Sometimes the most effective regulation tools are also the simplest.
One strategy I regularly use with children is tapping — a rhythmic, repetitive movement that gives the body sensory input and can help students pause, reconnect with their bodies, and settle before moving on to whatever comes next.
What I love most about tapping is how accessible it is.
It doesn’t require a yoga mat, special equipment, a quiet room, or even several minutes of class time. A student can use tapping while sitting at a desk, standing in line, transitioning between activities, or taking a short break during the school day.
What Can Tapping Look Like?
When I teach tapping during yoga classes, I often teach tapping as a whole-body movement. I aim for crossing the midline and we use our arms and our legs.
We might:
- Tap down one arm using the opposite hand.
- Switch sides and repeat.
- Tap along the legs.
- Reach across the body to tap the opposite leg, adding a simple cross-body movement.
- Experiment with tapping more slowly, more quickly, more gently, or with a little more pressure.
Children naturally begin to notice what feels best for their own bodies. Some prefer firmer taps. Others like moving quickly. Some immediately slow the movement down. There isn’t a “right” way to do it.
And that is part of what makes the practice so useful: students are beginning to notice their own preferences and what helps their bodies.
A Classroom Version Can Be Different
Tapping does not need to become a five-minute classroom exercise. It can be a quick reset.
Students can take two fingers and gently tap along the forehead, temples, cheekbones, arms, or hands for just a few moments. I personally love doing it when I park my car and am about to walk into a client. I take 30 seconds to a minute and it feels like a gentle massage for my face!
This can be implemented in the classroom by leading the class with a simple, “Take a few seconds and give your body some gentle taps before we begin.” Then move on.
The goal isn’t to stop instruction. The goal is to give students another tool they can access within instruction.
Why I Keep Coming Back to It
Whenever I use tapping with groups of children, I notice two things.
First, they enjoy it. Children are often surprisingly interested in experimenting with rhythm, speed, pressure, and movement.
But I also notice a shift in the room afterward.
Bodies appear more organized. Energy feels more settled. Students seem more ready to transition into breathing, reflection, movement, or learning.
Tapping gives children something concrete to do with their bodies when simply being told to “calm down” may not be enough.
Building a Toolbox, Not a Perfect Practice
One of the most important things we can teach children about regulation is that no single strategy will work for everyone, every time.
Breathing might help one day. Movement might help another.A walk, stretch, sip of water, moment of quiet, or a few seconds of tapping might be exactly what a student needs in another moment.
The goal is not to create children who never become dysregulated. The goal is to help them recognize what is happening in their bodies — and gradually build a toolbox of strategies they know how to access.
Sometimes that tool can be as simple as two fingers and a few gentle taps.