The Balloon Technique For Children: Encourages Relaxation In A Fun Way

The balloon technique for children is a very effective strategy to regulate their emotions, promote relaxation and allow them in turn to develop greater body awareness. It is a simple resource in which the little ones can start from the age of 7 and with which they will gradually improve their emotional intelligence.

None of us want to see our children or students gripped by their frustrations, by those fits of anger where they get involved in the most scandalous tantrums, in the most desperate crises of rage, snot and screams. However, since children are two years old, it is quite common for their emotional universes, still unknown to them, to be the subject of family problems and tensions.

Now there is one fact that we must not lose sight of. Our goal as parents or educators is not to eliminate any focus of anxiety in the child’s life. It is neither logical nor advisable to completely pave the way for them so that their day-to-day life is always rewarding and adjusted to their expectations; the world, as we already know, does not work this way. The key is to provide them with tools so that they can manage their anxiety, anger or sadness on their own.

The balloon technique for children is an original, fun and incredibly useful tool that will be of great help to this very end. Next, let’s see what it consists of.

Respecting the child’s emotions without further empowering the anxiety

Children often use crying, yelling, and tantrums as the only known resource to deal with what they don’t like or feel anxious about. Far from despairing, far from intensifying the situation even more with shouts, reproaches or punishments, we must put ourselves in the place of the little ones, and more specifically in their brains.

The cerebral cortex has a slow but progressive maturation. This implies that behaviors such as impulse control or emotional control are not usually completed until after adolescence. It is a long period where there are many interindividual differences. There will be little ones capable of better managing their emotional world and children who are more demanding, restless and sensitive to anxiety processes.

Knowing it, being clear about these concepts will be of great help to us. Therefore, it would be above all about being empathetic with them, understanding their frustrations and anger, but also assuming that validating an emotion does not mean agreeing with it. It is recognizing its existence, but knowing how to offer tools to the child so that by himself, he understands it, faces it and manages it. Therefore, the balloon technique for children is a good starting point, a very useful tool from the age of 7.

What is the balloon technique for children for and how is it applied?

The balloon technique for children is a practice to teach children to relax and control their impulses. It is applied when the little ones feel nervous or angry. In this way, they will be able to control themselves, remain calm, stimulate their psychomotor skills, and develop both body awareness, posture and laterality.

What do we need?

In order to implement the balloon technique, in terms of conditions and material, we need the following:

• We need a balloon for the boy. If we do this dynamic in a classroom, we will try to make the environment comfortable, spacious and without too much stimulation.
• In the classroom there should be mats or mats so that at a given moment the children can lie down.
• It is important to remember that offering a balloon to a child under the age of 7 can be dangerous.

What is the technique?

To apply it, the following steps should be followed:

• We will not offer the balloon to the children without first explaining what this dynamic, this game consists of.

• What we will do is explain in a simple way that our body reacts in a very special way when we let tension and emotions such as rage, anger or frustration control us.
• Once we have explained this to you, we can give you the balloon. Afterwards, we will ask them to inflate it. As they do so, we will continue to say that our mind, our body, is like that balloon. The more angry we are, the more air and negative emotions accumulate. Until there comes a time … when it explodes (we will let this happen).
• Next we will give you another balloon. On this occasion, we will tell them to inflate it just a little and then let the air escape. The balloon has returned to its original unexploded position, it is now calm and relaxed.
• Finally, we will ask the little ones to lie down on the floor (on the mat or mat).
• Now we are going to imagine that we are a balloon. A very, very angry balloon that is accumulating a lot of air: our gut swells, our arms, legs swell… And we are about to explode because negative emotions control us.

• What do we do next? We are going to deflate ourselves to notice that great relief throughout the body. Now we feel lighter, more comfortable and happy.

Finally, we will remind the little ones that every time they feel full of anger, every time life gets complicated and I bring them things that they do not like, that they do not expect or that make them nervous, remember the balloon. We must never let it explode, because when this happens, we all lose and freak out.

When we feel nervous, there is nothing better than taking a deep breath and letting the air out of our lungs. Deflating tension will help us feel lighter and have more control over ourselves.