Mindfulness

Although you are not at school, I do care about your mental health. Being inside all day and having face-to-face contact with very few people can cause your mental health to dip. Therefore, here are some activities to help you be mindful. It is important to talk about your feelings to those around you. At school, we have the conversation bin, at home you have your parents who may be able to help you.

 

Premier Education has provided a range of activities for you to try at home or in school. These can be seen here: https://www.premier-education.com/health-wellbeing/ 

 

Top 25 activities

1. Practice kind thoughts by prompting your child to think of 5 people they’d like to send kind wishes to
2. Bang on a pot/pan and invite your child to signal to you when they no longer hear the sound ‘hanging’ the air
3. Blow bubbles ‘slow-mo’ style, emphasising a big deep breath in through the nose to fill the bubble… and out through the mouth as slow as possible
4. Squeeze and let go, tensing different muscles in the body for 5 seconds and then slowing releasing
5. Tune into the body by getting down on your child’s level and feeling each other’s heartbeats
6. Focus on breathing by building ‘Elsa’ ice sculptures’ by taking in a deep breath (don’t forget to smell the ‘chocolate fountain on coronation day!) and then slowly blowing out to create amazing ice creations
7. Have a ‘mindful’ snack by describing the smell, texture and taste of the food
8. Try this ‘Rainbow’ guided meditation to wind down at bedtime
9. Explore textures in nature, take a walk to collect several different objects and observe/describe how each feels
10. Have your child give you the ‘weather report’ on how they’re feeling, “I’m dark and cloudy with some raindrop tears coming out”
11. Find shapes in the sky by laying down together and choosing different objects to search for in the clouds
12. Practice noticing with art. Choose several different utensils and describe how they all feel different on the paper
13. Take a mindful walk pointing out sights and sounds along the way.
14. Explore touch by choosing several objects, then comparing the difference in how they feel dry vs. wet
15. Slow down by having a snack in ‘slow motion’ and taking notice of the taste throughout
16. Explore smell by inviting your child to help you cook a meal while taking notice of each smell present
17. 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
18. Explore emotion by prompting your child to scan their body when experiencing a feeling, and describe where they feel it the most.
19. Try a playful guided meditation together
20. Use a happy moment to ‘soak in the good’ by pausing with your child to observe the pleasant physical and emotional feelings present
21. Sit down with your child and ‘colour your feelings’ together depicting each emotion with a new colour
22. “Press the pause button’ together during a tense moment (but not too tense) and check in with how each of you is feeling at that moment
23. Listen to some music and see how many different instruments you can each hear
24. Try a body scan together at bedtime
25. 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.

Mindfulness colouring

You can find a variety of mindfulness colouring activities online.