Mindful breathing or deep breathing is the perfect way to calm any back to school jitters your kids might be feeling. And, books are a great tool for introducing new things to kids, right?

 

So, I rounded up five of my favorites on mindful breathing for you to read at circle time, display in your preschool library, and use in your peace center. Not to mention, deep breathing is a great way to calm wiggly bodies, focus distracted minds, and settle any other big emotions that might be stirring around inside.

 

related- deep breathing series

 

Ready, let's get started- in no particular order...

 

MINDFUL BREATHING BOOK #1

My Magic Breath: Finding Calm Through Mindful Breathing

by: Nick Ortner

 

My Magic Breath is a wonderful book about mindful breathing. The text is simple and easy for kids to understand and the pictures are colorful and vibrant. This interactive book encourages kids to breath along with the story. Kids learn how to process their feelings like anger and sadness and then release them through their breath. As they breathe out the unhappy feelings they learn to replace them with happy ones. Everyone can use their magic breath to feel peace and calm.

 

 

MINDFUL BREATHING BOOK #2

Alphabreaths: the abcs of mindful breathing

by: Christopher Willard

 

Alphabreaths is a fun and playful breathing book with colorful illustrations. From "Alligator" breath to "Zzzz" breath and all of the letters in between, this book is a wonderful collection of different breathing techniques to try with your kids.

 

You can read the book through, cover to cover, or use it in your own creative ways. Randomly choose a letter and breathing technique to use for the day or the week and make a game of it. Or, you can:

• use scrabble tiles or flash cards to pick a letter from a hat
• do a series of breathing exercises using the letters that spell a word you are learning
• use the "letter of the week" to practice your mindful breathing for that week
• use the first letter of the birthday boy/girl's name

 

related: free mindfulness resources 

 

MINDFUL BREATHING BOOK #3

Breathe with me: Using breath to feel strong, calm, and happy

by: Mariam Gates

 

If you like Mariam Gates', Good Night Yoga, you're sure to love Breathe With Me. A fun collection of breathing strategies and when to use them with the same style of beautiful imagery as her other books. If you're feeling mad, try counting breath and when you feel unsure, try dandelion breath. The simple explanations and fun names encourage kids to try out these breathing techniques.

 

 

MINDFUL BREATHING BOOK #4

Belly Breathe

by: Leslie Kimmelman

 

Belly Breathe is written for the youngest of children with its simple text, baby animal illustrations, and fun breathing instruction. This interactive book encourages kiddos to breathe in through their nose and breathe out the junk with the playful animals. There are also opportunities to get creative and breathe the way you would think the animals would breathe. What would jelly breath look like, or feather breath, or furry breath? A super simple and cute addition to your mindful breathing library.

 

 

MINDFUL BREATHING BOOK #5

Take A Deep Breath: A Book about Being Brave

by: Sue Graves

 

Take A Deep Breath is a simple book written for young children. This book doesn't give breathing instruction or breathing techniques, but rather suggests situations when deep breathing might be helpful. Specifically, scary situations like meeting a dog, jumping into the pool, and getting hurt. This story shares how deep breathing can bring some calm to big, scary situations.

 

 

What are your favorite mindful breathing books?

While I love the books I picked for this top five mindful breathing book list, this is by no means a complete list. There are so many more breathing books out there that are worthy of reading and using in your classroom. I'm sure there are titles out there that I haven't heard of.

 

And so, I would love to hear your list of favorites. Which mindful breathing books do you use with your kids? I'm hoping to discover more with your recommendations. Let me know about them in the comments below.

~Dawn