Top 5 Calming Apps for Children (And What to Use as an Alternative)

The Best Calming Apps for Kids

Here is a roundup of apps that can help your child or teen deal with anxiety and stress:

1. Calm

As the name suggests, Calm is designed to help you or your child feel relaxed and calm. Calm provides daily meditations as well as specific programs, including the popular 7 Days of Calming Anxiety program.

Why we like it: Each meditation is voiced by a soothing and gentle voice, but guided meditations aren’t the only option. Your child can choose to listen to nature sounds too. For younger kids, the Calm app features “sleep stories” to help your child relax at bedtime.

2. Breathe, Think, Do Sesame

3. Headspace

Headspace is a popular app for parents, but there is also a kids’ version.

Why we like it: Your child has a lot to choose from in this app: breathing exercises, meditations, and visualizations. Your child can niche down and work on improving focus, sleep, or even kindness. Headspace offers “sleepcasts”, which are stories to help your child drift off to sleep, calming music or nature sounds to listen to, and even anxiety-busting exercises. Guided meditations teach your child what mindfulness is and how to practice it daily.

4. Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids

5. Super Stretch Yoga

Pros and Cons of Using Calming Apps

Calming apps are great for teaching your child strategies to calm down.

But apps aren’t the only way to ease anxieties.

There are some cons to using apps. For example, the bright screen could affect your child’s ability to sleep later on in the evening. (That’s because blue screens like phones, tablets, etc. can disrupt your circadian rhythm.)

However, there are many tech-free ways to help your child calm down. You can try:

• Cuddling under a weighted blanket listening to music
• Listening to mellow or relaxing nature sounds
• Deep breathing exercises without an app
• Yoga or gentle stretching
• Try the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise (you can find an example of this here)
• Coloring

Sometimes just talking can help calm your child. This is especially helpful if there’s something on your child’s mind that is bothering him or her. Go for a walk around the block and let your child open up to you.

“I do not usually suggest a lot of apps for kids. I usually focus on coaching and training the parent on the techniques, so that they can then teach/model/walk the kiddo through the technique at home.”

Monica Clark, LPA

This means that you can not only help calm your child down, but you can also use that a chance to help strengthen your relationship even more.

Do Calming Strategies Really Work?

Calming strategies work differently depending on which method you choose. Breathing exercises, for example, promote calmness because the act of deep breathing sends a message to your child’s brain to calm down and relax. Deep breathing shifts your child’s body into the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the opposite of flight-or-fight mode. And as a result, your child’s heart rate slows down, breathing rate returns to normal, and he or she feels relaxed.

You can encourage your child to try different types of deep breathing such as square breathing or triangle breathing.

On the other hand, activities like coloring, promote calmness in a different way. Coloring, like other forms of meditation, can relax the amygdala, or the fear center in your child’s brain. This is why coloring and meditation can quiet a restless mind.

Need More Managing Intense Emotions and Anxiety?

Managing intense emotions can be difficult for children with ADHD, and unmanaged ADHD can contribute to emotional dysregulation. If your child is struggling with symptoms of ADHD, we can help. Here at Next Step, we generally recommend comprehensive and holistic treatment approaches. Our team-based, multidisciplinary approach includes therapy, education, coaching, medication, and more. Our compassionate and understanding providers are experienced in treating children with co-occurring disorders such as anxiety and ADHD. 

If you’d like to learn more about us or set up a confidential discussion with one of our professionals, you can request an appointment here. Alternatively, call our Louisville, Kentucky office at (502) 907-5908.

References:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/conditions.html

Price and availability may vary but were accurate as of June 20, 2020. NextStep 4 ADHD does not endorse or receive financial compensation for the sale of any of these apps.