Mindfulness doesn’t have to be weird or abstract. Kids love to have fun and there are a lot of great, simple mindfulness activities that children love doing. These exercises are not only a great way to spend time with your kids but they have many benefits for your children as they learn how to relax, focus and self regulate. Mindfulness activities can bring a sense of calm and peace to your child’s life. Every parent or educator can benefit from that!
In this guide we’ve put together a few different mindfulness activities you can do with your children as well as links to some other great resources we’ve come across. Enjoy!
To start, here’s a fun animal movement exercise to do with younger kids.
10 Mindfulness Activities For Kids
Here are 10 mindfulness exercises you can do with your children. With all of them, try to encourage talking about the experience and emotions that your child notices during or after the activity. Simple questions like, “was that easy,” or “did it help,” or “did you get distracted” can help. The goal of many of these exercises is to focus your mind to be in the present moment, teaching your child how to become aware of their emotions and senses.
Mindful Listening
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Grab a bell or something that makes a fading sound. Get your child to sit in a relaxed, comfortable position with their eyes closed. The goal is for them to concentrate on the sound of the bell and identify the exact moment the sound fades out.
Secret Bag
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Put a few differently shaped and textured items into a bag. Ask your child to guess what's in there. The goal is to encourage discussion about emotions. Ask them how they feel not knowing what's in the bag. Next, let your child put their hand into the bag and ask them to describe the objects they can feel inside. Afterwards let them remove an object and ask questions regarding emotions - are they surprised, happy, etc with what they see now?
Spidey-Senses
Ages 4+ · 5mins
This can be done anywhere! Ask your child to activate their 'spidey-senses' (like Spiderman). What are their senses picking up? What can they feel, hear, see, taste, touch? Explore the area in it's entirety (where possible) to truly test your senses!
Gratitude Relay
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Take turns with your child. Each person says one thing that you are thankful for. Go back and forth until you run out. There are no wrong answers. Encourage your child to share positive emotions.
Superhero Pose
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Tell your kids that they are going to pose and pretend to be superheroes. It'll help them feel strong, brave, and happy. The Superman: stand with feet just wider than the hips, fists clenched, and arms reached out to the sky, stretching the body as tall as possible. The Wonder Woman: stand tall with legs wider than hip-width apart and hands or fists placed on the hips. Ask your kids how they feel after a few rounds of trying either of these poses. You may be surprised.
Pause, Breathe, Smile
Ages 2+ · 5mins
In a quiet moment, teach your child to pause (P) and stop whatever they are doing or thinking, take a deep breath (B) in and out, and smile (S). It works and kids love it. In a stressful moment remind them of PBS to help them calm themselves.
Mindful Eating
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Make eating something simple like an apple fun with mindful eating. Help your child to notice the textures, smells, colors of the apple before even eating it. What sounds does your child hear when biting into the apple. What tastes do they notice? The goal is to completely slow down the process of eating and be 100% present in the moment. You want to help your kid become aware of the emotions felt and the experience as they do something simple like eat an apple.
Mindful Explorer
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Get out into nature (or just a outside). As you walk around your child has to find 5 fun items - like a pine cone for example. As they find each item, stop together and ask them to describe it. How does it look, feel, smell, sound (probably not taste...).
Kind Thoughts
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Take turns with your child thinking of people that you'd like to 'send' kind thoughts to. Encourage them to share what kind thoughts they'd like to send. This can help teach them think of others.
Body Scan
Ages 4+ · 5mins
Great for the bedtime routine. Kids lie flat on their beds or floor with their eyes closed. Ask them to pay attention to their feet for 10 seconds and ask themselves, "How does this body part feel?" "Is it cold or warm?" "Does it feel tight or relaxed?" "What is that part of the body touching?" "What does that feel like?" Doing this for each part of the body helps bring awareness to their body in the moment. If there is tightness or stress, imagine breathing the stress out.
6 Youtube videos with mindfulness activities
Here are 6 great video resources with mindfulness activities you can practice with your children.
5 Useful mindfulness activity links
Here are a couple of useful links we’ve come across with more mindfulness exercises for kids. Click the name to take a look.
Mindfulness for your sanity
The next time you sense your kids are about to throw a fit think about how mindfulness could help bring peace and calm to your environment. Try out one of these mindfulness activities above so that when those stressful or emotionally challenging situations arise, your kids have the tools to regulate their emotions and calm themselves.
