Simple effective ideas to calm your preschooler

Most of us have witnessed, atleast once, an outburst or a tantrum thrown by a little one. That moment when your bag of ideas to calm your preschooler seems to slip right through your fingers. Sometimes it happens when you least expect it to or in some cases when you wish they didn’t. The frustration, impatience, or embarrassment experienced in such situations, is only natural and is common among adults. It’s something our parents too might have had to deal with when we were younger! However, we sometimes tend to forget that a preschooler undergoes huge developmental changes. This, most often, forces them to be temperamental, stubborn, and act out.

Many preschoolers not only feel more intensely or quickly but also find it hard to regulate their emotions. Uncontrollable, powerful emotions and their inability to express themselves can be overwhelming for young children. It often results in tantrums, outbursts, whining, impulsive behaviour, etc. As adults, we tend to struggle with some of our emotions. So one can only imagine what it’s like for your little ones, who are yet to fully develop physically, emotionally, and cognitively.

Their developing personality, coupled with growing independence, enables them, in different ways, to navigate their immediate world and figure out what they can or cannot do. It is possible, though, to introduce different ways to calm your child down. It is a skill, like many others, that can be nurtured and honed! There are a number of calming techniques for preschoolers that help with this process. 

What to Keep in Mind When Using Calm Down Techniques for Preschoolers

Before we jump into the different calming activities for preschoolers, here are some aspects that you, a parent, should ideally bear in mind when handling such situations. 

Help Them Understand Their Emotions: 

Emotions build over time. Being able to identify and recognize them can slowly help little ones work with their emotions. As parents, you can help them in this process. In addition to helping them practice, setting an example will be helpful. Describing your own emotions and showing them how best you manage them can indeed go a long way.

Effective Validation and Active Ignoring: 

Effective validation shows your child that you understand and accept how they are feeling. Knowing that there are being listened to and understood can help your child let go of intense emotions. 

However, validation doesn’t mean that you are accepting their inappropriate behaviour. Reducing attention and not indulging in such behaviours might help decrease the chances that your child will repeat them again. It is important to acknowledge their efforts to calm down, however small they may be. 

Do Not Problem Solve When Emotions are Running High: 

Talk to your child and understand the reasons for an earlier meltdown. Done in a non-judgemental way, this will engage your child to think about what happened. However, it is important to remember that such conversations can only happen when your child has calmed down. Engaging an upset child can be counter-productive. This goes for parents, too. You also need to step back and calm down. This way, your response will be logical, and your little one will know that you love them.

10 Calming Strategies for Preschoolers: 

Here are some ideas on how to calm down preschoolers. The key to calming anxiety in kids is to help them accept, manage, and positively work with their emotions. 

1. Step Outside, Move: 

Some fresh air and physical activity can do wonders for your child. Let off some steam through any form of physical movement or some calming yoga for preschoolers. This will help them release pent-up energy or overwhelming emotions they have been experiencing.

2. Introduce Self-Calming Techniques:

When frustrated or overwhelmed, ask your child to take deep breaths. Self-soothing techniques for kids like deep breathing and balloon activities for preschoolers to make them calm can make a huge difference. Practicing belly breathing with them will enable them to turn to it every time they feel emotional. 

3. Play Some Calming Music for Preschoolers: 

Soothing music can be very comforting. During tense moments, play some relaxing music for kids that they enjoy and loosen up to. Maybe have a playlist for your child handy. Have your child groove to Kutuki’s ‘Thakita Thaka Dhimi’, ‘Shrug, Tap, Twist’, ‘Friendly Fingers’ or ‘Dinosaur Disco’. Or, even better, have them pick out their own favourite music. 

Check out the Kutuki kids learning app for more songs and games for calming preschoolers. 

4. Hug Away:

Something as simple as a hug can work magic in such situations. Hold them close and breathe with them. It can be both comforting and calming for your child, especially when they are feeling overwhelmed.

5. Sit Quietly: 

Encourage your child to step away for a little bit and spend time in silence. They can choose a pleasant spot of their liking that in such moments. Maybe set up a calm down corner at home or create a calming preschool environment that would help them calm down and release the intense emotions they feel. Seated quietly alone or with someone and a glass of water, maybe, will help your child release any pent-up emotions. 

Quiet activities like puzzle-making, reading a story, drawing, or coloring from the Kutuki kids learning app can also help. As these activities will occupy their attention, it will help your child cool off!

6. Take a Break- EAT!

Like in adults, hunger can make children cranky, angry, or a whole different person altogether. Little ones may not be able to handle hunger and intense emotions at the same time sometimes. So when your child feels upset or overwhelmed, calming them down with some water and a little snack can make all the difference. 

7. Familiarity Can Do Wonders

Bringing in the familiar can soothe an upset preschooler. So if you are looking to calm your little one, bring out their favourite toy, prepare their special comfort food, or maybe include familiar smells around. 

8. Introduce Rituals: 

Simple rituals can help preschoolers manage strong impulses as they become more independent. It can also help them adjust to new situations or with transitions throughout the day. Fun fingerplay can indicate snack time, a special song signals clean-up time, or a calming story before nap time are some rituals that you can try out. Together watch Kutuki’s ‘Fimbo, the Funny Clown’ and tickle your little one’s frowns away!

Download the Kutuki kids learning app today for more such calming stories for preschoolers download. 

9. Create Something:

This might be a good time, in some cases, to bring out your child’s creativity. Drawing, colouring, or building toys are some of the fine motor activities to calm down preschoolers for anger. These can be great ways to engage with your child who otherwise may be reluctant to work on their anger. Encourage them to draw or make something using different materials to show how they are feeling. Watch Kutuki’s Do It Yourself (DIY) activity, ‘Draw a Peek-a-boo Ice cream’. The video shows children an easy way to create their favourite ice cream on paper!

For a range of such engaging art activities for kids, download the Kutuki kids learning app now!

10. Talk to Them: 

A lot of times, we adults talk to someone we are close to when frustrated or overwhelmed. In the same way, create a safe space where you listen attentively to their interests and apprehensions. Help them understand their emotions. Encouraging them to put down what they are grateful for can also be calming. 

Kutuki recognizes that each child can have a mood and mind of their own. The Kutuki early learning platform builds love and engagement with content among preschoolers using interactive elements through a mixture of creative song and story-based curriculum. Through both assisted online preschool programs and unassisted, self-paced modes of learning, the platform provides preschoolers an immersive experience that focuses on the child’s emotions in addition to addressing important learning milestones. 

At the end of it all, knowing what calming activities and soothing techniques for preschoolers work best for your little one is important. Do remember, not all ideas to calm your preschooler may always work. Understanding your child’s triggers can help you prepare and give the situation a positive spin. Forcing them to do something may only have a negative consequence. Letting go sometimes is not such a bad thing. More importantly, connect with your child!