Zones of Regulation

A Parents’ Guide to The Zones of Regulation

What is it?

The Zone of Regulation is an internationally renowned intervention which helps children to manage difficult/uncomfortable emotions, known as ‘self-regulation’. Self-regulation can go by many names such as ‘self-control’, ‘impulse management’ and ‘self-management’. It is defined as the ‘best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation’. For example, when your child takes part in a sports game, they would need to have a higher state of alertness than when, for example, they are working quietly on a piece of creative writing.

From time to time, all of us (including adults) find it hard to manage strong/uncomfortable feelings such as worry, anger, relentlessness, fear or tiredness and this stops us from getting on with our day effectively. When children are experiencing these emotions, it can be very hard for them to learn and concentrate in school.

The Zones of Regulation is a programme based around the use of four colours to help children self- identify how they’re feeling and categorise it based on these colours. The approach also helps children better understand their emotions, sensory needs and thought patterns. The children learn different strategies to cope and manage their emotions based on which colour ‘zone’ they’re in. Additionally, the Zone of Regulation helps children to recognise their own triggers and responses, develop problem-solving skills and become more attuned to how their actions can affect other people.

How is it used in school?

As a school, we are familiar with the Zones of Regulation from Early Years through to Year 6. Through the us of the programme, we aim to help children to:

Recognise when they are in the different zones
Increase their emotional vocabulary so they can explain how they are feeling
Develop strategies (or ‘tools’) to manage their feelings in each Zone
Recognise when other people are in different Zones
Develop problem-solving skills and resilience
Identify a range of calming strategies that they can use to regulate (known as their personal ‘toolkit’).

What are the different Zones?

Blue Zone: low level or arousal, not ready to learn, feels sick, tired, bored, moving slowly.

Green Zone: calm state of alertness, optimal level to learn, feels happy, calm, feeling okay, focused.

Yellow Zone: heightened state of alertness, elevated emotions, feels frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited, loss of some control.

Red Zone: heightened state of alertness, elevated emotions, feels very frustrated, feels mad/angry, terrified, yelling/hitting.

The children are very familiar with the Zones language as it is part of daily school life. Some children might prefer not to use the ‘Zones language’ but label the emotions directly- this is fine and encouraged!

Please see below for additional resources that can be used at home to support:

Zones of Regulations Parent Guide

Zones of Regulations De-escalation Strategies & Techniques

Zones of Regulations Check-In Board

Zones of Regulations Bingo