Description
Listening to Your Body Interoception Guide is a 56-page comprehensive PDF resource designed to help children understand and respond to their body’s internal signals. Created by Your Therapy Source, this listening to your body interoception guide introduces children to interoception, the “8th sense,” and teaches them to recognize what their body is telling them so they can respond in healthy, confident ways.
The 18 Interoception Signal Cards form the heart of this listening to your body interoception guide, giving children a clear and accessible way to identify what their body is communicating. Each card features a child-friendly illustration, a description of the physical sensation, an explanation of what the signal means, and a simple action step the child can take. The 18 signals covered include:
- Hungry, Full/Too Much Food, Thirsty, and Need to Use the Bathroom
- Tired/Sleepy, Sick/Not Feeling Well, Too Hot/Too Cold, and In Pain
- Nervous/Anxious, Scared, Angry/Frustrated, and Sad
- Overwhelmed/Overstimulated, Shut Down/Checked Out, and Excited
- Happy/Joyful, Loved/Safe/Calm, Ready to Learn/Focused, and Calm and Regulated
The 15 Interoception Activities are organized into three progressive phases that build body awareness skills from the ground up, making this interoception guide practical and hands-on for therapists, educators, and caregivers.
- Phase 1 covers Muscle Awareness Games including the Happy Hands Band, Progressive Relaxation, Heartbeat Hide-and-Seek, Breathing Buddies, Temperature Experiments, and The Hunger Scale
- Phase 2 focuses on Body Mapping, helping children draw where they feel emotions to externalize internal sensations, and Expanding the Vocabulary with descriptive sensation words like fluttery, tight, heavy, and dull
- Phase 3 introduces Grounding through the 5-4-3-2-1 sensory game and Movement Brain Break Bops like Emotion Freeze Dance
- Supporting tools include the Body Check Ring, the Chill Zone safe check-in station, and daily habit prompts for morning, car rides, and dinner time
- The Body Detective framework, Notice, Connect, and Regulate, ties all activities together into a repeatable routine children can use independently
The “Inside My Body” Song and Accompanying Slides bring this listening to your body interoception guide to life through music and visual storytelling, making it a powerful multi-sensory teaching tool. The song is linked directly to a YouTube video and is supported by a full set of illustrated slides that follow along with the lyrics and concepts.
- Lyrics and visuals reinforce key interoception concepts like body signals, energy levels, heart rate, and muscle tension
- Slides cover the 8th sense, the problem of internal brain noise, and the 3-step Notice, Connect, Choose framework
- Children learn that every signal has a purpose and is information guiding them, not a problem to fix
- Perfect for classroom instruction, therapy sessions, or group learning settings
- Combines auditory, visual, and movement-based learning for maximum engagement and retention
