Grounding Exercises For Kids: Power Of Sensory Awareness

Kids today are often anxious, overstimulated, and disconnected from their bodies. This short talk explores how simple sensory awareness practices, like noticing sounds, textures, or breath, can help children feel calm, focused, and emotionally regulated. You'll also learn an easy grounding exercise you can teach right away.

These practices feel playful, but they build lifelong tools for confidence, presence, and nervous system safety, which are especially powerful for kids who’ve experienced stress or trauma.

Transcript

So this is why sensory awareness is so powerful for kids.

Kids today are overstimulated,

They're anxious,

They're constantly in their heads,

And most don't know how to come back to their bodies.

They're very distracted by electronics and other worldly distractions.

But that's where sensory awareness comes in,

Or sometimes these are called grounding exercises.

It teaches kids to slow down,

To feel grounded,

And to reconnect with the present moment.

Whether it's listening for quiet sounds,

Noticing textures,

Or focusing on their breath,

These little practices build focus,

Self-regulation,

And emotional resilience.

So here's one to try.

Have your child close their eyes and take a few deep breaths to slow the breath down and to bring calm into their bodies,

And then have them listen for three sounds.

One that is close,

One that is far away,

And one that they've never noticed before.

This simple practice shifts their attention out of fight or flight and into calm awareness.

It also helps them to get out of the mind and into the body.

It can even help to train their mind that their body is a safe place,

And a body can feel like a very unsafe place,

Especially if a child has experienced trauma.

And maybe the best part is it doesn't have to be serious,

Since your awareness can feel like a game,

And kids love games.

But what they may not realize and what will help them lifelong is that practices like this will build emotional regulation,

Presence,

Confidence,

And again safety in their bodies,

Yet they can take as little as a minute to do.