Zones of Regulation

The Zones of Regulation help children to foster their regulation skills. It is a framework and curriculum based around the use of four colours – blue, green, yellow and red – to help children self-identify how they are feeling and categorise it based on colour. One of the key principles of The Zones is that ‘all zones are okay’ and there is no right or wrong way to feel. Once children start to develop a self-awareness and can match their feeling to the co-ordinating zone, they can next move on to learning how to regulate their zones.

Our staff at Albert Pye model the four zones everyday. We teach children that we move throughout these zones numerous times within a day and that is okay. 

Emotional Literacy in the Early Years 

In the Early Years Foundation Stage we use a simplified version of the framework to help our young children recognise the connection between their physical reactions and their core emotions, such as anger, sadness, happiness, calmness and fear.

In Nursery and Reception we use The Colour Monster storybook by Anna Llenas, which categorises emotions by colour to help teach the children about six basic emotions. The story gives children simple language and visual structure to identify and communicate their feelings, this helps them to learn strategies to regulate themselves more easily.

Co-regulation is the foundation for self-regulation. Young children need to be supported to develop the tools, metacognition, and higher-level thinking, to be able to self-regulate. An adult noticing how they are feeling, and then supporting them through that feeling, is co-regulation. Modelling language and strategies around the zones supports children to develop healthy relationships with their feelings and provide them with a sense of wellbeing by giving them strategies to build self-awareness and know how to manage their feelings. Building positive relationships with the children empowers them to develop their own pathway, using a set of tools that are unique to them, to effectively navigate and regulate their emotions, or zones, throughout the day.

In Nursery we introduce the zones of regulation in an age appropriate way. We link one emotion to a colour and support the children by giving them a choice of two strategies to manage their feeling. This is carefully modelled and supported by all adults. Nursery's Zones of regulation colours are on a movable board, allowing staff and children to access the picture prompts at any given time during a session. 

In Reception the children are introduced to a second emotion linked to each colour and a third strategy for managing each feeling. The children place their picture on a chosen emotion as they enter a session and staff carefully support individuals with any help they may need. Children are encouraged to move their picture as their emotions change throughout a session. Staff will refer to the zones during the session and support children in the moment as emotions occur and strategies are needed. 

What are the zones?

Blue Zone - The Blue Zone describes low states of alertness and down feelings, such as when a person feels sad, tired, sick, hurt, lonely, or bored. Our energy is low and our body is moving slowly when we are in the Blue Zone.

Green Zone - The Green Zone describes a calm, alert state. We may be feeling happy, focused, content, peaceful, or calm in the Green Zone. This is the optimal state for our childen to learn in. 

Yellow Zone - The Yellow Zone describes when our energy is higher, and our internal state starts to elevate. Our emotions get a little stronger. We may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, confusion, nervousness, be overwhelmed, or have the wiggles, when in the Yellow Zone.

Red Zone - The Red Zone describes a state of extremely high energy and very overwhelming feelings. We may be in an extremely heightened state of alertness, potentially triggering our fight, flight, freeze or flee protective response. We may feel elated, euphoric, anger, rage, devastated, out of control, panicked, or terrified when in the Red Zone.

Zones of Regulation believe that there are NO bad zones. We all move through the different zones throughout the day. We teach children to recognise when they are in each zone and build our own toolkits to manage our emotions.