Respiratory blowing games

Blowing games, or deep breathing games are designed to promote deep breaths and to fill the lungs with air. The extra air can also get behind secretions and help to move them out of the lungs.

When should they be done?

Blowing games should be done 1 or 2 times per day for around 10 to 15 minutes, but your physiotherapist will advise you how often to do them.

Blowing game pack

Your physiotherapist will give you a blowing games pack, which contains a few resources to help you get going with your blowing games.

Blowing bubbles

Simple but effective, practicing blowing bubbles with your child can help them take deep breaths and occasionally stimulate a cough to help clear their lungs.

Blowing windmills, whistles and musical instruments

Fun and interactive, blowing into musical instruments or making windmills spin can be a fun way to increase your child’s blowing. These all need to be washed with warm, soapy after every use.

Blowing a ball game

Using a straw, some tape and some paper, you can make a fun blowing game. Simply make the template into a cone and tape it to the straw. Add a paper ball or pom pom and blow through to try and lift the ball out of the cone.

Character launcher

This really easy game can use the frogs or rockets in your pack, or any other character your child likes such as Peppa Pig or Minions. Print and colour 2 identical characters, tape them together leaving a hole in the base, insert a straw into the gap and blow to make them fly.

Blowing a boat or duck down the river

Using a washing up bowl or in the bath, practising blowing a boat or duck along the water with a straw is a great way of getting your child to practise their blowing. Make sure your rubber ducks or boats don’t have holes in to keep bacteria out.

Make bubble snakes

Making bubble snakes is a fun way of getting your child to practise their blowing. Taking a plastic bottle, cut off the end and cover with an old sock. Secure with tape or an elastic band. Then dip into some water and washing up liquid solution and blow through the bottle top. This might get messy so try to do this outside.

Blow football

This is a really easy and fun blowing game. You could also have blowing Olympics and have blowing races. Set up a football pitch with 2 goals, and use the straws to blow a cotton ball, pom pom or rolled up piece of paper into the goals or try and reach the end. You could even set up tracks that you have to blow the ball down and add tunnels for to make it harder.

Bubble picture

This more messy blowing game can be done with food colouring or paint. Add some washing up liquid to watery paint and get your child to blow into it. When they’ve made big bubbles, lay some paper on top and see what pretty pictures you can make. Make sure your child doesn’t drink any of the water. You could also drop some concentrated paint onto paper and blow this to make a picture.

Practise steaming up a mirror

This is great practise for doing huffs to clear your child’s chest as they get older. Simply get them to “huff” to steam up a mirror.

Transferring objects game

Get you child to practise transferring objects from 1 place to another by taking a deep breathe to suck them onto the end of the straw and holding them while they’re transferred somewhere else.

Make a monster

Using an old toilet roll, make a monster or octopus with a paper or wool or string tongue. When your child blows through it, it will make the tongue wave around.

Breathing deeply with a toy

Practising taking deep breaths with a toy placed on your child’s stomach can really help them control their breathing.

Your child’s physiotherapy plan