Nose Breeze Races

A healthy-day game that teaches the one thing nose-blowing really requires — pushing air out through the nose with the mouth shut — and then puts it together with a tissue and the bin.

  1. Find the nose breeze. The child closes their lips (“zip your mouth”) and breathes out through the nose onto the back of their own hand. “Feel that? That’s your nose breeze.”
  2. Race time. Put a small feather, a scrap of tissue, or a cotton ball on the table. Lips zipped, the child moves it across a finish line using only nose breeze. Race against your own.
  3. One side at a time. Show how to press one nostril closed with a finger and blow gently through the other. Race again — left nostril, then right.
  4. Add the tissue. Unfold a tissue, hold it over the nose with both hands, and blow one side, then the other — gently, “like a breeze, not a hurricane.”
  5. Pinch and wipe. Pinch the tissue together as it comes away, and wipe once underneath.
  6. Bin it, wash up. The tissue goes straight into the bin — not a pocket, not the sofa — and then hands get washed.

Variation: hold a small mirror under the nose and see who can make a patch of fog with a nose blow; or let the child teach a teddy the whole routine, tissue and bin included.

Requirements

  • Space: A table top, plus a bin and a sink within easy reach
  • Surface: A smooth table so the feather or tissue slides easily
  • Materials: Box of tissues, a feather or cotton ball or scrap of tissue, tape for a finish line, a small bin, optional hand mirror
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; fun with 2–3 children racing
  • Supervision: Light — an adult demonstrates, then joins the races

Rationale & Objective

“Blows nose effectively and disposes of tissue” is one of this subdomain’s measurements, and it is a skill many five-year-olds have not cracked: they sniff inward, blow through the mouth, or simply wipe. The missing piece is usually directing airflow through the nose on purpose, which is hard to explain in words and easy to discover in a game where a visible object moves. Practising while the child is healthy matters — a stuffy, miserable child is in no state to learn a new motor skill. Montessori classrooms teach nose blowing as a formal Care of Self lesson for exactly this reason, breaking it into small, slow steps (unfold, cover, blow, pinch, wipe, dispose, wash). Blowing gently, one nostril at a time is the technique commonly advised by pediatric clinicians; forceful blowing generates high pressure in the nose and has been shown in adults to push nasal fluid into the sinuses (Gwaltney et al., 2000). Finishing with the bin and a hand wash ties the skill into the CDC’s guidance on stopping the spread of respiratory germs, and Head Start ELOF (P-PMP 4) lists washing hands after blowing the nose as part of preschool self-care.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: blows through the mouth or sniffs inward; cannot move the feather with lips closed; lets an adult hold the tissue and do the wiping
  • Developing: produces nose breeze on request and moves the feather a little; holds own tissue but blows weakly or forgets to close the mouth; needs reminding to bin the tissue
  • Proficient: blows each nostril in turn into a tissue, wipes, and puts the tissue in the bin independently; washes hands afterwards with a reminder
  • Advanced: notices a runny nose and fetches a tissue unprompted; blows gently and effectively even with a cold; bins the tissue and washes hands without being asked, at home and when out

Safety Notes

  • Teach gentle blowing — hard, forceful blowing can hurt the ears and may trigger a nosebleed. Stop if the child complains of ear pain
  • Do not practise during a nosebleed or shortly after one, or soon after any ear or nose surgery unless the surgeon has said it is fine
  • Use items too large to be sniffed in or pushed into a nostril — a feather or a cotton ball, never beads, dried peas, or tiny paper balls — and keep the game about blowing out
  • One tissue per child, and wash hands after the game; skip shared-table races when anyone has a cold
  • If your child’s nose is blocked most of the time, they breathe mainly through the mouth, snore heavily, or still cannot blow through the nose after plenty of relaxed practice, mention it to your pediatrician

Hints

  • Playfulness: be dragons puffing smoke, or elephants with trunks. Give the racing feather a name and commentate the race like a sports announcer
  • Sustain interest: vary the racer (feather, tissue scrap, cotton ball, a paper boat on water) and the track (uphill on a tilted book, around a bend, into a paper-cup goal)
  • Common mistake: teaching it for the first time in the middle of a cold, or saying “blow!” while holding the tissue yourself. Practise when well, and let the child’s own hands hold the tissue
  • Limited space: no table needed — hold a single tissue by its top edge in front of the child’s nose and see if their nose breeze can make it flutter
  • Cross-domain: measure how far the feather travelled with hand spans or a ruler (measurement); compare left-nostril and right-nostril distances (early data talk); slow nose breathing is also a handy calming tool (self-regulation)
  • Progression: feel nose breath on the hand → move a feather with both nostrils → one nostril at a time → blow into a tissue held by the child → full routine with bin and hand wash → doing it unprompted when the nose runs

Sources

  • Montessori Practical Life — Care of Self (nose blowing lesson)
  • CDC — “Coughing and Sneezing” hygiene guidance (use a tissue, throw it away, wash hands)
  • Gwaltney, J.M. et al. (2000), “Nose blowing propels nasal fluid into the paranasal sinuses,” Clinical Infectious Diseases
  • Head Start ELOF — P-PMP 4: washes hands with soap and water, including after blowing nose
  • Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales — Daily Living Skills (Personal) items on wiping or blowing the nose with a tissue
  • AOTA (2020), Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, 4th ed. — ADLs: personal hygiene and grooming