I know that after school or preschool my kids can still be pretty wired, sometimes we’ll head out to the park but sometimes (especially when it’s cold!) it’s good just to be at home. These calming activities for after school are all tried and tested by mums with their kids, meaning that they are great for helping kids to decompress and most of them would work as great calming activities for toddlers too, perfect if like me you have more than one kid that needs calming down!
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Calming Activities for After School
Do some sensory play with rice – this metallic rice from The Imagination Tree looks so inviting!
Make an I-Spy bottle – I love this peace themed one from One Time Though!
Make some DIY stress balls – I’m a bit in love with these ninja ones from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
Count all the things you can see in a sensory bag
Make calm down jars like these from Lemon Lime Adventures
Sand trays are great for calming down and concentrating on any literacy or numeracy you need to do
Make a simple DIY mini light table like this one from In The Playroom
Bake, something like bread where kids need to knead the dough is a great way to focus any energy
Make some goop – we love this one with flowers in it
Do a maze together
My kids love this calming lavender playdough
Do some mandala colouring – there’s a free mandala colouring page here or you can get mandala colouring books
Read stories together – look and find books like Where’s Wally / Where’s Waldo are perfect
Do some yoga – my son loves Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube
Blow bubbles
Want more ideas? We love sharing them and you can can check out all our sensory play ideas here!
Love all these ideas, especially the mini light table!
It’s gorgeous isn’t it!
I ve now 2 out of 3 kids at big school so these ideas are great for me right now. We ve been playing with moon sand and playdough after school to wind down with and sitting down together to do this provides a good opportunity to chat through their days.
Ahh, glad you like them! We’re really finding play dough useful at the moment too, my son is obsessed with it!
These are all great ideas. My kids need something after school — besides a snack– to help them not destroy the house. We’ve had a lot of success with play dough, but I also like the sensory bins. Thanks for this post and resource.