The Castle That Sleeps for a Hundred Years

With Sleeping Beauty, the whole castle freezes and falls asleep for a hundred years, then wakes up one body part at a time. It builds relaxation, breathing and awareness of each body part.

How to play

1. Each child chooses who they are in Sleeping Beauty's castle: cook, guard, horse, dog, king, queen… and acts out what they were doing (1 min).
2. The teacher comes by with a wand (a finger) and, touching the air near each child, freezes them in their pose (1 min).
3. The hundred-year sleep begins: very slowly, we slide to the floor, lie down and breathe slowly while brambles grow around the castle (soft music) (2 min).
4. In a quiet voice, the teacher wakes one body part at a time: “Toes wake up… hands… head” (1 min).
5. We sit up, yawn, stretch and say good morning to the castle (1 min).

Rules

• When we're touched by the wand, we freeze.
• During the sleep, eyes closed and slow breaths.
• We only wake up the part the teacher names.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child sleeps in the wheelchair or supported by cushions.
• Autism: preview the wake-up order with pictures and accept that the child may keep their eyes open.
• Hearing impairment: the teacher gently taps the shoulder (with permission) to signal each wake-up.

Learning goals

• Relax the body after effort.
• Control breathing.
• Become aware of each body part.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Soft music

Teacher tip

Pick instrumental music with no lyrics and lower your voice little by little. If someone giggles, let it be; they usually settle once they see others lying down.

More activities like this

More cool-downs for Elementary