With the excitement of the holidays comes interrupted schedules, late nights and often simple chaos! Here are some calming crafts that will help your kids (and you!) relax and enjoy some down time.

Lavender Cloud Dough Recipe

Materials:

8 cups of flour

1 cup of vegetable oil

5-7 drops of lavender essential oil

Optional: 1/2 cup of powdered tempera paint or crushed chalk to color the cloud dough

Instructions: 

Simply mix all ingredients in a bin or container. Cloud dough is an amazing sensory material in that it is super soft, fluffy, and mouldable. 

Handling sensory materials like cloud dough is therapeutic and can help to relax your child. The lavender scent is an additional calming attribute.

 

Stress Ball Activity

Materials:

Balloons 

Flour, rice or sand

About a tablespoon of cornstarch

A funnel (you can create a funnel by cutting the top off of a soda or water bottle)

A Sharpie

Instructions:

Take one balloon and blow it up, then let the air out. This will stretch the balloon out and make it easier to fill.

Use a funnel to fill it with flour, rice or sand.

Tie a knot to close the balloon once it is full, trying to leave as little of a “tail” as possible.

Dust the surface of this balloon lightly with cornstarch, to make the surface less sticky.

 

Snow Globe/ Glitter Bottle Activity

Materials:

Water bottle (3/4 full)

Glitter (various colours if preferred)

Tape

Instructions:

Use a funnel to pour a decent amount of glitter into the water bottle

Shake the bottle to ensure the glitter doesn’t clump

Tape the bottle cap to ensure there is no mess

Explain to your children how our emotions being out of controlled can be compared to the snow or glitter in the snow globe when you shake it. When we are worked up or emotionally aroused up everything feels out of control, it is hard to think clearly and difficult to control ourselves. Once we calm down (when the snow globe settles), we are able to think clearly and be more in control to keep our problems small. When you chose ways to keep calm, it is like the snow globe stating settled and not being shaken.