How to Build a Safe Space

The Space

Safe spaces don't have to be expensive or complicated. You can choose any cosy corner of your home where you can see your child and your child can see you. You could use:

• The corner of a room, marked with posters and a rug
• Blankets placed over a table where a child can claim underneath
• A pop-up tent or shelter with cushions and toys inside
• Pieces of fabric as a curtain to draw across a space
• A large cardboard box 
• An area behind a sofa, or an under-stairs space.

The Resources

To make the most of your space, you could create resources to help your child regulate their emotions. 

For example, you can support your child to identify and describe their feelings by adding:

• Posters promoting breathing techniques, or how to identify emotions
• Scales to measure emotions
• Faces or emojis to describe their feelings
• Writing materials to express themselves in words or drawings.

To help your child self-regulate you can include materials to help them feel calm. These could include:

• Soft furnishings like cushions, padded mats or weighted blankets
• Sensory tools like fiddle toys, tactile soft toys, ear defenders or stress balls
• Stories about emotions like 'The Colour Monster', 'The Lion Inside', 'Ruby's Worry'. 

Find calm down corner resources here

Find managing feelings resources here

How to Use Your Safe Space

If you create a safe space at home, there are a few tips to keep in mind to help support your child. 

• Consider involving your child in designing their space. You can talk through and plan what items they may find most calming. This can also help them to understand how to use the space.
• Introduce the safe space gradually. Talk to your child about the reasons why you have created the safe space and its purpose. Talk through all of the resources in the safe space and how they can help your child to calm down and model how to use the area together.
• For some children and young people, it can help to have simple visual instructions to show them what to do, especially when they may be heightened and getting used to the space.  
• Avoid using the space space, or calm down corner as a time-out or instructing your child to go there. Children and young people should be able to choose when they need a safe space to be able to move from their heightened emotions to being calm. Guiding or inviting a child to a safe space can be helpful, but it should not be a command or forced.