Listening to My Heart Calm Down

After moving around, children put a hand on their chest to feel their fast heartbeat and follow the teacher's drum, which beats slower and slower until the heart rests. It builds awareness of how the body changes with exercise.

How to play

1. Hop in place like kangaroos while the teacher beats the drum fast (1 min).
2. Stop and put a hand on your chest: how's your heart? Ba-bum, ba-bum, super fast! (1 min).
3. Sit down while the teacher drums to the fast heartbeat, then slowly drums slower and slower as we breathe slower too (1 min).
4. Lie down with a hand on the chest and feel the heart calming down (1 min).
5. Share what we noticed: is it the same as at the beginning? (1 min).

Rules

• I hop in my spot without bumping anyone.
• When the drum stops, I stop.
• I listen to my heart quietly.
• I breathe slowly with the slow drum.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: instead of hopping, they move their arms fast like swimming.
• Hearing loss: they see the beat in the teacher's hand and feel it by touching the drum.
• Autism: give a heads-up with a picture card before switching from hopping to lying down.

Learning goals

• Feel their heartbeat.
• Connect exercise with changes in the body.
• Use breathing to calm down.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Hand drum: 1

Teacher tip

It works great at the end of an active session, since they already arrive with a fast heartbeat; in that case skip the first step and lengthen the lying-down part. Help them place their hand on the left side, a little toward the middle.

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