Anxiety Management

Calming- Sensory Bottles

Homemade calming bottles can soothe and relax someone who is anxious. Focusing on the movement and contents of the bottle allows the user to calm their breathing and regulate emotion. There are no wrong ways to make a sensory bottle. Add anything you want to create a desired theme. Explore making dry and wet bottles.

Basic Recipe

Materials: Clean and dry plastic bottle or jar, gel glitter glue, fine glitter, water, glue gun.

  • Squeeze a ½ inch of gel glitter glue in the bottom of a bottle
  • Pour 2 tablespoons of fine glitter into the bottle
  • Fill the bottle to an inch from the top with very warm water (to melt the glue)
  • Put cover on and shake well
  • Let water cool, remove cover and wipe away condensation
  • Cover and seal with glue gun

Experiment with other liquids: hair gel, clear glue, cooking/baby oil, dish detergent, shampoo, food coloring, and corn syrup. Non-Liquids: colored sand, rice (color with food coloring)

Fillers for dry or liquid bottles: pompoms, mini erasers, confetti, water beads, glitter, buttons, beans, themed trinkets, gems, small toys, shells, sequins, and water beads.

Deep Breathing Exercise

Discuss what it feels like to be nervous, the things that make us nervous including going to the dentist. Explain that deep breathing can help us relax.

Instructions – Place hand on belly and breath in through the nose. Feel the belly expand and rise. Experiment with breathing out through the nose only and mouth and nose at the same time.

  • Describe breath as an elevator taking a ride through our body.
  • Breathe in through the nose and start the elevator ride.
  • Breathe out, feel the breath go all the way to the basement, down to your toes.
  • Breathe in and take your elevator breath up to the belly.
  • Hold it. Now, breathe out all your air. (Pause)
  • This time, breathe in and take your elevator breath up to your chest.
  • Hold it. Now breathe out all your air. (Pause)
  • Breathe in and take the elevator breath up to the top floor, up through your throat and into your face and forehead. Feel your head fill with breath. Hold it.
  • Breathe out and feel your elevator breath take all your worries down through your chest, your belly, your legs, and out through the elevator doors in your feet.

This practice can be used anytime you are nervous or feeling anxious!

Tips and Ideas

  • Engage your child in a conversation whereby they identify items and activities that help them relax. For example using stress balls, Popits or other fidgets. Maybe they find comfort in using kinetic sand, writing in a journal or listening to specific music or meditations.
  • Together summarize their favorite items and tactics and ask what they would call a box or bag that contains these special calming tools. Maybe it is a calming kit or even a super sack. Have your child name it, create it and then determine circumstances for when they might want to use it!
  • When preparing for a dental appointment, make sure your child knows what to expect during the visit and why it is important. Engage them in dental related activities to reinforce the importance of dental health. To find ideas, go to the following sections of the KSTK: Story Time, Music Time and other Dental Activity sections
  • Do not share your own dental anxiety, adults often do this without recognizing the fear it creates in our children.