Relaxing Like An Ice Cube

Help your students visualize their bodies melting like ice cubes to help them understand what it means to “relax.”

• Ask the students to lie down and close their eyes – make sure everyone has enough space!

• Tell the students “pretend like we are ice cubes in the freezer, frozen very hard”

(Have student tense up all the muscles in their bodies and hold them tight)

• Then tell them “Oops! Someone takes us outside and leaves us in the hot sun…we begin to melt! Our bodies get softer and melty” (Tell students to let their muscles relax and stay soft)

• “Pretty soon the sun has melted us into a drippy, droopy puddle.” (Tell students to let their muscles relax even more/ feel even softer)

• Then tell the students “This is what your body feels like when you are relaxed! Ballooning, Draining, Pretzel, and being a S.T.A.R. helps our bodies to feel relaxed when we are angry or upset or scared.”

• Practice ballooning, draining, pretzel and being a S.T.A.R. and remind the students to relax their bodies like a melted ice cube while you practice.