Free Calming Printables and Montessori-Inspired Calming Activities

Calming activities for both kids and adults are needed more than ever this year. And the upcoming holidays will just add to the need for calming activities. So I decided to have a month-long unit of calming printables and activities! I even have a new Montessori-inspired calming pack for our newsletter subscribers’ resource library!

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Montessori Shelves with Calm-Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired calming numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

You could mix your calm-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special calm-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels mainly from preschooler through early elementary. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Montessori Book Basket and Shelves with Calm-Themed Activities

Even though I have books on shelves, I keep the main Montessori-friendly books for our current theme in a book basket by the themed shelf. You’ll find a few of the books I’ve used along with new books as they’re published here. For toddlers and preschoolers, at least ¾ of the books I use are Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles).

You can also read more about my favorite mindfulness books in my post at Bits of Positivity with “The Best Mindfulness Books for Kids.”

Notice the framed Meditation (1885) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It’s a free download from Wikimedia. I’m featuring realism in the arts this month!

I’m continuing to use this art book (along with a variety of others):

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your unique family’s needs.

Calm: Mindfulness for Kids Book with Listening to a Seashell Dictation or Creative Writing

Free Printables: listening to a seashell diction or creative writing page (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

I featured the DK book Calm: Mindfulness for Kids with the tray. I love most DK books, and this is no exception. It has a good description of mindfulness along with many mindfulness activities for kids (or for kids and adults to do together).

Listening to a Seashell Before Writing Her Thoughts About It

This was a fun writing activity. The printable has a photograph of a sister and brother listening to a seashell at the beach. The printable says: “What do you hear when you listen to a seashell? Tell how you feel when you listen to a seashell.”

My oldest granddaughter, Zoey (who just turned 7), wrote that she heard the sweet sound of the ocean. She wrote that it made her feel calm and relaxed.

Zoey’s sister, Sophia (2½), dictated her answer to me. She said she heard a baby. She said it made her feel good.

My grandson, Caleb (2½), dictated his answer to me. He said it sounded like SeaWorld. He said it made him feel happy.

This type of activity is often memorable and something I love to read again in the future. The papers I kept most often from my kids’ homeschooling are their creative writing papers. Their journaling activities are some of my favorites.

Note: This isn’t a page I keep on the shelf after it’s been used. I’ve placed both seashells I purchased for this activity (and future seashell activities) on the peace mat you see on the shelf behind Zoey. Zoey loves to color, so I replaced that activity with yoga pose coloring pages by A Whole Latte SpEd at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Breathe with Me Book with Breathing and Yoga Activity Cards

Counting Breath from Breathe With Me with Breathing and Yoga Cards

Free Printable: 8 Breathing Exercise Cards from Childhood 101

Free Printable: Intro to Yogalore/My Daddy Is a Pretzel: Yoga & Movement Pose Cards by Yogalore at Teachers Pay Teachers

Free Printable: Yoga Sequence Cards by Create Classroom Magic at Teachers Pay Teachers

Even though I haven’t had this Montessori cards display box for a long time, I use it every month. It’s so attractive and I love that it doesn’t take up much shelf space. I often use it for 3-and 4-part cards. This month, I put each set of the above cards in one of the three compartments.

On a wooden cookbook holder is the book Breathe with Me: Using Breath to Feel Strong, Calm, and Happy. It’s a lovely book that discusses emotions and ideas for using breathing exercises to help.

In the background, you can see our playdough tray with lavender playdough we just prepared for a calming playdough activity.

Zen Garden Sand Writing Tray with Cursive Movable Alphabet Letters

Free Printables: zen garden alphabet in manuscript and cursive for sand writing tray (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container works best for you, though.

Now I typically now use the spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. But this month, I used our zen garden as the sand writing tray. It allows for making calming designs with the sand rake as well as writing the letter or word.

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Pray, Yoga, and Calm Font Cards with Positive Thoughts Booklet and Zen Sand Alphabet Letters in Manuscript and Cursive

Free Printables: pray letter p, yoga letter a, and calm letter c (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). I’ll be putting out the meditate letter m font cards later.

Free Printable: Zen Garden Movable Alphabet (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

Free Printable: A Little Calm SPOT Free Printable by Diane Alber at Teachers Pay Teachers

It isn’t a Montessori-style book, but I love A Little Calm SPOT: A Story about Yoga and Feeling Focused by Diane Alber. She has a number of books that are wonderful for social emotional learning. I was excited to discover her free printable to go with the book! I printed it out at 1/4 the size to make a mini book. I made a similar-size booklet for the construction unit last month, and it was especially popular.

Crystal Heart Numbers with Amethyst Stones and Montessori Bead Bars

Layout for Crystal Heart Numbers with Amethyst Stones and Montessori Bead Bars

Free Printable: Heart crystal number cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

The tray on the bottom left shelf has an an activity for pairing the numbers 1-20 with Montessori bead bars. I used 20 tumbled amethyst stones from our rocks and minerals unit and Montessori bead bars. I designed this activity for the child to turn over a card and then show the number with stones and bead bars. There are enough

There are enough stones to make DIY cards and counters 1-10. If you’d like to prepare an activity extending work with the Montessori teen board, there were enough stones in my package for a layout with the teen numbers 11-19.

Peace Dove Counting or Addition Activity with Chopsticks Pom Pom Transfer

Free Printable: Peace dove number and math symbol cards (part of my Montessori-Inspired Peace Pack … subscriber freebie pack … so just sign up for my email to get the link and password or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

I got out the peace dove math printables from our previous peace unit and the chopsticks peace activity we already had to make an activity adding white and black pom poms that are transferred from one lotus bowl to the other.

Finger Labyrinth with Free Printable Finger Labyrinth

Free Printables: Finger Labyrinths – Set 1 and Finger Labyrinths – Set 2 by Gifted Guru at Teachers Pay Teachers

The 4½” diameter pewter finger labyrinth I had is no longer available. The bamboo one from Amazon looks nice if you want more than the printable labyrinth. This is simply a calming activity for children and adults.

Free Montessori-Inspired Calming Pack

Montessori-Inspired Calming Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).

Free Calming Printables

I’m no longer publishing a list of free printables from other blogs for each theme. Many of the free printables get changed to paid printables or to subscriber freebies with new links. So it just became too difficult to keep all those links updated while adding new ones each month. Instead, I’ll be sharing many free calming printables (along with free holiday printables and some other types of free printables throughout our unit) as my Free Printable of the Day at our Living Montessori Now Facebook page. For the Free Printable of the Day, I try to share only instant downloads and other free printables that don’t require signing up for a mailing list.

Of course, be sure to check the activities above for links to the free printables I used. Those are typically instant downloads, although I’ll sometimes use a subscriber freebie from someone’s site. And I feature our subscriber pack for the month! Also, check out my previous peace and mindfulness posts for many free printables!

Peace and Mindfulness Resources and Activities

If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout November and December, see my November Themed Activities for Kids and December Themed Activities for Kids. See also Hundreds of December Holiday Activities for Kids!

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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