Kids Calm Down Cake: Mindful Breathing Practice

Using playful imagery and imagination, this breathing exercise transforms meditation into a fun and accessible activity for kids. Use this track anytime there's a need for support with calming and soothing big emotions. Suited for ages 3-10.

Transcript

I wanted to ask you if you've ever experienced a really big feeling.

Maybe you felt sad,

Maybe you felt angry,

Maybe you felt afraid,

Or maybe you even just felt really excited.

I bet maybe you have because the truth is everyone has big feelings sometimes.

Kids do and grown-ups do too.

This is a fun meditation you can try anytime a feeling is starting to feel too big or overwhelming.

It can help you feel more calm and safe.

So let's begin.

To start,

I invite you to sit in a cross-legged position with your hands resting down on top of your knees.

You can help your body sit up tall by imagining that there is a string attached to the top of your head with a balloon attached to it.

As the balloon rises up to the sky,

It pulls your body up until you are sitting up tall.

Try to relax your shoulders and let them feel soft too.

Now I'd like you to imagine a flower.

You can close your eyes as you do this.

See if you can notice what color the flower is.

Can you visualize the shape of its petals and leaves?

Now I'd like you to imagine taking that flower into your hands and inhaling really deeply,

Taking a great big breath through your nose as you imagine smelling the fresh scent of the flower.

You might notice a little smile across your lips as you breathe in the beautiful fragrance of the flower.

Great job.

Thanks for trying that out.

You can breathe like you normally do again.

Next,

I'd like to invite you to visualize the most beautiful,

Delicious slice of cake.

It's sitting on top of a shiny golden plate.

Notice what flavor the cake is and if there is anything special on it like icing,

Sprinkles,

Filling,

Or anything else you would like on your special cake.

As you see the cake in your mind's eye,

You begin to notice that there's a birthday candle on top of the cake with a bright orange flame.

Using your breath,

See if you can make a great big exhale out through your mouth as if you were imagining that you were blowing out the fire on the candle.

Great job.

Thank you for using your imagination with me as we try this out together.

Now that you've practiced inhaling the smell of the flower and exhaling and blowing out the birthday candle,

We're going to see if we can put them together.

If it helps to keep your eyes closed as you imagine,

Please continue to do so.

Otherwise,

You can also keep them open if that's more comfortable.

So we're going to see our flower again.

Take a great big deep breath in through our nose as we breathe in the pretty smell of the flower.

Can you smell how beautiful it smells?

Now imagine your special piece of cake again and blow all that air out through your mouth as you imagine blowing out the birthday candle.

It feels good to let everything out,

Doesn't it?

We're just going to do it three more times together now.

Breathe in through your nose and smell the beautiful flower.

Now breathe out through your mouth and blow out the candle on your yummy piece of cake.

And now smell your flower again and blow out the candle on the cake.

Last one.

So try to do the biggest breath in as you smell the fragrance of the flower.

And now try to blow out every last drop of air as you blow out the red flame on your birthday cake.

I hope you're feeling calm and safe after practicing this little exercise with me and that you remember you can do this by yourself too anytime you're feeling a really big feeling and you want to feel more calm.

You can also listen to this again anytime you like and practice with me.

See you next time!