Calming, peaceful. These aren't words typically used to describe Pre-K through 12th-grade classrooms. But with a concerted effort by educators to engage with a growing youth mental health crisis, creating a Calming Room is a practical way to help students excel.
These aesthetically and thoughtfully designed spaces are emotional recharge zones that address students' well-being by providing them with a quiet and comfortable space to reset before returning to class.
What Is a Calming Room?
Calming Rooms feature a relaxing design of neutral colors and soft seating in a designated space, often near a counselor's office. Kids can go there for 5-10 minutes and get assistance with regulating their emotions. It will have items such as comfortable furniture, indoor plants, and noise-canceling headphones to encourage peace.
A school in Ohio has a digital system kids can use to name and reflect on what they're feeling. These safe spaces give students a place to process feelings, readjust, and get back to class. It gives educators insight into children's well-being and supervisory control over their whereabouts.
What Are the Goals of a Calming Room for Educators?
For educators, these rooms help kids identify and process their emotions so they can return to instructional learning. When kids are less preoccupied with negative feelings, they are more ready to absorb the curriculum.
A Calming Room is not a distraction for teens or a way for kids to socialize and escape work. Rather, the goal is to utilize the space as a quick transitory method focused on helping children cope. It is meant to reduce in-class disruptions, student absenteeism, and low performance.
What Are the Benefits for Students?
Students gain control over themselves in a Calming Room. Instead of being trapped in a classroom while having difficult thoughts and feelings, they can go to the privacy and comfort of a safe space and process their experience. They are offered the chance to make an internal shift with the help of school professionals.
Children identifying and having power over their mental and emotional states is an invaluable skill. A Calming Room returns students to their classrooms with a sense of being more capable of taking on classwork. Students feel acknowledged, supported by educators, and empowered to have control over their lives, which helps them have better social interactions with peers and focus in class.
Why Certain Furnishings Belong in a Calming Room
Calming Rooms have a particular design goal with a soothing atmosphere in mind. It's more like a cozy living room with warm lights and comfy flexible seating than a stark instructional space. This is because the room's purpose is to evoke a sense of peace.
The intentional use of neutral and calming colors such as blues, greens, and pale pinks, along with soft carpets, inviting couches, and lounge chairs is what creates the vibe.
Create Your Own Calming Room
A Calming Room is a wonderful enhancement to your school. It benefits both educators and students and with school furniture like this, it is easy to create! Contact us for assistance with furnishing a welcoming and peaceful retreat!