Your Guide to Creating a Calming Corner for Teens to Facilitate a Calming Classroom Environment
The majority of times when you see calming corners they are specifically designed for little ones but calming corners for teens are needed and effective! When introducing the calming corner in your middle school or highschool class you may get a few eye rolls at first.
But as the school year progresses and end of year tests, graduation, friendships dynamics change etc. your students may see the value of having a spot they can simply relax and reflect in!
This post will ensure you have all the best guidance on how to create a calming corner for teens in your *hopefully* calming classroom.
And if you have a few extra minutes please feel free to share your thoughts on the bottom of this post! I would love to have ideas from many educators (or anyone that works with teens-parents too!) about how they are incorporating ideas to support our students’ mental health while at school-even if it isn’t in a designated calming corner!
How to create a calming corner for teens
When creating a calming corner for teens you must introduce the space early on in the year (with reminders throughout the year) and establish boundaries for the space. For a calming corner to be effective it should feel welcoming, be full of cozy/calming decor, have mindfulness activities, and have boundaries to preserve the peace that the space is set up to offer.
Here are a few boundaries that you may want to consider for your classroom calming corner for teens:
- Not able to be used during tests/quizzes
- Respect people that are in the corner
- Limit number of people in the corner at a time
- No personal electronics in the corner
Disclaimer* There is no denying, teacher’s budgets are tiny and sometimes non existent. The calming corner does not have to be elaborate or expensive.
Some of the items on this list are free, can be thrifted or borrowed or are relatively inexpensive. You may even be able to score some resources from the school counselor or families that are excited about the space as well. You never know!
Don’t feel like you have to spend a bunch of money on it or even create it all by yourself. Our students deserve to feel safe in the classroom and in their minds and your school community most likely will be interested in helping to achieve that too!
This post is all about the best tips for creating a calming corner for teens.
The Best Tips For Creating a Calming Corner for Teens
1. Phone basket to minimize distractions
This might be the least popular tip on the list so we will get it over with first.
Having a basket for phones will help keep students on task while in the calming corner. Of course, the calming corner could be easily misused if it just became a place to text or go on social media while in class.
This will ensure that the safe space is free of outside distractions and truly is just a place for your students to focus on their mental health and well being.
2. Journaling prompts to encourage self reflection
Journaling is an incredibly helpful tool for organizing our thoughts, expressing ourselves and pin pointing where our big feelings are arising from.
Some teens may find it difficult or silly to write their feelings down on a piece of paper. To avoid them just staring at a blank piece of paper I encourage you to create or download some journaling prompts that can help them to get to writing.
Here are some sample questions/topics for the calming corner journaling sheets:
- What brought you to the calming corner today?
- What activities bring you joy?
- If you could write a letter to your younger self and/or older self what would you say?
- What do you love about being in school and what do you dislike?
- What goals do you have for this school year? Academic, social, personal, future goals etc.
*I would advise not collecting the journal prompts and keeping things confidential if you find one left behind.
3. Headphones for guided meditation
Meditation is constantly suggested as a cure for those struggling with their mental health. And for good reason!
Giving your students the gift of learning about meditation at such a young age can truly impact them for the rest of their lives.
Learning to tune into your breathe and the present moment can be so healing for everyone but especially people in school, dealing with the ups and downs of their social life at such a confusion age.
There are plenty of free meditations on youtube but I also wanted to give a shout out to Headspace that offers a free program for educators to use their app in the classroom. There are hundreds of meditations available. The headspace app is easy to use and has experienced mediation teachers. I have personally loved all of the guided meditations I have done on the app!
I suggest setting up an extra device with headphones for students to pull up a meditation and relax with.
4.Yoga videos by Sustain Life Journal Yoga (:
For students that struggle with sitting in meditation or need to strengthen their mind and body connection, yoga is an incredible tool to do so!
By tuning into our breath and each sensation that comes up in our physical bodies we can keep our minds in the present moment rather than on what has happened in the past or what may come in the future. This is an incredible skill for teens to begin to cultivate and exposing them to the practice of yoga early on is a great way to do so.
There are many free yoga options online and even yoga cards that display different poses.
{RECOMMENDED POST: Self Care for Kids: 5 Simple Self Care Routines and Activities To Help Your Kids Thrive}
5. Drawing materials and coloring books to destress
Coloring is a fantastic mindfulness practice that helps us to solely focus on the colors hitting the page and not much else!
There are tons of free coloring pages that can be downloaded offline. To make this tip a bit kinder to the planet, you can print the coloring pages on the back of misprinted paper.
6. Fidget toys to help with focus
Sometimes students may just be having a hard time focusing in class rather than being overwhelmed with emotions.
In this case, having fidget toys is a great way for them to stay engaged with the lesson while also calming their bodies.
Many fidget toys can even be found at the thrift store!
Here are some fidget toys for teens to keep an eye out for:
- Stress ball
- Fidget spinner
- Bubble Pop fidgets
- Tangle Toys
{RECOMMENDED POST: 17 Important Eco Friendly Classroom Ideas to Teach Your Students about Sustainable Living}
7. Articles and books focused on mental health for teens
Be sure to stock your calming corner with resources for teens to better understand what they are going through.
Of course we shouldn’t be encouraging them to self diagnose but having books and articles focused on mental health and self care can be a great start to them taking charge of their personal health needs.
Here are a few topics you can find resources on:
- breathing exercises
- teen mental health
- test anxiety
- healthy relationships
- coping skills
You could also include a sheet with local resources’s contact info for mental health such as the school counselors, Planned Parenthood, teen support groups etc.
8. Make the calming corner cozy and inviting
So now for the fun part, decorating! I suggest starting simple and adding as the school year goes on or even as years go by!
Here are some decor elements to consider when designing the space:
- bean bag chair
- floor pillows
- calming scenery prints/posters
- houseplants
9. Motivation/affirmation wall for calming corner
One part of decor that I think is a must for your calming corner is a wall of positive affirmations or encouraging words that your students can read as they work on resetting their minds and bodies!
There are many ways you could do this such as using sticky notes, framed graphics or making your own positive quotes to decorate the space with.
You never know what quote may help to change your students’ perspective and comfort them when they need a little extra love!
Do you have a calming corner in your classroom? Let us know in the comments below! It can help other educators as we all figure out how to support our students’ mental health.
Be sure to sign up for the newsletter if you would like sustainability and wellness tips sent directly to your inbox!
Stay well,
Maggie
This post was all about how to create a calming corner for older students.
Other posts you may like:
- The 5 Best Sustainable Notebooks For School, Work and Journaling
- How To Create a Calming Classroom Environment That Your Students Love to Learn In (Elementary students)
- 13 Practical Eco Friendly Teacher Gifts They Will Adore
- How to Support Yourself When You Are Dealing With Eco Anxiety | 5 Simple Tips
If you would like to save this post for later-pin it!
