Balloons
Teaching your kids to blow up balloons is a fun, worthy activity. What’s more fun than a brightly colored balloon, anyway?
You can get a bag of 100 balloons for almost nothing. Keep this in an accessible place in your house.
When you notice your kiddo is frustrated, dysregulated or just needs to let out some steam, ask them to blow up a balloon (or a few.) In no time, they’ll be going to do it on their own, when they need to.
The long exhales required to blow a balloon up send a calming message to the brain. Longer, slower exhales signal safety. These will slow your child down naturally.
Also, there’s the accomplishment of seeing the product of their hard work. Not to mention, the squeaky sounds they make when the air goes backward, as we learning to keep it in.
And then of course there’s the connection piece. You’ve now got a light, lovely ‘indoor ball’.
Tap it back and forth - with your fingertips gently - or smack it to and fro with your whole palm. Either way, the exchange of it floating from one person to another is a simple way of 'seeing’ each other and being together.
