Year 6 Explore the Zones of Regulation

Today, Year 6 put their personalised Zones of Regulation toolkits into action in a fun and engaging way. The class worked as a team to explore how we can recognise our feelings and choose the right strategies to manage them. Using drama, the children re-enacted real-life scenarios and demonstrated how their toolkit could help them move from the red zone (feeling angry, upset, or out of control) back into the green zone (feeling calm, focused, and ready to learn).

The Zones of Regulation is a framework designed to help children understand and manage their emotions. There are four colour zones:

• Blue Zone: when we feel sad, tired, or lacking energy.
  
  

• Green Zone: when we feel calm, focused, and ready to learn.
  
  

• Yellow Zone: when we feel a bit silly, excited, or nervous – our emotions are heightened but still manageable.
  
  

• Red Zone: when we feel very angry, upset, or overwhelmed and may need support to calm down.
  
  

Each child has developed their own toolkit filled with strategies that work for them personally, such as breathing techniques, movement breaks, or positive self-talk. By practising these in role-play, Year 6 showed how powerful it can be to recognise their emotions and choose the right tools to help themselves.