Zones of Regulation

Zones of Regulation

At Ivy Bank, we are exploring new ways to support our children in recognising and managing their emotions. Emotional regulation is a vital life skill—yet until recently, it hasn’t been something explicitly taught in schools.

Children experience a wide range of emotions just like adults, but they often lack the tools to manage them effectively. As adults, we’ve developed our own strategies—often through trial and error. By equipping children with the right knowledge and tools, we’re giving them lifelong skills that will help them thrive both in and out of school.

To support this, we’ve introduced a whole-school programme called Zones of Regulation.

What Is Zones of Regulation?

Zones of Regulation is a simple, evidence-based approach that uses colour coding to help children understand and navigate their emotions. Emotions can be complex and confusing - Zones makes them easier to recognise and talk about.

All emotions are grouped into four colour-coded ‘zones’. Children can be in more than one zone at a time. For example, they might feel tired because they didn’t sleep well, but also happy because it’s sunny outside.

Each zone has its own set of tools to help manage that emotional state. Different tools work for different people—and that’s okay! For instance, if a child is in the Blue Zone (low energy), one child might benefit from moving around, while another might prefer listening to upbeat music.

These tools are the “regulation” part. Emotional regulation means being able to understand, process, and manage your emotional state.

How Does It Work?

Using Zones is simple - one of the reasons we love it! The approach involves:

• Helping children identify which zone they’re in. Sometimes they can tell us; sometimes they need help recognising it.

• Supporting them in managing the feeling. There are many strategies, but sometimes just sitting with the feeling is okay too.

The Green Zone is when we feel our best—but it’s not realistic to expect to be in the Green Zone all the time. Adults aren’t either! It’s okay to feel all emotions, even anger.

However, how we express those emotions matters. For example, anger is a valid emotion, but hitting someone because we’re angry is not okay. Zones helps children find safe and constructive ways to express and release emotions.

Sometimes using a regulation tool will shift a child from one zone to another. Other times, it might reduce the intensity of the emotion. And sometimes, simply naming the feeling and giving it time is enough.

When children don’t have the words to express how they feel, they may resort to phrases like “go away,” “I hate this,” or “shut up,” or even physical actions. These aren’t helpful for them or others. Having the right words makes a big difference.

Tools and Strategies for Regulation

There are multiple tools and strategies that our children can use to self-regulate – and they will be individual to each child. However, it may be useful to think about the types of activities that will help our children to regulate in each zone.

Blue Zone Tools:

✓ Think about what you might do as an adult to make you feel better when you are sad, tired or bored.

✓ This might include talking to a trusted person, breathing, taking a break and relaxing, doing a hobby or importantly, doing some physical exercise.

✓ These exercises should wake up our bodies, recharge and activate our senses and regain our focus. Examples may include: taking a walk, doing some active movement (think jumping, bouncing or swinging).

Green Zone Tools:

✓ Think about the strategies you or your child uses to maintain your happiness, alertness in the activity you are engaging in, and calmness.

✓ This may include all of the activities mentioned above, and also pay attention to the environment your child is in – is it safe, calm and enabling of engagement?

Yellow Zone Tools:

✓ When you see your child starting to become heightened, fidgety, over- excited or unfocussed – try to introduce the following calming strategies to prevent an escalation into the Red Zone (or out of control)

Red Zone Tools:

✓ Once in the Red Zone, your child will more than likely need to be removed from the situation/setting, and it is encouraged that they go to an environment that is calming and safe.

✓ Calming strategies that ‘power down’ the emotions your child is feeling can be practiced here. These include: Deep breathing, Deep pressure/heavy work activities, Sensory activities – using sensory aids and tools such as theraputty, stress balls, vibrating snakes etc, taking a walk in a quiet place, Going to a quiet and dark area (i.e. pillow fort/dark tent)

✓ Minimise your language when your child is in the red zone – be clear, concise and calm in your tone.

What Can I Do to Help?

We’ve begun introducing Zones of Regulation to all classes through whole-school assemblies, and each week, children explore the Zones further during their Wellbeing Wednesday lessons.

Zones works best when it’s used consistently across different environments—including at home. That’s where you come in. Now that your child has started learning the words to express how they feel, we want to make sure you understand what those words mean and how to respond in a supportive way.

How can you help your child use The Zones of Regulation at home?

✓ Model and identify your own feelings using Zones language in front of your child (e.g.: I’m frustrated. I think I am in the Yellow Zone.”)

✓ Observe your child’s behaviour and try to use strategies when they are showing signs of being in the yellow zone, to catch it before they move to the red zone.

✓ Practice calming strategies when your child is in the green zone. This may include doing some deep breathing/meditation/heavy work and sensory activities throughout their day.

✓ Talk about what tool you will use to be in the appropriate Zone (e.g: “I need to take four deep breaths to help get me back to the Green Zone.”)

✓ At times, wonder which Zone your child is in. Or, discuss which Zone a character in a film / book might be in. (e.g.: “You look sleepy. Are you in the Blue Zone?”)

✓ Share how their behaviour is affecting your Zone. For example, if they are in the Green Zone, you could comment that their behaviour is also helping you feel happy/ go into the Green Zone.

✓ Put up and reference the Zones visuals and tools in your home to consistently refer to and check in regularly with this.

✓ Praise and encourage your child when they share which Zone they are in.

✓ Develop your child’s own zones of regulation tool box – using the exercises above.

✓ Have easy access to calming/sensory equipment at home.

✓ Remember to monitor your language: usually less is best (minimal in the red zone)

Tips for helping your child to regulate

• Know yourself and how you react in difficult situations before dealing with your child’s behaviours.

• Know your child’s sensory threshold. We all process sensory information differently and it impacts our reactivity to situations.

• Know your child’s triggers.

• Be consistent in managing your child’s behaviour and use the same language you use at home.

• Empathise with your child and validate what they are feeling.

• Have clear boundaries/routines and always follow through.

• Do not deal with an angry, upset child when you are not yet calm yourself. • Discuss strategies for the next time when you are in a similar situation.

• Remember to ask your child how their choices made you feel (empathy).

• Praise your child for using strategies.

• Encourage your child to take a sensory break to help regulate their bodies.

• Create a ‘calm’ box or ‘sensory box’ full of things which help to keep your child calm and alert.