Mindfulness at home
One of the biggest benefits of teaching mindfulness at a young age, is instilling the idea that children are in charge of their own thoughts and feelings.
“Mindfulness has the power to teach us many things but most importantly it teaches us how to turn towards difficult emotions, instead of ignoring them,”
Studies have shown that mindfulness, or paying full attention to the present moment, can be very helpful in improving the cognitive symptoms of depression.
Mindful Moments -
Find a few minutes in your day to sit and watch one of these mindful videos to help you relax.
Longer Mindfulness Videos - The BBC website has some fabulous resources for mindfulness, check out their videos at BBC Headroom
Cosmic Kids videos are a great introduction to mindfulness and yoga for children, click on the thumbnails to join in with some mindfulness and yoga activities.
Mindfulness Games for Children:
1. Blowing bubbles: Have your kids focus on taking in a deep, slow breath, and exhaling steadily to fill the bubble. Encourage them to pay close attention to the bubbles as they form, detach, and pop or float away.
2. Pinwheels: Use the same tactics from blowing bubbles to encourage mindful attention on the pinwheels.
3. Playing with balloons: Tell your children that the aim of this game is to keep the balloon off the ground, but have them move slowly and gently. You can tell them to pretend the balloon is very fragile if that helps.
4. Texture bag: Place several small, interestingly shaped or textured objects in a bag. Have each child reach in and touch an object, one at a time, and describe what they are touching. Make sure they don’t take the object out of the bag, forcing them to use only their sense of touch to explore the object.
5. Blindfolded taste tests: Use a blindfold for each child and have them experience eating a small food, like a raisin or a cranberry, as if it was their first time eating it.
Try out some more of these ideas to boost your mindfulness at home!