5 Benefits of a Classroom Calm Down Corner

One of the most important parts of our jobs is to help our students identify their needs and manage their emotions. Today I’m going to be sharing 5 benefits of a classroom calm down corner – and I’m even going to give you almost everything you need to set up your own successful calm down corner in your classroom that your students will love!

Before we start, let me give you a quick overview of just what a calm down corner is, and then we’ll discuss 5 benefits of using one.

What is a Calm Down Corner?

A calm down corner is a safe space for students – and staff too! – to access when they are feeling upset, anxious or just that their emotions are running too high and they need to try and self-regulate and take time to calm themselves down.

While often used as a corner in the classroom, a calm down corner can actually be used anywhere – home, therapy centers, workplaces etc.

So, if you’ve been thinking about putting together a calm down corner but you’ve been unsure.. Let me share my top 5 benefits of using a classroom (or at home!) calm down corner.

1. Gives Students a Safe Space

For many of our students, providing them with a safe space to go when they’re trying to deal with their emotions can be a huge relief for them. Letting them know that there’s an area in the classroom they can go to, whenever they need it, to decompress and regulate themselves to help themselves calm down is one of the best behavior management tools you can have.

When students are able to start to recognize their emotions, they can start to identify when they need to take some time to calm down. But, they may not know how to ask for it. Or what they need to do in order to try to calm themselves back down. By teaching students about being able to use the calm down corner as a safe space, you help to give them a safe option when they’re dealing with different emotions.

This space should always remain a safe space too. Allow students to come here whenever they need to, and allow them to time to really decompress and calm themselves down. It’s an area free from arguments, hostility and verbal volleyball. This is a place of serene and calm. This is very important to remember in order for the calm down corner to be an effective tool.

2. Encourages Self-Regulation

A lot of students really strive for independence. And when they’re feeling all of their emotions, are distressed, upset or even angry.. Having someone constantly trying to help them may actually have the opposite effect where it actually stresses them out more having interference and communication with someone else.

The calm down corner provides students – and staff too! – with the ability to be able to self-regulate. You can provide different tools and items in the calm down corner that are suitable for students to use in order to help regulate themselves.

3. Keeps Students in Class

So many times, before I had a calm down corner, was the only real option for providing students somewhere to go to calm down.. Was out of the classroom. Which kind of defeats the object.. Because when they come back into the classroom, the sudden changes could prove too much for the returning student when they’re expecting something different than what’s in front of them now. I.E. When Student A left, the class were working on arts and crafts, they’ve returned 30 minutes later and the class are now getting ready for gym.

By keeping students in class, it does offer the opportunity for students to still be able to self regulate.. While also being able to look around the classroom and see what is going on around them.

4. Allows Students to Recognize their Emotions

I always find this skill a really tough one to work on with students – but it’s vital at the same time. You can include resources in the calm down corner that help students to recognize different emotions – and use this to see how they are feeling.

Social stories, visuals and even picture books are perfect for students to be able to understand different feelings and emotions. And it can really help them to relate to themselves.

On top of this, you can then provide resources for students to use when they’re feeling a certain way in order to start working on their independence of being able to recognize their emotions, needs and how they can regulate themselves. I.E. ‘When I am angry, I can try to take deep breaths and count to 10..’

5. Works on Social and Emotional Learning

I’ve been so happy to see over the last few years just how much more thought of social and emotional learning is. Educators all around the world are truly putting their heads together and attending different types of training courses and events to really focus in on social and emotional learning.

I stumbled across the website Committee for Children where they define social and emotional learning as..

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success.”

By being able to provide opportunities for our students to work on their social and emotional skills, we are helping to prepare them to cope better with everyday life throughout their future. This includes being able to manage their emotions. CfC also state from research that students are able to learn and contribute to a positive school climate when they are provided opportunities to work on social and emotional skills.

Help Me Set It Up, Nikki!

I hear you.. If you’re anything like me, when you see something like this blog post talking about how effective and beneficial something is for students.. You want to dive right in with both feet and get set up for your students. But that can quickly get overwhelming!

So, let me take some of the hard work off your plate.

First up, click here to download a free ‘Calming Strategies Adapted Book’ – you can thank me later. Because this little adapted book is a game changer! And it’s free.. 😉

Then, click here to check out a whole classroom calm down corner set up pack!

I hope you found this 5 benefits of a classroom calm down corner blog post helpful, especially if you have been considering setting up a classroom calm down corner.

Nikki

P.S. Have you signed up for a 3 day free trial of our VIP membership yet? If not, click here to do it now and go and get access to a huge range of resources, templates, crafts and more for free.

TELL ME MORE!

Still want to know more about calm down corners and using them in your classroom? Click here or the image below to hop on over to my awesome friend Yara’s blog where she is sharing 10 ideas for using a calm down corner in the classroom!