17 RELAXATION TECHNIQUES AND GAMES FOR CHILDREN - ECONOMÍA - 2025

In this article I will show you 17 relaxation techniques and games for children that you can apply if you are a teacher or parent and that will benefit the mental and physical health of children. Children move in the world through play. They like to play, they develop through play and through it they discover the world and understand it.

But children also have a need to relax, to be calm and calm. A good strategy to bring the two together is to teach relaxation through play and activities.

The adult relaxation proposed to children can be tiresome and boring and has nothing to do with their way of interpreting the world and their development.

By integrating relaxation into play, children will be able to acquire and experience the beneficial effects of relaxation. When children are relaxed, they feel calm, stress and restlessness are reduced, and their health improves.

What are relaxation techniques?

Children present an almost permanent active state, since they play, jump and run continuously, being necessary moments of relaxation. The objective of relaxation is to intentionally produce states of low activation at the level of the autonomic nervous system by the subject.

Being able to relax will have repercussions on the child when it comes to controlling their emotional, cognitive and behavioral behaviors. Relaxation is based on leaving the muscles relaxed through different techniques, which ends up having repercussions on a physical and mental level.

The person who relaxes, in this case the child, is able to reduce tension and find well-being. There are different methods to achieve relaxation, it can be done with the whole body but also with some parts or with only certain muscle groups.

Relaxation techniques are more and more in demand in today's society because stress and anxiety are already part of the day-to-day life not only of adults, but more and more of children.

What are the benefits of relaxation?

Relaxation has numerous benefits both physically and psychologically. When a person manages to relax they feel calm, relaxation being an effective tool to achieve a state of personal harmony and balance.

Rest, listening and receptivity

In children, relaxation allows them to rest, to promote the ability to listen, to be more receptive and participatory.

Trust

Relaxation helps to trust oneself more, to develop concentration and memory and to promote the quality of learning.

Learning

Many teachers argue that relaxation is very suitable for learning, because children are calmer and calmer after physical activity, so this has a positive impact on their learning.

For example, after a child has been involved in vigorous physical or intellectual activity, relaxation can allow him to calm down and focus to better perform the next activity.

A lifelong learning

If we teach children relaxation at an early age, we are teaching them a habit and learning that will be useful and beneficial for life. As teenagers and adults, they will be able to relax in stressful situations and lessen the tension that everyday life brings.

Performance in sports

Relaxation, through different studies, has also been shown to be effective in increasing performance in sports and persevering in activities until goals are achieved.

Social skills

It has also been shown to be beneficial for developing social skills and being less shy.

In people with tics or nervous habits, relaxation helps to improve all these symptoms. The same is also the case with stuttering.

Improved circulation

Relaxation improves blood circulation and helps with anxiety disorders. In the case of children with asthma, relaxation can help prevent asthma attacks and when they have occurred, reduce them.

Other authors consider that relaxation in children helps them to develop balance and also to put patience into practice.

17 relaxation techniques and games for kids

1. Jacobson's relaxation method

This is one of the most widely used methods around the world. This method is based on relaxation from the contraction of the muscles in order to relax them later.

For this, the exercises consist of contracting and relaxing the muscles, which leads to a relief of the nervous system and the muscles of the body.

This technique consists of contracting muscles or muscle groups for a few seconds and then gradually relaxing them.

This technique is based on attending to the tension in the muscles to realize afterwards the difference with the strain.

To do this, the children lie on the floor and we will tell them to tense and relax different parts of the body. You can start with individual parts, with large groups: hands, arms, shoulders, neck, jaw, nose…

Little by little, the different muscle groups can be grouped together. We will tell them to press to feel the tension and after a few seconds, to release to feel the distension.

2. Schultz's autogenous relaxation method

Schultz is another of the great relaxation theorists and his method is one of the most widely used in the world.

It is a global method that is divided into upper and lower level. Starting at around 6 years of age, it may be suitable for use with children, starting at the lowest level. The lower level is based on feelings of heaviness and heat.

We will begin by indicating to the children that they are very calm and then we will relax the body and begin with the instructions.

To do this, children are asked to focus on areas of the body (for example, arms or legs) and to feel that they are very heavy. For example, we say look at how heavy your arm feels, it feels like it's too heavy or it's hot, it's too hot.

It is about starting with the heaviness and we will repeat it until you notice that you are free of muscle contractions.

Then, the technique is repeated with the rest of the body parts: lower extremities, pelvis, trunk, arms, neck and head.

3. Relaxation method through the game of Rejoue

This method is based on the scientific knowledge that exists around relaxation, taking it in children through play, which is their natural way of being in the world.

The Rejoue method (replay) is based on the complementary forces that the author indicates that life has. That is, they propose that life moves in opposite pairs (day / night, sun / moon, cold / heat).

In this sense, the activities they propose under the Rejoue method are based on these pairs (big / small, cold / hot, excitement / rest).

The games proposed in Rejoue's method also encompass different techniques such as tension, rocking or immobilization, for example.

One of the relaxation techniques is rocking, which consists of imitating the rocking movements produced by, for example, a rocking chair.

To do this, they must start to and fro movements, either sideways, forward and then backward or backward and then forward.

One of the parts of the body is at rest, the one that is chosen to work, and we must leave it lax, soft and soft to be able to balance it.

Another technique is stretching. This technique also allows us to notice the difference between stretching and relaxing, similar to what happens in the tension and relaxation technique.

To do this, we ask the child to stretch different parts of the body as much as possible, such as the arms (up, to the sides) and to stay in that position for a while, just a few seconds.

Afterwards, we will relax it in a gentle way.

4. Activity The feather duster

The hour of the duster is an activity that can help children to achieve a state of calm and well-being that allows them to concentrate later.

It is a good activity to propose in school classrooms when children, for example, are very active or when they return from recess.

For this, you can choose a soft and calm music that invites relaxation and you should take a feather duster. We put the children in pairs, one of them lies down or stands on it.

Children who are lying down should close their eyes and put themselves in a situation prone to relaxation. His partner, with a feather duster or any object that allows caresses, following the music, relaxes his companions.

Later the shift is changed and the other partner performs the same activity.

5. Activity The balloon

We must invite the children to become balloons. To do this, they must both inflate and deflate, because that is what balloons do.

When we give them the signal (which we will all agree together, for example the adult opens and closes his hand), they must inflate the balloon, that is, they must fill their lungs with air by inflating the belly.

To do this, you must tell the child to place his hand on his belly so that he can notice how it swells when he takes in air. When the adult makes another gesture, he should breathe out watching the belly deflate.

This activity can be done both standing up, with visual gestures, and lying down. Children can close their eyes and the clues that mark when to take in air and when to expel it, can be sounds.

6. Koeppen relaxation method

Koeppen's relaxation method is very similar to Jacobson's, because it is based on tension and strain of the muscles, but the exercises and instructions are done through games.

For example, for the hands and wrists, it is explained to the child that he must squeeze as if he were squeezing a lemon and must release it after a blow.

For the back, we must explain to the child that we become a puppet and we have strings that pull us up and bend our back a little and suddenly release us.

For the shoulders, we become a cat, so on all fours we must stretch as cats do.

For the shoulders and neck, we can also turn into a turtle, imagining that we are on top of a rock and that the warm sun is hitting us in the face. Suddenly, we notice a danger and we get inside the shell.

For the fingers, we become a pianist and we must become a great musician who plays the piano very well.

For the jaw, we must imagine that we are chewing a large gum, that it is very hard and that it is difficult for us to chew. Afterward, we peel off the gum and realize how relaxed he is.

For the face and nose, we must think that we have a butterfly or a fly that has landed on our nose and is bothering us.

To do this, making gestures with our own nose, we must try to get him to go from there. When we do, we notice the difference.

For the stomach, we notice that an elephant is coming and we notice that it wants to step on our belly, so we must tighten it and make it hard so that when it steps on us, it does not hurt us.

For the legs and feet, we must tell the child to imagine that we are in a swamp with a very thick mud. We try to walk but it costs us a lot.

7. The ant and the lion

This activity helps children learn to breathe deeply.

To do this, we will ask them to breathe like a lion would, which is big, strong and runs very fast. To do this, the lion needs more agitated and rapid breathing.

However, we will ask them to later breathe like an ant, which is smaller and therefore needs to breathe more slowly and slowly. We must try to make them end up breathing like an ant would.

8. Activity The sponge

It is an activity similar to that of the duster, but we will do it with a soft ball. To do this, we will ask the children to stand in pairs and one of them will lie down on the floor with his eyes closed.

We will put on a soft and relaxed music and we will ask that with the ball they massage their partner's body, as if it had soap.

9. Viewing nice pictures

To do this activity, we ask the children to lie down on the floor, close their eyes, and be calm and relaxed.

We play quiet music and begin asking them to breathe slowly and quietly, speaking softly and slowly.

We do visualization exercises, asking them to picture a field or meadow, with soft grass, a fine breeze, and silence. Let them imagine how it smells, how the birds sing, what the flowers are like, etc.

Another version is to imagine a beach, the heat of the sun, the sea breeze, the smell it has, etc.

10. Count down or the ladder

Through this activity we want the children to remain calm and calm. For this, we ask you to close your eyes, to be calm and calm.

When they are, they should count very slowly from 10 to 0, calmly visualizing each of these numbers in their minds. They should remain calm and with relaxed muscles.

A different way is to instruct the child to imagine a ladder. He is at the bottom, and he is not relaxed at all. You will begin to climb the ladder, which has ten steps.

Each step that you climb is a greater relaxation, and when you reach the top of the stairs you will find yourself in a state of absolute tranquility.

11. Spaghetti test

Through Mindfulness exercises we want the child to be aware of the internal states that he presents, for example, if he is nervous, if he has tense muscles, if he is calm… And in this way to be able to modify it.

For this, these exercises will focus on concentration and mindfulness on our body.

One of the exercises can be the Spaghetti Test. To do this, we must tell the children to pay attention to those fibers of their body that are like hard spaghetti, to focus on it and to turn it into cooked spaghetti, very soft and flexible.

12. The robot or rag doll

First, we will tell the child that he must act as if he were a robot, with stiff movements and very tense muscles.

Then we will give you a visual or auditory signal to stop tensing your muscles and become a rag doll, that is, you will leave the stiffness and go to a softer state.

In this process you will be guided to indicate when you are tense and when you are relaxed.

13. Taxi-blanket or magic carpet

To do this activity, you need to put a blanket on the floor and instruct the child to lie on it.

You have to explain that he is on top of a taxi or a magic carpet. You should observe if the child's body is tense or relaxed through signals.

You explain that when the body is tense, the carpet or the taxi slows down, but as soon as it manages to eliminate that tension, being lighter, the taxi runs more.

The child's intention will be to loosen the muscles to increase the speed of the vehicle.

14. Mandalas

Painting mandalas in a pleasant environment can be a good relaxation activity. By painting them, our hemispheres (right and left hemispheres) work together, and it is an activity that can help children to concentrate.

To do this, we can play soft and relaxed music and offer each child mandalas and painting, indicating that they should concentrate and paint in silence, which can lead them to a state of tranquility and well-being.

They cannot speak while they are painting the mandalas, it is done for a reasonable time, about 15 minutes, and they are told that they cannot start painting another mandala until they have their finished one.

15. The turtle technique

The turtle technique aims to work impulsivity. To do this, we will let the child know that we are going to become a turtle.

What do turtles do? When they feel threatened, they get inside their shell. Therefore, when he feels that he cannot control himself, he must turn into a turtle and get inside his shell.

When you are inside, you should loosen all your muscles, let your hands dangle, relax your feet, do not strain your belly, and breathe very slowly and deeply.

You are instructed to think of nice and pleasant things and unpleasant emotions, such as anger, will gradually go away.

16. Hot soup or birthday cake

Through the hot soup it is intended that the child reaches, through deep breathing, a state of relaxation.

They have to imagine that they are eating hot soup, but this should not burn them. They should be told that they have a bowl in front of them, and that the soup is very hot.

We must be careful not to burn ourselves, so we will begin to gently blow the soup. When blowing, our body will change: the belly will remain sunken and the shoulders will be relaxed.

We will continue to blow because it is still warm, so take deep breaths for this.

It can also be made as if it were a birthday cake, imitating how the cake would be blown. To do this, we breathe in and then slowly release.

17. Spring

This activity is also indicated for them to reach a state of relaxation through the contraction of the muscles and subsequent distension.

To do this, we have to tell the children that we are at the end of winter and that the first one will come soon.

We must tell them that we are a block of ice and that little by little we are melting, because the first one will arrive and we will become a beautiful flower or a flowering tree.

To do this, the children will begin to move, and when we give them the slogan of Ice! They should become a block and squeeze the legs, hands, fists and arms tightly. They will be completely frozen.

However, when the teacher says Spring !, the child must loosen his whole body, because the ice will be melting little by little. Eventually it will lie on the ground and turn into a flower or tree.

References

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