5 Mindfulness Activities to Do With Kids At Home

Mindfulness Activities To Do With Kids at Home

Are you suddenly finding yourself at home and looking for activities to do with your children. Try these five fun mindful activities. 

I have additional exercises and worksheets available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and Etsy Store.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

Mindfulness has become a popular buzzword and recommended as a panacea for most aliments, but many people don't know what it really is.  Mindfulness is awareness.  Awareness of the present moment, of ourselves, and of our surroundings.  It's being present, focusing, and paying attention.  

Mindfulness is a way of preventing people from spending the day lost in thoughts, reliving events in their minds, or imagining changes the events or consequences of past actions.  

WHERE TO START

While mindfulness is appropriate for all ages there are a few things to take into consideration.

Ages 4-7: At this age, our mindfulness practices are taught mostly through games, stories, and in-the-moment lessons.

Ages 8-10: Still at this age, the most accessible way to teach kids is through games, stories, and experiential lessons. You want to play attention instead of pay attention. Talk to students about the benefits of these lessons. At this age, they appreciate the rationale behind what they are doing rather than just being told what to do.

Ages 11-14: Your child now has a great capacity to understand how the brain works. You can teach the benefits of mindfulness on attention, emotional regulation, and executive functioning, with discussions of how this may help them in their lives.
      Insecurity and self-criticism can be very strong for children at this age. With mindfulness practices, we teach how to witness disturbing thought patterns and not get caught up in them.

Ages 15-19: Teenagers can really take the mindfulness practices as their own, using the time to relax and develop self-awareness. They can practice silently for 10 minutes or longer.

5 Mindfulness Activities for Kids

1. Create a Mindful Spot

       Having a spot in the home where you can be still and silent is an excellent way to bring mindful practice in the home.  Try to find a place away from the television or other distraction. Put some pillows on the floor, bring in some flowers (real or fake), pictures that give us inspiration, poetry, or words of wisdom.  The goal is to have a calm spot that allows us to become open-hearted. 
      If the weather permits, create a spot in nature. Watching the seasons change and the migration of birds is a wonderful reminder of our place in the natural cycle. 
      It should be a place to relax and regulate. A reminder to slow down, take a breath, and return to our hearts.

2. Animal Breathing

This exercise helps with focused attention, stress reduction, impulse control, contentment, and cognitive flexibility

Dolphin Breaths: Have your child stand in front of you.  Have them take deep breaths in and out. With each in-breath, they curve their arms up in front of them like a dolphin jumping out of the water; with each exhale, they bring their arms down. Have students try a few of these breaths.

Crocodile Breaths: on the in-breath, they open their arms like the jaws of a crocodile; on the exhale, they clap their arms together.

Butterfly Breaths: let the wings (arms) open to the sides on the inhale and close together on the exhale.

3. Gratitude Journaling/Drawing

Have your child close their eyes and start their mindful breathing. Once they feel calm, have them picture one of their heroes or a person in their lives who makes them feel really happy. They can imagine that this person is sitting right next to them. Invite them to notice what it feels like to imagine the person there. Have them picture a few more heroes and special people in their lives and imagine them all sitting around them, looking at them with big smiles and encouragement. Let them share what it is like to be surrounded
by caring heroes.
      Take a deep breath, let go of all the things for which they are grateful, and simply notice what their bodies feel like after this gratefulness practice.

Drawing: Draw a picture of yourself surrounded by all the people for whom you are most grateful.
Writing: Write a list of the aspects of yourself for which you are most grateful.
Based on the age of the child the activities can be adjusted.

4. The Distraction Game

Begin by asking your child what word distraction means. Then let them know that you will be playing the distraction game. Have them sit cross-legged on the floor with their eyes close.  Ask them to focus on their breath even while you are trying to distract them. 
      Then make all sorts of distracting noises such as shaking a jar, tapping your fingers on a counter, or stepping loudly across the floor.
Try this for a couple of minutes, reminding your child to stay focused on their breath without getting distracted by the sounds.
      After the exercise ask them, "What does distraction feel like in the body?" or "What are the ways you distract others?"  Then tell them they can use the distraction game in their lives as an opportunity to come back to their attention. Every time they hear a loud noise or someone walks into the room, they have an opportunity to notice the distraction and return to their breath. This doesn’t mean that they should ignore the sound, but they shouldn’t get lost in thoughts
about it. They can practice this wherever they are, especially doing anything else that takes focus. 

5. Slow Motion Walking

Ask your child to walk slowly around the room, in random patterns. Tell them to be aware of every lift and fall of their feet. Have them notice their balance and their breath as they walk. If possible, take the practice outdoors: mindful walking outside is especially nice.

Ask them, "What did your body feel like being slow?" or "Did you notice anything about the motion of walking you never noticed before?"

I hope these 5 practices are helpful to you in establishing a mindful practice with your children. If you are interested in more exercises, check out my One-Minute Mindfulness Activities available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and Etsy Store.

Activities in this blog can be found in Mindful Education Workbook by Daniel Rechtschaffen.