Sesame street belly breathing

2 Calming Techniques Kids Can Use from Sesame Street: Belly Breathing & Meditation

ByLiz Hall Updated onMay 27, 2022

Being able to calm yourself is an incredibly important life skill that we don’t often talk about…especially with kids. These belly breathing Elmo and monster meditation techniques work for kids of all ages, even the younger kids.

Rosita will teach us how to calm down in a fun and easy way!

Calming Exercises & Activities Kids Can Do

Kids have all sorts of big feelings. They may feel sad, nervous, or frustrated, just to name a few feelings. And they may have trouble calming down. Sesame Street to the rescue, once again!

Through videos with some our favorite Sesame Street characters, the Muppets are here to offer some pretty fabulous kid-appropriate calming techniques.

Calming Techniques for Kids

Rosita knows what kids are going through right now — because she also gets frustrated when she can’t go to the park with Elmo! To help her calm down, she practices ‘belly breathing. ’

1. Belly Breathing Technique for Kids with Rosita

In the Sesame Street video she teaches kids how to calm down by focusing on their breathing through belly breathing. She encourages kids to put a hand on their belly, breathe in through their nose, and breathe out through their mouth.

Steps for Belly Breathing for Kids

Put your hands on your belly.
Take a deep breath through your nose.
Slowly breath out through mouth…and it is good to have a little sound!
Repeat

Watch Video to See Rosita Demonstrate Belly Breathing

When I showed my kids the video, they copied her every move of the belly breathing technique.

They loved watching one of their favorite Sesame Street characters teach them how to catch their breath and calm down.

And I know we’ll be using this ‘belly breathing’ technique in the future! (This calming technique with Rosita originally aired during the CNN and Sesame Street Town Hall).

Sesame Street also launched a series of ‘Monster Meditations’ in partnership with Headspace helping people with mindfulness and meditation.

By featuring our favorite furry monsters from Sesame Street, they’re able to teach little ones how to meditate in a way that’s kid friendly and accessible. This meditation is a good one when you are waiting on something to keep the anxious feelings in check.

2. Monster Meditations with Cookie Monster

The first video was with Cookie Monster, who, let’s be honest, can get super excited when he knows he’s about to get some cookies!

To help him calm down, he does a Monster Meditation focused on using his senses.

But what happens when he uses his senses to smell cookies in the oven? He gets super excited again!

To help him relax, he does what Rosita does: belly breathing.

Steps for ‘I Sense’ Monster Meditation

This is a game of I Spy but with our 5 senses.
-Andy

Start with a belly breath — see instructions above — to begin game with FOCUS.
Can you spy something with sense of smell?
With that smell in your nose, can you spy something with your sense of touch?
With that {softness/other} in your mind, can you spy something with your eyes ?
While focusing on {what you saw}, can you spy something with your sense of hearing?
While focusing on {what you heard}, can you spy something with your sense of taste?
Repeat or play once!

Watch Video to See Cookie Monster Demonstrate Meditation for Kids Game

Belly breathing truly is an amazing technique that helps kids slow down and calm down. And as you can see in the two examples above it can be done anywhere for a multitude of reasons!

Love this Sesame Street IG Post!

In addition to these fabulous calming techniques for kids, Sesame Street recently created a wealth of new resources that kids are loving. There’s virtual play dates with Elmo, snack chats with Cookie Monster, and phone calls with their favorite Sesame Street muppets.

Bonus: you can even read 100 Sesame Street books for free!

SOME MORE CALMING IDEAS FROM KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG

Help your kids learn how to make bubbles at home – did you know that blowing bubbles requires deep breathing to accomplish? So cool!

My kids are obsessed with these active indoor games because exercise helps calm kids (& adults)!
Spread joy with these fun facts to share for a giggle.
Make galaxy slime – this sensory experience can help calm a child.
Everybody has time for a 5 minutes craft – and being creative can help “change the subject” in a child’s mind.
Color a calming zentangle pattern – this one is a seahorse.
Here is a calming phrase you can use to help your kids.
Check out this calming bedtime routine.
Calming activities for kids – perfect for before nap time or bedtime.
Don’t miss these DIY fidget toys which are both fun and relaxing.
Check out all these sensory bins — they are perfect for calming younger kids.

Will you be trying Rosita’s belly breathing or monster meditation techniques with your kids?

Liz Hall

Liz SanFilippo Hall is a freelance writer/editor and work-at-home mama who writes about everything from food and travel to parenting, self care, and books. Some of her work can be found on CBSLocal.com and SelfSufficientKids. com. She also talks about all the ups and downs of parenting and life on her blog Oops & Daisies. .

‎Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame on the App Store

Description

This is a resource app for you to share with your child to help teach skills such as problem solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence.

Laugh and learn as you help a Sesame Street monster friend calm down and solve everyday challenges. This bilingual (English and Spanish), research-based app helps your child learn Sesame’s “Breathe, Think, Do” strategy for problem-solving. Tap and touch to help the monster friend take deep breaths, think of plans, and try them out! Your child will enjoy silly animations and playful interactions as she is exposed to important emotional vocabulary, a calm breathing technique, personalized encouragements, and more!

Features:
• Explore five interactive activities with a unique, everyday challenge
• Tap, pop bubbles, and more to help the monster breathe, think, and do to solve problems and feel better
• Personalize encouraging phrases that your child will hear as they help the monster think of a plan
• ”Breathe with the Monster” activity to help children practice taking deep breaths to calm down
• Robust Parent Section with great resources for navigating everyday challenges with your young child

Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame is intended for parents and caregivers to use with their young children (ages 2-5).

This app is part of Sesame Street’s Little Children, Big Challenges initiative, which aims to provide tools to help children build skills for resilience, and overcome everyday challenges and more stressful situations and transitions. You can access other Sesame Street resilience materials online at sesamestreet.org/challenges

About Us:
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children’s media with the landmark Sesame Street. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org

Jul 19, 2022

Version 1.8.1

Improved mobile device support.

Ratings and Reviews

111 Ratings

More levels

I love this app for my son but I wish there were more “levels” so he would want to keep playing to unlock more scenarios 🤷‍♀️ once he unlocked the few there he was done with it 🤦‍♀️ but he was calm while playing.

Great for school psychologists and educators

As a practicing school psychologist I use this with all of my elementary school students. During our sessions we focus on de-escalation techniques, mindful practices, cognitive distortions and realities, solution-oriented approaches, and conflict resolution. This app teaches ALL of that in a child-friendly and engaging format. I have recommended this app to many of my colleagues and recommend it to any educator or parent wishing to enhance the aforementioned skills.

Nice when it works and isn’t crashing

Having a problem with crashing on my iOS device. When it works it’s a nice tool for teaching my newly 3yr old, deep breathing, self awareness, problem solving, problems, and managing himself. I wish 1. It didn’t crash so dang much and 2. There were more examples of the monster getting upset and finding a solution, and 3. Less ask a gown up for help...example: monster building a bock tower that falls. His options are, wider base, two separate towers, ask an adult. The monster could as a friend .

The developer, Sesame Street, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

Seller: Sesame Workshop Apps
Size: 401.9 MB
Category: Education
Age Rating: 4+, Made for Ages 0–5
Copyright: © 2022 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.
Price: Free

Developer Website
App Support
Privacy Policy

More By This Developer

Three new dolls will appear in the Arabic version of Sesame Street

Ahlan Simsim, Arabic for "Welcome to Sesame", aims to overcome the trauma faced by refugee children in the Middle East.

The Sesame Street World Family is adding three new Muppet members: Basma, Jad and Mazuza.

The characters are creative and adventurous, speak Arabic and are ready to tackle another difficult topic: the trauma faced by refugee children in the Middle East. They will be hosting a new locally produced show in Arabic produced by Sesame Workshop in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee that aims to laugh and get to know children affected by displacement in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Ahlan Simsim, which means Sesame in Arabic, will debut in early February 2020. according to a Medium post on Sunday, the show's executive producer Scott Cameron. By overcoming emotions such as fear, loneliness and hopelessness, the show hopes to give children the tools to succeed and understand the world.

Mr. Cameron wrote that the purple-furred Basma is almost 6 years old and loves to sing and dance. Basma welcomes Jad, a yellow-haired boy of the same age, into the neighborhood with open arms. Jad loves to plan and organize and enjoys painting with a brush he brought from where he used to live. They are followed by Mazuza, a goat that eats everything that has the shape of a circle.

The show is supported by a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2017. Julia Stash, the foundation's president at the time, said they then wanted to reach young children displaced by conflict and persecution in the Middle East by funding the largest early childhood intervention program ever created in a humanitarian setting.

More than 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011, according to UN refugee agency March 2019 data, many of whom are seeking asylum in neighboring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Roughly 50 percent of all registered Syrian refugees are under the age of 18, as the crisis has deprived millions of people of basic rights such as education and left them suffering from toxic stress, a severe form of psychological trauma, according to a 2017 study. report of the international non-profit organization Save the Children.

Best TV of 2021

TV this year offered ingenuity, humor, challenge and hope. Here are some of the highlights chosen by The Times critics:

- 'Inside': Written and filmed in the same room, streaming on Netflix, Bo Burnham's comedy special draws attention to internet life in the midst of a pandemic.
- "Dickinson": In Apple TV+ series is the origin story of a literary superheroine who is very serious about her subject but not serious about herself.
- Inheritance: In HBO's cutthroat drama about a family of media billionaires, being rich is nothing like it used to be.
- The Underground Railroad: A gripping adaptation of Barry Jenkins' novel by Coulson Whitehead is fantastic but totally real.

Since its founding in 1969, Sesame Street has combined music, puppetry and animation to educate children around the world and make them come to terms with harsh truths. The public television show touched on a variety of issues affecting society, from homelessness and hunger to grief, racism, gender equality and addiction.

The program, which first arrived in the Middle East in 1979, began showing in countries including Afghanistan and South Africa. Last year, Sesame Workshop partnered with the Lego Foundation to create play-based learning programs for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

To create Ahlan Simsim, the International Rescue Committee and the Sesame Workshop last year brainstormed in Lebanon and Jordan with early childhood specialists, psychologists, linguists, writers and artists. according to Mr. Cameron's post. In its first season, the show will focus on how to manage emotions and use strategies like belly breathing and art to get through the tough times.

Mr. Cameron wrote that the idea of the show is vital because we know how important it is for children to see their lives and experiences reflected on the screen.

David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, said in an email Thursday that shows like Ahlan Simsim are critical as refugee children continue to spend more time away from home. The UN Refugee Agency in 2015 estimated protracted refugee situations by the end of 2014 to be 25 years.

According to Mr. Miliband, there are Syrian refugee children all over the Middle East whose entire childhood was the life of displaced people. Ahlan Simsim is a massive and transformative investment that takes into account the scale of the problem and what is at stake.

Duel read online Collection (Page 6)

— I expected Rojo to return.

— Rojo?

“My horse,” Pickett explained with an embarrassed smile. “But it looks like it was in vain.

— Yeah…

Joe was silent for a long time, then said:

— Do you hear anything?

Coburn got up, but when he tried to straighten his shoulders, a terrible pain pierced his entire body.

"No," he finally answered. Silence complete, except for a light breeze.

"Exactly," Joe said. - Three hours have passed, but the usual sounds of the forest have not returned, the birds are silent, the squirrels are hiding ... nothing at all. So the guys are still in the mountains.

Coburn was impressed that the huntsman was able to understand this. He participated in the guerrilla war in Central America. And there, when the birds fell silent, and the monkeys stopped chatting, it was necessary to quickly take out the machete, because somewhere nearby was the enemy.

“Probably also means they don't know what to do next,” Pickett said. “Otherwise we would have heard something. Whispered conversation, a branch cracked underfoot, something… I think they are still upstairs, but confused.

— In what sense?

"Think about it," Joe said. “They poured fire on us for about half a day, knowing that we hid here. But they saw only you - and they could decide that they hit me and I died. I haven't shown up all this time. They're pretty sure you're hurt. And since we didn't lean out after this happened, there's a chance they'll find two dead bodies here.

Coburn nodded briefly.

Have you ever hunted? Pickett asked.

— You mean, on animals?

- Who else?

Li turned away, looked into the darkness, and quietly clarified:

— People.

- Only bad guys?

— Well, it depends who you ask, right?

Pickett was silent for a moment, then cleared his throat in embarrassment.

- I meant deer and elk.

"A long time ago, in Idaho, with my father," Coburn replied.

He was twelve then. His father shot a deer from the window of their truck before dawn, which was against the law. In the headlights, he finished off the animal with a blow to the head with a shovel.

"I didn't like it too much," Li said.

— Perhaps you will still agree with me.

— In what sense?

- You can wander for several weeks among the mountains and forests, trying to track down an elk or a deer. You are looking for some traces, sleeping in a tent, walking. The first years, when you go hunting, you are filled with a thirst for blood, that's how men are arranged. We like to shoot and kill living beings so that our hands are covered in blood. But after a while you start feeling frustrated because the animals we hunt are prey, prey. They are so arranged. They are not very smart, but they are smart enough to avoid confrontation.

— And what does all this have to do with us?

— Perhaps none. But from what you've told me, the One Nation guys are dumb country boys. If they were smarter, they would get out of here while they had the chance. Or they would have waited until the morning and come to check if we are really dead. But they are mindless, violent, bloodlust-filled freaks. So they can't wait to make sure they've finished us off, bury our bodies, and get back to building a house to start the race war again. In other words, they are impatient and probably hungry. By the way, me too. Pickett nodded toward the cooler bags and cans stacked under the tree. They dream of getting to their hot Dinty Moore.

Coburn could not help but recognize the logic in his words. In addition, he was now in such a state that he could not even attack a butterfly, not to mention two ideological jerks with firearms.

— So, we will wait for them?

"Until they do something," Pickett said.

- Or I won't bleed.

- Yeah, let's see what happens first.

* * *

- Emily.

Pickett opened his eyes.

They have been silent for an hour and a half. There was about half an hour before total darkness, although the sun had long since disappeared, and it seemed as if the dark walls of trees were coming closer and closing around them. The breeze died down, and an incredible silence reigned around, which was not broken by anything except the whispered name.

— What? Pickett asked in the same whisper.

Slava and Emily.

"It's something new," Pickett muttered, puzzled.

Coburn shook his head.

— Slava, that’s my… woman’s name. Emily is her daughter, she is five years old.

“So you do have a family after all,” Joe said, trying to hide his surprise.

- Sort of.

Pickett waited for a sequel, but it didn't come. Finally he said:

“I have an amazing wife and three daughters. And, you know, I do not hide the fact that if it were not for them, I don’t know what I would fit into.

Coburn looked at him coldly.

— You mean, would you be like me?

- I didn't say anything like that.

- You are not far from the truth. We've only been together for three months.

— Marybeth and I met in college.

Coburn shifted in confusion.

— Slava and I met under more unusual circumstances.

Pickett waited for the continuation.

— I crawled out of the swamp into her yard, pointed a gun at her, threatened to shoot her, and then tied her up.

- I didn't think you were such a romantic.

Lee snorted.

- She was involved in a case I was working on.

Pickett pointed to Coburn's belly.

Is that from there?

— Uh-huh. I didn't even know if I would see her again. Started going to the airport every day…” Coburn paused. “Remember when I told you about my idiot boss? Hamilton? Slava threatened him with physical violence if he did not tell her how to find me. It would be better if she stayed in Louisiana. But one day she showed up on my doorstep. With Emily. And Elmo [Elmo is a doll from the children's TV show Sesame Street, a furry red monster with big eyes and an orange nose. ].

- Looks like a happy ending.

Coburn shrugged.

- Maybe - for someone who wants to settle down. For example, for someone like you. For someone who knows who Elmo is.

Pickett grunted.

— Little girl, huh? So you're up to your neck in estrogen.

— You could say that.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the House of Feelings [The House of Feelings is a dance and radio show.]," Joe said. “It can be quite difficult to come back to this after a day alone in the woods.

"Four women," Coburn said, shaking his head. “It's hard for me to deal with two. I've been a loner all my life. I was quite satisfied with my own society, and I was not used to sharing with anyone, especially living space. Now I have to discuss things like curtains. I don't care what color they are; For me, the main thing is that they close the windows.

Pickett nodded.

— I understand you. What about sofa cushions?

- So I know ...

They contemplated the unknowable for a few seconds.

— Is Slava a good cook?

“Oh yes,” Coburn replied with a smile. And don't get me wrong, she's amazing. I always want to touch her. But I have to deal with a bunch of problems and I always ask myself if I can.

— You must ask yourself something else.

Enlighten me.

— Do you want to do it?

Pickett gave him time to think, but Coburn was silent and he said:

- You can do it, Lee. If I tolerate a mother-in-law who regularly reminds me that I am not worthy of her daughter, and our marriage is a real misalliance, you, too, will outlive the curtains and cushions. These things build character. Besides, perhaps Glory will make you softer.

— That's what I'm afraid of.

— With all due respect, you could be a little less stubborn and tough. And one more thing: when we get out of here, write Emily's name on your arm. Don't celebrate the coward this time.

Coburn looked at the bandage, which continued to soak with blood.

- If we get out.

- I think we will find out soon.

At half past eight, a silver crescent of the moon appeared between the tops of the trees, and the sky above them was strewn with a myriad of stars. Pickett never got tired of this magnificent painting and could admire it for hours.

Two men appeared from behind the trees on the south side of the clearing, one short, broad-chested man, the other thin, dragging his left leg, and the silvery light of the moon reflected off the rifles in their hands.

- Can you do it? whispered the Squat One.

“I’m feeling better,” Skinny answered with a southern accent. “It’s just that until now I haven’t had to walk on a shot leg.

Squat snorted.

They cautiously made their way across the clearing to the side of the house, their breath clouding their mouths. Coming closer, they ducked, and when they were near the wall, Squat whispered:

— One, two, three.

Both jumped to their feet and looked inside, sweeping their rifles along the floor.