Grounding exercises: how they help children and teenagers
After a traumatic, frightening or upsetting experience, a grounding exercise can help children and teenagers calm down and manage emotions like anxiety and fear. Grounding exercises work by encouraging children to focus on the environment around them, rather than on the thoughts and feelings that are distressing them.
Grounding exercises can help adults too, so you could do a grounding exercise together with your child.
Grounding exercises are a kind of mindfulness.
It’s important for your child to be able to calm down after a traumatic or distressing experience. Calming down helps your child cope in the moment and recover over time. With practice and your help, your child can learn to calm down by themselves.
What you need for a grounding exercise
You and your child can do a grounding exercise anywhere and anytime. It helps to have:
- a quiet, comfortable place
- a few minutes when you won’t be interrupted.
How to do a grounding exercise
Start by making sure your child is sitting comfortably with their legs and arms uncrossed. It might help your child if you sit in this position too. Then use a calm, quiet voice to guide your child through the exercise. Take it slowly and allow time for each step.
Here’s how to talk your child through the steps in this exercise:
- ‘Get comfortable. Uncross your arms and legs.’
- ‘Now breathe in and out slowly 3 times.’ You can guide your child by saying, ‘Breathe in ... breathe out …. Breathe in ... breathe out …. Breathe in ... breathe out …’.
- ‘Now look around you. Name 5 objects that you can see.’ You can prompt your child with examples like ‘I see the ground. I see my shoe. I see a tree. I see a car. I see my friend’.
- ‘Close your eyes. Breathe in and out slowly 3 times.’
- ‘Keep your eyes closed and listen carefully. Name 5 sounds that you can hear.’ You can prompt your child with examples like ‘I hear a person talking. I hear a bird chirping. I hear a door close. I hear a car going past. I hear myself breathing’.
- ‘Keep your eyes closed. Breathe in and out slowly 3 times.’
- ‘Keep your eyes closed and think about how your body feels. Name 5 things you can feel.’ You can prompt your child with examples like ‘I can feel my toes inside my shoes. I can feel my feet on the ground. I can feel my fingers pressed together. I can feel my t-shirt on my shoulders. I can feel my teeth with my tongue’.
- ‘Keep your eyes closed. Breathe in and out slowly 3 times.’
If your child names distressing objects or sounds, gently interrupt and suggest they choose something else. For example, you could say, ‘Yes, I know you can hear that, but what else can you hear? Can you hear the bird chirping?’
Options for grounding exercises
There are many ways to do grounding exercises with your child. For example:
- Counting – choose an item and ask your child to look around and count all the items they can see. For example, your child could count pieces of furniture.
- Categories – choose a category and ask your child to name all the things they can see in that category. For example, you child could name yellow things.
- Touch – ask your child to rub their hands lightly over something close to them and notice the texture. For example, your child could rub carpet, clothing or a piece of furniture.
Adapting grounding exercises for children and teenagers of different ages or with diverse abilities
For younger children and children and teenagers with diverse abilities, you could change the things you ask your child to focus on. For example, you could ask them to name the colours or shapes of objects around them, or things they can smell.
It can also help to practise the exercises with your child when they’re feeling calm. This will help your child feel comfortable using the exercises when they need them.
Older children might like to do grounding exercises independently. You could show your child how to do an exercise. Or you could record yourself talking them through it and suggest they use it when they need to calm themselves.
If your child is autistic or has disability or other additional needs, you might like to explore our activity guides for children with diverse abilities. And remember that all our activity guides can be adapted to suit your child.