Stress Management for Kids: 5 Strategies You Can Start Using Today

New learning environments, changing social circles, and work overload can create mounds of stress and worry for both adults and children alike. If life has recently seemed overwhelmingly stressful for you (as a grown up who has learned stress coping mechanisms over the years), imagine how children must feel — who are still building those skills!

As we help support our little ones’ early child development it is important to have a toolbox of easily accessible stress management strategies for children.

These stress management tips can be used immediately to help release tension, and can be implemented as part of a routine to support daily wellbeing for happy, healthy kids!

Here are some of our favorite strategies to help achieve stress management for kids. We’ve included a number of video resources to follow along with, and have full playlists (with calm or vibrant backgrounds) on our app that children love to refer to as they learn to self-regulate.

Stress management tips for kids

1. Schedule Routine Brain Breaks

Brain breaks are seldom second nature for us grown ups, and children model after our behaviors. One accessible stress management technique is to encourage brain breaks to re-energize, after challenging assignments, and when transitioning to another activity. Make it part of your daily routine to help prevent overwhelm.

Here is a list of kids brain breaks we find to be effective for preschoolers and early elementary ages. We’ve tried them in the classroom, with remote schooling, and even at home/on the go.

Try This: Volcano Pose brain break

Try Volcano pose with Lauren Kelly in the video below for an example of an energizing yoga pose that provides an invigorating brain break.

2. Try Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing works wonders for stress management in both adults and children. It is an effective way to prevent, address, and reduce stress and tension — and is an widely used tool for developing emotional regulation skills in children (we cover this in our yoga training for parents and educators).

Here are some of the breathing exercises for children we feel work best. They’re super fun and not time consuming, so kids look forward to using them.

Try this: Hoberman Sphere for Conscious Breathing

Follow along with Isaac in this breathwork visualization using the Hoberman Sphere (aka our “Breathing Ball”). The breathing ball is one of our favorite mindful toys to have at home or in the classroom, and an easy stress management technique.

3. Help Kids Identify Big Feelings

Not understanding our feelings, and how those emotions are connected to (and trigger) our actions, can make stress management difficult — especially for kids!

Emotional regulation exercises for children help build social emotional learning and self-regulation, and are an important life skill to instill early on for stress management.

Try this: Strong Foundation for grounding

Ground down and reach tall in mountain pose with Rachel and Dan in this calming music and yoga duet. Mountain is “home” in yoga, and sometimes when we are stressed and overwhelmed, finding home within can be just the remedy we need.

If you want a longer video activity that covers feelings and big emotions, stream “The Forest of Feelings”, a recent production we created with the New York City Children’s Theater.

4. Stretch and Release Tension with Yoga

For stress management with kids, get moving with yoga! We love using kid-friendly yoga poses to help relieve stress and anxiety — musical yoga takes it one step further by combining music, movement and mindfulness into one interactive activity.

Here is a guide on how to use children’s yoga to calm stress and relieve anxiety. One of our favorite poses from the guide is Candle Pose because it works wonders as a calming activity for kids (plus you can add a fun song to it!)

Try this: Combine Candle Pose and Fish Pose

5. Encourage a Growth Mindset

It isn’t always easy to adjust to change. For many children, adapting to new environments, forming new opinions, and even finding new friends and living situations can cause significant stress.

To help manage this stress in children and help change be seen as a learning opportunity, it is helpful to encourage a growth mindset.

Using these moments to embrace growth helps us understand that when things don’t go our way (or when we don’t understand change) it is not always a bad thing. It is a part our transformation and we are all learning to grow each day.

As we work to create mindful, supportive environments for our children in order to manage stress and promote wellness, let’s also remember that a big part of their wellbeing relies on our communication.

Use mindful language to create a safe, welcoming space for kids, and be sure to also make time for your own mindfulness practice as well.

Save this article for later and don’t forget to download the Yo Re Mi app for children’s mindfulness and musical yoga videos.

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