So far I have only really had experience in teaching vocal technique to adults.
I have just started teaching a 10 year old girls and also a small group of 7-10 year olds.

I'm wondering how much emphasis I should be putting on technique, it's obviously a lot harder to explain to a child so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips.
Or should I be focussing less on technique and more on the child actually enjoying the singing?

For example, my 10 year old has a great voice but she tends to sing in a breathy tone, I'm having trouble trying to explain how I want her to change that, and also I worry that her singing with lots of breath will damage her voice.

Any advice would be most welcome!

I think that a lot can be achieved with that age group in terms of technique, but with the acceptance that their voices are still developing, and therefore, unlike adults, you're not really working with a 'finished product' if you like. I think you just have to be sensible and approach it in small steps.

I do find that a breathy tone is one of the common problems in this age group. Depending on the individual, I have been able to make small improvements to this, but after discussing it with my teacher, we felt that it was partly a feature of developing voices, and therefore there came a point where it kind of had to be accepted as a 'feature' of the voices in that age group.

If you haven't seen it already, there's a very good manual by Coral Gould entitled 'Try Humming It: Agreeable Notes' (Published by Kirwin Maclean Associates Ltd. £10.00). It is specifically aimed at singing teachers and there is a significant emphasis on children and teenagers. It gives really sound advice about technique.

David

Sound advice from David already.

I would say that in general, I don't teach technique to my youngest students (9+ until they are maybe 13/14) in a way I teach my older teens/adults.

I just let them sing and teach technique in a very subliminal way, if at all. A kid's voice is not an adult voice, and it shouldn't be treated the same, nor should we try to explain technique in the same way. I mainly work on songs appropriate for their age and don't do too many technical exercises at all. If there is anything that needs sorting out, I use imagery, something they can relate to, which usally does the trick.

A breathy tone is, as David already said, something you come across very often in young/adolescent voices. Improvements can be made of course, but it usually irons itself out when they get older. What you would want to do is to get them to either support better or get the vocal folds close more efficiently (and many times, both), but if you overdo it, it will actually be counterproductive, and they will start to push or strain. I would stay clear of a technical approach to be totally honest - they should enjoy singing in the first place, and experience and build up musicianship.

Technical training can start later ...

Deirdre Trundle has written very good books about training of childrens'/adolescent voices - just don't order them with www.voicesource.co.uk, they might never arrive