To help your child(ren) ground themselves or focus, engage them in this simple activity. Begin with a grounding exercise. This can include standing up or sitting tall, noticing their feet firmly on the ground, and then putting their focus into their feet and feeling how they are firmly rooted to the ground. You can add some movement here or get them to pretend they are as still as a mountain or swaying gently like a tree.
Once they are grounded, add an orienting exercise. This could include looking around the room and naming 5 things they can see, 4 things they can hear, 3 things they can touch, 2 things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste.
Then direct them to a short breathing exercise, inhaling for a count of 5 and exhaling for a count of 5. To count this, have them hold up their hand and squeeze each finger one at a time as they inhale in, and then do the same for exhale. This brings a tactile component to the activity and aids with calming.