", and use that name as the cue later.
- When a feeling starts to rise, point to the poster and breathe along, slowly and audibly. Your breath is the best instruction.
Tips
- Five breaths is plenty for young children; quality beats quantity.
- Breathing out a little longer than breathing in is what settles the body.
- If your child finds counting hard, a breathing light that grows and fades can do the pacing.
Keep going
For the full how-to, read our parent guide to breathing exercises for anxious kids and the age-by-age breathing guide. You can also follow a glowing pacer with our free online breathing exercise, or let a Breathing Pal lead the breaths on the nightstand.
US Letter, one page, full color (it also prints fine in black and white, and on A4 with "fit to page"). Free for home, classroom and therapy use; please share the link rather than re-uploading the file. More on our free tools and printables page.
