As most physical education teachers have discovered, children enjoy playing with parachutes. Using a parachute to teach children how to breathe is not only fun, but gives them a visual to help them learn how to breathe from the diaphragm. Parachute Breath is best done with at least four children ages five and up.

Benefits of Parachute Breath

Parachute Breath teaches children how different breathing patterns can affect how they feel. This breathing activity helps the body and mind relax while having fun with different breathing techniques.

• Let’s sit in a circle around the edges of the parachute.
• Come into Easy Seated Pose. Grab hold of the edges of the parachute.
• Make ripples with the parachute. Good! Now let’s slowly make the parachute go up and down by raising your arms all the way up to the height of the top of your head.
• Great! Now let’s begin to match our breath to how we move the parachute. Make ripples. As the parachute goes up, we inhale, making our bellies big. As the parachute moves down, we let our breath out, making our bellies flat.
• Now let’s slow it down. Continue to breathe with the parachute, inhaling as we lift and exhaling with the fall. What did you notice? Did breathing slow make you feel different than breathing fast?

Want to Learn More About Breathing Techniques?

Want to learn more ways to teach kid’s aerial yoga? Join us for our Mindful Child Teacher Training.  Our FUN brain-based approach, will teach you the ways kid’s aerial yoga and mindfulness is beneficial to the brain and body. Our unique classes utilize evidence-based tools to teach social and emotional learning, breathing techniques, and mindfulness.  Join us for a teacher training live or online. Or read my book, Mindfulness for Children,Want your own hammock? Email us (info@mindfulchildaerialyoga.com) for details or visit our online store and buy a Mindful Child aerial yoga hammock.