Teaching children how to meditate and do mindful activities at a young age can give them a head start to accessing the many benefits of meditation that can last a lifetime.
Studies suggest that those children who practice mindfulness tend to develop positive traits such as increased self-control, better attentiveness in school, along with more empathy and respect for others. In addition, it is now thought that meditation may go towards helping children manage challenging conditions such as stress, depression, ADHD and hyperactivity.
Additionally, mindfulness techniques have been shown to improve parent - child relationships and significantly reduce parental stress, improve parental well-being and overall health after just a few weeks. This parental change in behaviour has the reciprocal effect of reducing stress and anxiety among their kids (Keenan-Mount, Albrecht, & Waters, 2016).
20 easy mindful activities to do at home with your kids
A snow globe or glitter jar is one of the most powerful visual metaphors for that connection; it illustrates how mindfulness—the cultivation of stillness in the face of swirling chaos of life—affects us. At first I used to do this practice only with young kids, but I’ve since found that even teens enjoy it. Find out the instruction video here
Go for a walk in nature and collect favorite stones and leafs, then stack stones together. The dried leafs can be used to create an artwork.
Practice kind thoughts by prompting your child to think of 5 people they’d like to send kind wishes to and what kind of good thoughts that they would love to give. Encourage your kids to write a letter to them.
Mandala drawing.
Blow bubbles ‘slo-mo’ style, emphasizing a big deep breath in through the nose to fill the bubble… and out through the mouth as slow as possible
Describe an emotion and ask your kids to draw it. They can draw whatever they like and encourage them to use a colour or colours they associate with that feeling.
Tune into the body by getting down on your child’s level and feeling each other’s heartbeats and then you can count heartbeats together in one minute. This is a fantastic way to slow things down and get your child into a calm state,
Have a ‘mindful’ snack by describing the smell, texture and taste of the snack
Try this ‘Rainbow’ guided meditation to wind down at bedtime
10. Explore textures in nature, take a walk to collect several different objects and observe/describe how each feels
11. Have your child give you the ‘weather report’ on how they’re feeling, “I’m dark and cloudy with some raindrop tears coming out”
12. Find shapes in the sky by laying down together and choosing different objects to search for in the clouds.
13 . Practice noticing with art. Choose several different utensils and describe how they all feel different on the paper with crayon, water colors...
14. Learn some breathing techniques to get through nervous situation and find the calmness for the mind. Try out this one
15. Try ‘buddy breathing’ and invite your child to grab a toy/stuffed animal to place on their tummy while they lay down and take slow breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth
16. Explore emotion by prompting your child to scan their body when experiencing a feeling, and describe where they feel it the most.
17. Try a playful guided meditation together
18. Use a happy moment to ‘soak in the good’ by pausing with your child to observe the pleasant physical and emotional feelings present
19. Sit down with your child and ‘color your feelings’ together depicting each emotion with a new color
20. Explore gratitude by going back and forth with your child (for as long as you can!) to name as many things possible that you are grateful for. Or you can try this gratitude journal:
If you would love to raise your kids with mindful approach, don't hesitate to connect with me on free FB group or explore this 6 months Blissful Moms - Kids program to learn how to apply mindfulness into your family 's ritual.