Mindfulness Activities for Kids
With how mainstream the topic of mindfulness has become, chances are your kids have already had some experience with it at school. Though whether or not it was a good experience can vary. Some schools expect teachers to incorporate mindfulness without giving them proper training or giving them time to adjust to include this new approach. So when it comes time to do mindfulness with your kids, depending on their age, you might want to ask what they think or have already done in regards to that. And if their response isn’t so positive, consider doing these activities without using the word mindfulness and instead using other phrases like “how to feel good.” So here are some mindfulness... I mean... how to feel good ;) activities for your kids:
For the child who likes to sing (or yell)
When you think of mindfulness, you probably think of quiet time or even silence. But it doesn’t have to be! The focus of the first game is to exhale for longer than you inhale, thereby activating your vagus nerve which is related to your parasympathetic nervous system (aka rest and digest). And the focus of the second game is to encourage more awareness of our mind-body connection by connecting our voice with our bodies.
Invite your child to play a game.
Game 1: Who can lip trill for 5 seconds? 10 seconds? 20 seconds? 1 minute?!
Each of you take an inhale through the nose (lots of cool reasons why through the nose and not the mouth).
Pause for a few moments.
And then let your lip trills go! (in order to be able to do it longer, you have to control the amount of air that comes out. Show your child if they need a little guidance.)
Game 2: Place one hand on your own throat or chest or under your nose (or do one and then the other) and sing different sounds - loud, quiet, smooth, nonsensical, doesn’t matter. Pay attention to where you feel that sound in your body and share with each other. You can then ask your child if you can gently place your hand on their chest, throat or under nose to see what their sounds feel like and then they can see what your sounds feel like.
For the child who likes to run and jump around
If you child is not one who likes to sit, then sitting-based mindfulness might irritate them more than help connect them to their inner centeredness. Instead, invite them to do mindful movement but kids-style! What this means is that everything should be set in an imaginary world or adventure.
Game 1: Pretend you are Jedis and make energy balls.
Rub your hands together, first slowly, then increase your speed. Keep rubbing for a good 30 seconds.
Part your hands into a small ball.
Now move your hand out making a bigger ball, then a smaller ball.
Can you feel the space between your hands getting bigger and smaller as you do that? You’ve made an energy ball!
Game 2: You’re a monkey swinging from a tree and then try to stick a landing.
Swing your arms up and down and all about!
Then jump forward and find your balance until you come to a standing still, feeling centered and grounded and stable.
Repeat!
For the child who like to read and write
There are some beautiful mindful books out there. Some recommendations are:
For writing mindfulness exercises, why not try something different from journaling this time and create a calendar of events the child is looking forward to. They don’t need to be big - how about having a milkshake after dinner? Or watching a movie with mom?
For the child who likes to watch TV or play video games
It can be impossible to rip a child away from the screen. It’s so consuming. You probably know it yourselves firsthand. It’s so easy to get stuck watching a show or playing a video game. So a great way to move away from the screen is to the use the topic of the show or video game to create mindfulness based challenges:
Game 1: Challenge your child to different levels of mindfulness, like different levels of a video game.
Level 1
Have them lie down on their back with their legs flat up the wall.
Use soft toys and see how many you can stack on the soles of their feet without them moving the legs and dropping them.
If they give an effort, they move on to the next level.
Level 2
Standing on one leg for as long as they can.
Remind them to focus on a spot in front of them and encourage them to breathe calmly.
If they give an effort, they move on to the next level.
Level 3
Lay out 3-5 toys (or more for more challenge) in front of the child.
Ask them to study the order of the toys.
Have them turn around and you rearrange the order of two toys.
When the child turns back, they try to guess which two toys were switched.
You can also do this game by removing a toy when the child is not looking and they have to guess which toy was removed.
After completing the level, the child gets a reward like playing thumb war with you for five minutes or some other small activity that you two enjoy doing together.
Game 2: Do a session of mindcraft yoga.
Follow the video HERE.
For any child, because what child doesn’t like to eat
Eating mindfully doesn’t have to be slow or boring. Playing a food tasting game can bring that sense of presence and connection to the food.
Game:
Pick some of your child’s favorite snacks.
Have them close their eyes.
Let them smell and put their lips against the snack - can they guess what it is?
If they can, ask them what gave away the answer? What was the texture or taste like?
If they can’t guess, let them take a lick - can they guess now?
If not, they can take a bite - can they guess now?
Do a few rounds with different foods, asking them to describe the texture, taste, and smells of the food.
We forget that mindfulness doesn’t have to be super structured or complicated or quiet or always serious. Mindfulness can be fun! And that’s a good thing. Kids learn through play. Playing IS their job. So why not make mindfulness part of their natural “work” habits by using games as a way to teach mindfulness. The other benefit of this approach is that any pieces of information you share during this type of play-oriented approach is much more likely to be retained than if you sat your child down and tried to lecture them. And, check in with yourself, you might find that you’re having just as much fun being mindful this way yourself ;)
Click here to learn more about therapy for mindfulness.
If you want more support with practicing mindfulness at home with your family, you can:
