Koala's Calm-Down
Calming down with slow breathing, then naming how you feel
How it plays
Your child breathes along with Koala: the circle grows as they breathe in and shrinks as they breathe out, four seconds each way, for three slow breaths at first. Then Koala asks how they feel, with eight faces to choose from: happy, calm, excited, tired, sad, angry, scared and worried. Every feeling gets a kind answer; there are no right or wrong ones, and nothing to win. The faces and words are the same as the ones on Talk, the communication board, so the two teach feelings the same way. It is gentle on purpose: no confetti, no buzzing, no timer. As your child gets used to it, Koala adds a breath or two.
What it's for
Calming down with slow breathing, then naming how you feel. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. There are no right or wrong feelings, and nothing to win.
Away from the screen: Teddy breathing
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Lie down with a teddy or a soft toy on your tummy.
- Breathe in slowly and watch the teddy go up.
- Breathe out slowly and watch it go down. Do five together.
Three questions to ask while they play
- How does your body feel after breathing slowly?
- What might make you feel that way?
- What helps you when you feel like that?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Let's breathe with Koala: in slowly, out slowly.
- How does your body feel now?
- It's OK to feel that way.
Taking turns on one device: Take turns choosing the feeling, then breathe together. Both of you join in.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Breathe along out loud with your child. Slow, together, is the whole idea.
A sheet to print
Print the Koala's Calm-Down sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
From two to eight
Tiny Steps: made for two- and three-year-olds too. With Tiny Steps on, it stays on its gentlest level, a not-yet tap is never counted, and there's nothing to read.
Switch Tiny Steps or Big Steps on in Who's playing?, on the grown-ups' page.
What it practises
- Calming down. Slowing down with slow breathing when feelings are big.
EYLF 1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0); PSC Self-management (General capabilities, Personal and Social Capability) - Naming feelings. Knowing and naming how you feel.
AC9HPFP03 (Health and Physical Education, Foundation); EYLF 1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0); EYLF 3 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Koala's Calm-Down lives in The Cosy Burrow — feelings, calm and my body. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated