Use doodles on paper to keep your breathing steady and calm.
What you’ll need: Paper and something to draw with
What’s it for?
This activity helps you to breathe in a way that lets your body feel safe if you are worried or anxious. You start the activity by drawing, which is a fun way to express yourself using art.
Check In:
Notice how you’re feeling right now. Close your eyes and notice what’s going on inside your mind and body.
How are you feeling?
What are you thinking?
How does your body feel?
Method:
Start with a blank paper. Pay attention to your breathing, and start drawing a line on the paper.
Try to keep your pen on the paper all the time, and move it up and down as you breathe in and out. You could try drawing in a circle or wavy lines.
You might like to try taking two or three really big breaths. How big can you make your lines on the paper?
Keep drawing for a few minutes until you feel relaxed or your paper is full of lines. Make sure you stop if you feel like you are breathing too fast or too slowly!
Extra Activity: When you are finished you might have lots of different shapes between the lines you drew. You could try colouring the spaces in different colours, so that it looks like a mosaic or stained glass.
When you’ve finished drawing, ask yourself the following questions:
Can you feel your breathing go faster when you are excited or worried?
Do you feel your breathing slow down when you are calm or sleepy?
What kind of patterns did you draw on the paper?
What pictures can you see made by the shapes on your paper?
Which colours could you use if you were feeling worried?
What if you were feeling calm?
Conclusion:
Take a moment to notice how you are feeling at the end of this activity. Did you discover anything surprising about yourself? What can you take away to make you feel better about yourself from this activity?
If you would like to, share something about your experience with this activity with someone you live with! Ask the person who looks after you to send us an email if you have any questions or comments about the activity, or would like to send us any pictures (info@catcorner.co.uk). Don't forget to subscribe for more fun CAT activities!
Created by Heather Dingle © March 2020
Creative Art Used: Art
Psychological Area Explored: Emotional Wellbeing, Attention & Hyperactivity, mindfulness
These activities could be done by children of all ages, but some may need the support of their parent or carer to read the instructions or complete the activity safely.
This website was made by CAT Corner to help you explore your feelings through fun creative arts activities. The people using the website and the people responsible for them need to make sure they stay safe (full disclaimer on About page).
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