There are many fun and interactive ways to introduce mindfulness to children and teens. Activities like deep breathing, blowing bubbles, and mindful movements like yoga help children focus their attention and manage big feelings. Below is a list of ways to begin engaging in mindfulness together:
Diaphragmatic or belly breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing, is a kind of deep breathing that lowers heart rate and blood pressure and helps our bodies and mind relax. Diaphragmatic breathing uses our diaphragms, a dome-shaped muscle under our lungs, to help get more air in our lungs and more oxygen to our bodies and brains.
- First, sit in a comfortable position, or lie flat on your bed or on the floor. Relax your shoulders and soften your stomach muscles.
- Place a hand on your chest and a hand on your belly. Imagine that your belly is a balloon. When you breathe in or inhale, you will fill that balloon with air and your belly will rise. Then when you breathe out or exhale, you will squeeze air out of the balloon with your stomach muscles and your belly will fall.
- If you’re lying flat, you can put something light on your stomach like a book or a stuffed animal and watch it move up and down with each breath.
Practice this kind of breathing, 10 breaths at a time, several times a day, to build strength in your diaphragm and learn to consciously shift your awareness and focus to regulating your breathing.
Using props
Young children can learn to regulate their breathing by using different items around the house to make it into a game. Here are a few ideas:
- Blow bubbles to learn to take deep breaths. Make slow, controlled exhales to make the most bubbles or one big bubble.
- Blow slowly into a pinwheel to make it move.
- Rustle a feather by using your breath.
- Blow gently next to a candle to make the flame flicker but not go out. Kids should only do this with parent supervision.
Five-finger breathing
Stretch your hand out in front of you with your fingers stretched out like you’re about to give a high-five. Then, take the pointer finger of your other hand and put it on the bottom of the outside of your thumb. When you inhale, trace up a finger, and when you exhale, trace down a finger. If your mind gets lost or your thoughts get loud, try to bring your attention back to the feeling of tracing your fingers and the sight of your hand.
Mindful Grounding
In this activity, we use our senses to bring our attention to what we are experiencing right now without judgment.
- Name three things you see in your room or space.
- Name three things you hear in your room or space. Even in a very quiet room you can usually hear the sounds of your own breathing, movement or some air flow.
- Name three things you feel on your body or your skin. This could be texture, temperature, the weight of your body on a surface, etc.
When we pay attention to our senses, there is little time to think about the past or the future. But what if your present isn’t very pleasant? What if you saw your brother messing up your room, or you heard an annoying TV show playing next door, or you felt pain in your body, and you became overwhelmed by paying attention to all of it? In classic mindful meditation, we strive to observe what we notice without judgment. For example, we may recognize a sound, acknowledge it annoys us, but try not to place judgment on the sound itself or the source of it.
Positive attention adaptation
An adaptation of this exercise can help promote awareness of positive aspects of an environment, even in stressful situations. You can choose to pick out three things you see that you like, three sounds you hear that you like, and three things you feel on your body that you like.
You can practice mindful grounding anywhere! While walking your dog, you might notice a tall tree, hear the sound of birds, and feel the pavement under your feet. While you are doing the dishes, you might see the light reflected off the water, hear the sounds of dishes clanking together, and feel the slickness of the soap on your fingertips.
Practice this exercise throughout your daily life to train your mind to return to the present. Try to practice even when you are not distressed to teach your body to recognize when it is thinking in the past or future and how to choose to live more fully in the present.
Mindful Noticing
In mindful noticing, we try to bring our awareness and presence fully into a specific object or activity.
Know your penny activity
Many people find that when they try to notice everything they can about a common object, they are able to stay more present-minded. For this activity, you will need a penny or another coin.
First, bring your attention to what your penny looks like. What markings does it have on the front? What words or numbers are there? Is your penny shiny or dull? How does the light reflect off your penny? Does it change if you tilt it around? Are there smudges, nicks, or other identifying features on your penny? Take a moment to really get to know your penny. Look at the edges of your penny. What do you notice about those? Flip your penny over and notice everything you can about the back of your penny. What is written? What pictures are there? How does the light move off your penny?
Now, bring your attention to what your penny feels like. How heavy is your penny? Is it warm or cold? Does its temperature change depending on where you hold it? Are the edges smooth or grooved? What does your penny feel like between your finger and your thumb? Notice all the ways your penny feels in your hand. Know what is special about your penny so well that if you were to drop it in a bucket of pennies, you could pick out which penny was yours.
You can use these techniques with other senses, too:
- Listen to a song you love, but try to notice all the things you haven’t noticed before. Listen for when the singer takes a breath, listen to a particular instrument throughout the song, or to the beat or bass.
- Try mindful eating, noticing all the different flavors and textures of a bite of food and how it tastes different on different parts of your tongue.
- Focus on how your muscles feel when doing yoga to help build movement into your routine.
Loving-kindness Meditation
Mindful meditation helps us stay focused on the now. It teaches us to accept things as they are and not be too critical. This way, we can be true to who we really are. Practicing this meditation daily helps make you feel better about yourself and about your relationship with others in your life.
First, repeat these four sentences, either out loud or to yourself:
- May I be safe.
- May I be healthy and strong.
- May I be happy.
- May I be peaceful and at ease.
Next, direct these wishes to someone you value, love, respect or feel positively toward.
Then, direct these wishes to someone you find challenging, or whose behavior you don’t like.
Finally, direct these wishes to the world and all beings.
Mindful Mantra Meditation
A mantra is a sound or phrase that is meaningful to a person. Mantra meditation includes repeatedly saying a sound or phrase and trying to understand what that means for you in the present moment.
Helpful mantras for kids include:
- I can handle this.
- I am safe.
- Let it go.
- I am thankful.
Please visit this CHOC blog for more information on various practice.
Looking for mindfulness activities that you can do with your child? These specific ones below were made for the parent-child. Modeling mindfulness by practicing it yourself in the home, or alongside your child with these activities, is so powerful because kids learn by watching you. Together, take some deep breaths and pick an activity to practice.
