Research shows that a designated place for your students to calm down when frustrated, anxious or upset can help them manage their emotions and reduce their stress. I have a calm down basket in my classroom and it is always stored in the same location all year long. Here are 10 + ideas for affordable items you can easily include in your calm down basket. You don't have to start with all of these at once. Start with a few and then add more throughout the year! Be sure to download the Free Calm Down Bin Printable here!
I use a few different types of stress balls, but these are super kid friendly! They come in different colors and varieties of “monsters” and are firm enough they won’t pop or break.
These are a great way to occupy a frustrated or sad student for a few minutes. I put a couple of these in the basket already jumbled up. They have to get each side to say the correct superhero word. They are challenging, but easy enough with the different colors that match up! .
I LOVE these! Not only are these perfect for classroom use for specific student needs (we all have those slow workers!), but they are GREAT for calm down baskets. My students like to play around with them in general, but sometimes I specifically tell them which timer to grab and use for calming down. They include 30 second, 1 minute, 90 second, and 2 minute options.
These are another form of a stress ball. They are super squishy but still very durable!
These are great to keep in the calm down basket for those students who love puzzles and a challenge! There are activity pages about finding different words from animal types, finding the difference in pictures, connect the dots, word scrambles and more! I love that this is calming, gets a students' mind off their frustration AND educational! I keep a couple of books in the basket at a time and as they get used I replace them.
These stretchy characters are so cute and perfect to use for calming down. They come in lots of colors too!
These are great for your students' thinking! There are many different balls and shapes that all make great challenging brain games.
I absolutely love these. They are very challenging, so I only recommend using them for upper grades. The pack of mind teasers comes with 6 different challenging metal teasers. The object is for the students to figure out how to undo the metal pieces. So great!
Yep, another stress ball toy! These are great because the inside is very gooey and stretchy. The ball can actually be stretched flat!
These toys are great for a calm down basket. They are bouncy type yo-yos with stretchy pieces. They're perfect for a quick trip to the bin to gather emotions and cool down. These are some great ideas to get you started with using a calm down basket for your students! Make sure to grab the free Calm Down Basket printable on the right side of this page underneath the supplies list!