Snow Globe

About:

A big challenge with doing movement and expressive activities is that students can get overly excited and disinhibited. Then it is easy to get mad and punitive. This exercise is a great way to teach kids to down regulate. It becomes a positive settling down. 'The Snow Globe' helps students learn to down re-regulate or down regulate. And they learn to do it on cue. This can also be called 'Snow Storm' or 'Blizzard' or 'Rainstorm'.

Purpose of this lesson:

Gives students practice in regulating their own nervous system.

This is an active way to settle a class

Teach meditation and mindfulness

Prerequisites:

Directions:

"Who can raise your hand and tell me what a snow globe is?"

It’s like a ball. You shake it up and it snows inside and then the snow inside slowly settles down.

What does the snow do when it sits there?

Does is shake around? Does it make a noise?

It sits on the ground silently.

Show me what that snow looks like.

"How long does the snow stay on the ground?"

We are going to become a snow globe.

Shake yourself out.

Really shake hard

Let your hands and arms be like bunches of snow flakes. They slowly float down to the ground.

Show me what the snow flakes do when they hit the ground.

Glitches:

Students bump in to each other during the movement

Coach students to stay in their own space, if they can not, then define space for them that is further apart. Give them a mat to stand or sit on.

Student can not stay settled for long or at all

Give strong acknowledgement for those students who can get quiet and still. "It is wonderful that you can stay quiet and still even when other haven't learned to yet."
a response 2

Needs Met:

Growth- Increase Mastery of self regulation- be able to get very excited and then completely calm one self.

Neuroscience and Psycho-physiology Basis:

?Barry Sterman

?EEG state shift

?Eric Shifting from Do Deal System to Salience or Default system.

?Porges-

Metaphor to Explore:

What are situations where you get all shaken up?

How else do you settle yourself down with you are all shaken up?