Breathing exercises for kids

What are the best breathing exercises for kids?

The best breathing exercises for kids are short, slow and playful, with a breath out that’s a little longer than the breath in. A picture to follow helps: a balloon, a star, a candle. Pick by the moment your child is in, not by the name of the technique. Each one below plays here: press Start and do it together.

Worried tummy? Balloon breathing.

The one to learn first. Hands on the tummy, so your child can feel the breath working.

Ready?

Start In 3 · out 4 · 5 breaths · 0:35

For you, once they’re asleepTry 4-6 breathing: it’s Unwind in the app, free

1. Sit or lie down with both hands on your tummy.
2. Breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds and blow up the balloon inside.
3. Breathe out for 4 seconds and let it float down slowly.
4. Five balloons is plenty.

Full guide: balloon breathing

Waiting, or can’t settle? Trace a star.

Something for the eyes and a finger to do, which helps when sitting still is hard: a waiting room, a queue, the minute before school.

Ready?

Start In 3 · out 3 · 5 breaths · 0:30

For you, once they’re asleepTry 4-6 breathing: it’s Unwind in the app, free

1. Start at the dip before any point of the star.
2. Breathe in for 3 seconds as you go up to the point.
3. Breathe out for 3 seconds as you come down into the next dip.
4. Go all the way round: five points, five breaths.

Full guide: star breathing · or the same idea on a rainbow: rainbow breathing

Bouncing off the walls? Bunny breathing.

Three quick sniffs give excited energy somewhere to go. The long breath out brings it back down.

1. Sit up tall like a bunny with its ears up.
2. Sniff, sniff, sniff: three little sniffs in through your nose.
3. Let it all go in one long breath out through your mouth.

Full guide: animal breaths for kids

Cross or grumpy? A lion’s breath.

Permission to pull a face. A big “haaa” lets frustration out, then the body is ready for a slower breath.

1. Breathe in through your nose.
2. Open your mouth wide, stick your tongue out and breathe out with a big, breathy “haaa”.
3. Three lions, then three slow, ordinary breaths.

Full guide: lion’s breath

Sleepy, or can’t sleep? A soft bee hum.

Humming stretches the breath out on its own, and the buzz is nice to feel. It’s quiet enough for a shared bedroom.

1. Lie down. Breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds.
2. Breathe out for 5 seconds with a soft “mmm”, lips closed, like a sleepy bee.
3. Feel the buzz in your lips and cheeks. Five hums.

Full guide: breathing exercises for kids to sleep

Older, and nervous before a test? Box breathing.

For school-age children: a square with four short sides gives a racing mind one simple thing to follow.

Ready?

Start In 3 · hold 3 · out 3 · hold 3 · 4 breaths · 0:48

For you, once they’re asleepTry 4-6 breathing: it’s Unwind in the app, free

1. Breathe in for 3 seconds up one side.
2. Hold for 3 along the top. Keep it soft.
3. Breathe out for 3 down the other side, then hold for 3 along the bottom.
4. Four laps, under a minute.

Full guide: box breathing for kids

How do you teach a child to breathe deeply?

Teach “slow”, not “big”. When you ask a child to take a deep breath, many gulp air and lift their shoulders, which makes the next breath quicker, not calmer.

What breathing helps kids calm down when feelings are big?

In the middle of a meltdown, a child’s breathing goes fast and high, and “calm down” or “take a deep breath” rarely lands. What helps is your own slow breathing close by, and one short game they already know. Breathing exercises for kids with anxiety work the same way: practised daily when things are calm, so the breath is there when worry arrives.

The big-feelings script, about a minute

Teachers can use the same script with a whole class: breathing exercises for the classroom has scripts for each age and a 2-minute settle after break.

What age can kids start breathing exercises?

From about 2, as copying games, and from 4 with simple counts. The shape of the breath stays the same; what changes is how much you count and what you give them to follow.

Age	What works	Counts
2–3	Copying you: flower and candle, bubbles, a feather	One sniff, one long blow
4–6	Picture games: balloon, bunny, bee, rainbow, lion	In 3, out 3 or 4
7–10	Tracing games: star, lazy 8, five fingers, a box	In 3 or 4, out 4 or 5
11 and up	Box, triangle and 4-6 breathing at adult counts	In 4, out 4 to 6

Breathing exercises for toddlers and preschoolers are mostly play: there’s no wrong way to blow out a pretend candle. Leave holds out until about 5, and keep them to 2 or 3 seconds after that. If your child has asthma or breath-holding spells, ask your paediatrician which breaths suit them.

How long should kids do breathing exercises?

Three to six breaths, about 20 seconds to a minute, is the right size for most children. Older children can go to 2 or 3 minutes once they like it. Little and often works better than long: one breath game at the same moment each day, after school or at bedtime, turns it into a habit. Stop while it’s still fun. The same goes for grown-ups: most practices in Breathform take about two minutes, a size that fits the end of a long day.

Do breathing exercises really help kids?

There’s less research in children than in adults, and most of it looks at whole programmes rather than one breath. In one study in four primary schools, 122 pupils aged 10 or 11 were split into two groups before a timed maths test. Those who took deep breaths first felt less anxious and scored higher than those who didn’t (Khng 2017). It was a single mock test, the gains were small, and anxiety was self-reported.

Mindfulness programmes for children, where noticing the breath is one part among several, have been tested more. A review of 33 randomised trials with 3,666 children and teenagers found small benefits for attention, anxiety and stress (Dunning et al. 2019). When the programmes were compared with other activities, rather than with nothing, the small benefit for anxiety and stress held, but the one for attention didn’t.

The short counts on this page come from how children breathe: their resting rate falls from about 44 breaths a minute at birth to 26 at age 2, and keeps falling into the early teens (Fleming et al. 2011).

So: a gentle, low-risk skill with early evidence, best taught as play.

How well each breath is studied

• Pursed-lip breathingSome evidence
• Humming bee breathSome evidence
• Triangle breathingEarly research or tradition
• Box breathingSome evidence

Every study on this page (3)

• Khng, 2017: Pre-test/post-test controlled study of 122 Primary 5 pupils: taking deep breaths before a timed maths test reduced self-reported anxiety and improved test performance.
• Dunning et al., 2019: Meta-analysis of 33 randomised controlled trials (3,666 children and adolescents): mindfulness-based programmes had small benefits for attention, anxiety and stress and other outcomes; against active control groups, benefits held for mindfulness, depression and anxiety/stress.
• Fleming et al., 2011: Systematic review of 69 studies of healthy children: the median resting breathing rate falls from 44 breaths a minute at birth to 26 at age 2, and keeps falling into early adolescence.

Questions people ask

What breathing exercises work for toddlers?

Copying games work best under 3. Smell a real flower and blow out a pretend candle, blow bubbles, or blow a feather across the table. Toddlers can’t follow counts yet, so skip them: one slow sniff in and one long, gentle blow out is the whole exercise. Do it yourself first, with a calm face, and let them join in when they like.

Can breathing exercises help kids with anxiety?

They can give a worried child something to do with their body when their thoughts race. Practise a favourite breath every day at a calm time, so it’s familiar when worry comes. In one school study, a few deep breaths before a maths test lowered how anxious children felt. Breathing is one tool among several, alongside talking the worry through with you.

Are there printable breathing exercises for kids?

You can make your own in a minute: draw a star, a rainbow with five colours or a sideways 8 on card, and let your child trace it with a finger while you breathe together. Put it in a plastic sleeve and it lasts. Ready-made cards are collected on printable breathing exercises.

Do breathing exercises help kids sleep?

They can help a child settle, which is often the hard part. A slow breath with a longer out-breath, done lying down with the lights low, gives a busy body a quieter rhythm to follow. It won’t knock anyone out, and it doesn’t need to. There’s a 3-minute routine to read aloud in breathing exercises for kids to sleep.

Should kids breathe through their nose or their mouth?

In through the nose when it’s clear, which keeps the breath in slower and quieter. Out through the mouth is fine, and it’s what makes blowing games work: candles, bubbles, pinwheels. With a cold or a blocked nose, breathing through the mouth is completely fine. The slow, long breath out matters more than the route.