How to Create a Calm Down Corner in 5 Easy Steps
Creating a Calm Down Corner for the Classroom
A calm down corner is a designated space in a classroom where students can go to take a break and regulate their emotions. Our students come to us with all different backgrounds and home life situations. Kids (and teachers) just need a break sometimes. We have big emotions and need a safe place to regulate those emotions.
Now, before I begin, let me tell you I was that teacher who thought she didn’t need a calm down corner. I thought our classroom was a happy place, and why would anyone need to calm down? The more I witnessed and learned about my students’ needs, the sooner I realized our classroom DOES need a calm down corner. A place where students can go to get away to regulate their emotions and bodies. I use a calm down corner in my classroom and today I want to share with you how to create a calm down corner in your classroom.
#1 Find a Designated Calm Down Space
One of the first things you will need to decide is where you are going to put your calm down corner in your classroom. This needs to be an area that a student can easily go to without disturbing other students. I selected a corner in my room by a door that couldn’t be opened (it was an electrical room of some sort…I think). Once you have selected a space, you might start to think what will be in this space. You might want pillows, a bean bag chair, ‘happy’ signs, fidget tools, etc. I have a little shelf bookcase with a few ‘happy’ signs, a jar filled with positive notes, and our calm down drawers. You can find the positive notes for free HERE. This is a great addition to a calm down corner! I also have our classroom apology bookmarks on the shelf.. These have been so helpful and can be found HERE. You can also read how I use these apology bookmarks in my classroom on my blog post that can be found HERE.
Set up a calm down corner in your classroom.
#2 Introduce Your Calm Down Corner
A calm down corner needs to be introduced and discussed with your students before your students can use it. DO NOT expect your students to know how to use the calm down corner right away. Sorry, I know I used capital letters, but this is so important! Just like anything, we need to talk to students about what a calm down corner should look like and sound like. As a class we made an anchor chart about what we might see and hear in the calm down corner and why we might go there. We talked about all the tools we might see and use in the calm down corner. I’ll talk about the tools in just a second. We also made a class promise poster and taped this to the closet door.
Set up a calm down corner in your classroom today!
#3 Provide a Calm Down Kit
Our emotions can be big and many times students need tools to help them regulate their emotions. I want to share with you our calm down kit that is placed in our calm down corner in our classroom.
Provide students with resources in you calm down corner.
The main thing in our calm down kit is the calm down book. The calm down book is simple and kid friendly. The calm down book contains pages where students can identify how they are feeling, read a social story, select a calm down choice, select a breathing exercise, and read a check list to ensure they are ready to go. I printed the book on white cardstock, laminated it for durability, hole punched the pages on the side, and added 3 binder rings to finally create a book. I placed the book in a 3 drawer container that I found at Target. I printed some regular size books and some mini books that we refer to as “travel books” that can be taken out of the classroom. The 3 drawer container goes on one of the shelves in our calm down corner in our classroom.
One of the first things I like for my students to do (and sometimes the most difficult) is to identify how they are feeling. This helps them regulate their emotions and it helps me understand how they are feeling. It can be much easier for kids to point to how they are feeling versus verbally telling someone how they are feeling. If students want to verbally tell me how they feel, I tell them to “use their words” rather than showing me with their actions. This phrase, “use your words” is so powerful!, I even use it with my toddler at home. Try it and let me know how it works for you.
#4 Provide Calm Down Choices
One of the pages in the calm down book is a choice page. The calm down choice page has a variety of strategies to help students calm down. These strategies include taking deep breaths, pushing against a wall, using a fidget tool, getting a drink of water, etc. I have found that students love to be in control (to a certain point) and select their strategy versus me telling them how to calm down. Telling students what to do to calm down usually results in the opposite of what you would like to see happen. I like to provide my students with acceptable strategies that can be used to regulate their emotions in the classroom. I attach all the choices with velcro, which allows the students to easily swap out their choices to the strategy page.
Provide students with acceptable calm down choices.
One of my personal favorite ways to calm down or to get something off my mind is to exercise. Our students might feel the same way! I like to place a set of exercise cards in our calm down corner. These exercises can be done in your calm down corner or may need to be done in the hallway or a special area in your school.
Use exercise cards as a calm down choice.
#5 Provide Calm Down Tools
Our calm down corner also has a drawer filled with calm down tools. These are tools and not toys. I make sure my students really understand this because you may or may not (but there always seems to be one) have a student who wants to do go to the calm down corner just to play. I make sure my students know this in unacceptable. I purchased many of my calm down tools at Target for $3 or less. They have a great selection in the dollar section.
Provide students with calm down tools and resources.
The sand timers are great! On the top of the sand timer it shows how many minutes long the timer is. I really like these because they are a great visual for students. Students start the timer when they begin their calm down strategy. When the timer is finished, they clean up and return to class.
Here are some links to my favorite calm down tools.
I hope you found some helpful tips and resources to use in your classroom’s calm down corner!
You can grab the Calm Down Book and Kit HERE.
Happy Teaching!
