Mindfulness Meditation for Kids
From school time to playtime, anxiety weighs on a lot of children’s minds. Daily life can feel like a stressful chore – quite the opposite of what many people think of childhood!
One response to this reality is Mindfulness Meditation. It is being used in both classrooms and at home to reduce stress or improve a child's focus and concentration. Mindfulness brings awareness to the present moment by calmly acknowledging any thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. This technique relies on noticing without passing judgement.
When explaining this concept to children, you can begin simply. Ask them what they think it means to be mindful. I’m sure they will have a lot of insight. This suggestion comes from MindBodyGreen. You can find their other kid-friendly ideas here.
There are an assortment of mindfulness-related texts available for kids, caregivers and educators:
Mindful Monkey Happy Panda by Lauren Alderfer / Little Flower Yoga for Kids by Jennifer Cohen Harper / Sitting Still Like a Frog by Eline Snell / Master of Mindfulness by Laurie M. Grossman
Frog's Breathtaking Speech by Michael Chissick / Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children by Thích Nhất Hạnh / Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens by Amy Saltzman / The Mindful Paren't by Charlotte Peterson / Paren'ting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance by Christopher McMurray
The Mindful Child by Susan Kaiser Greenland / Mindful Discipline by Shauna Shapiro / How to get Kids Offline, Outdoors and Connecting with Nature by Bonnie Thomas / The Whole Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel
Not all helpful texts will have "mindfulness" in the title or subject heading; for example, The Listening Walk by Paul Showers or If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano can be tools for supporting the practice of being present and noticing. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth and Breathe by Scott Magoon are others.
What else can you try? “Spiderman Meditation,” something your superhero fan might enjoy, involves closing your eyes and paying attention to all your senses…your “Spidey Senses.” A calm down or relaxation jar, similar to a snow globe, can be made with craft supplies from around the house.
The following books speak to a variety of daily stresses from a child's perspective. You can speak to children about the mindfulness mindset in reference to these characters or others.
Whimsy's Heaving Things by Julie Kraulis / Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes / Franklin and the Thunderstorm by Paulette Bourgeouis / A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret Holmes
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn / Don't Think About Purple Elephants by Susan Whelan / Over-Scheduled Andrew by Ashley Spires
Please add any other books or resources in the comments that have helped you understand or appreciate mindfulness. Namaste.
8 thoughts on “Mindfulness Meditation for Kids”
What a lovely post and a great resource, thanks Jennifer!
-Reagan (a yogi)
My pleasure, Reagan. Happy that it’s useful. Keep up your practice!
Wow, great list.
I also recommend What I See, I Can Be by local author Janet Williams. The easy to follow yoga flow is done so mindfully and can help fidgety kids sit for story time with these other great resources.
I know this book is well loved because it’s part of our Kids Yoga Teacher Certification course!
Sincere thanks for your insight, Aruna. I’m a subscriber to your newsletter, actually. I was keen to see that the library has quite a few copies of the book you mentioned, http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2808259&R=2808259 Other kids’ yoga books I love are “I am Yoga” by Susan Verde and “You are a Lion!: and other fun yoga poses” by Taeeun Yoo.
This is a fantastic post! My daughter’s school has introduced a Mindfulness program, and it has helped so much with students’ behaviour and stress levels.
Thank you, Kate. Hats off to your daughter’s school! I love hearing that. Just downloaded a mindfulness app called ‘Headspace’ that I’m curious to try.
Great post Jennifer!
I am just wrapping up a 4 week Yoga and Poetry program for our After School Club at Bloor/Gladstone today, focusing on positive thinking and mindfulness/meditation. It was a ton of fun and the kids really enjoyed it! We’re also doing a 4 week session in the summer.
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEVT17507&R=EVT17507
Thanks so much, Shannon. That’s a wonderful and timely After School Club. I’d love to hear more about it. The kids will really love Joseph Sengco’s classes this summer. A paren’t was just telling me how awesome he is.