Being a child has its difficulties such as experiencing stress, anxiety and other conditions for various reasons. Mindfulness is a state of mind that helps children develop the necessary skills to overcome such conditions. But that’s not all! From improving focus to growing patience, mindfulness activities have lots of benefits to offer. Read on to learn more about this amazing practice.
"The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.” — sounds like something that we want for ourselves and our children. Mindfulness is maintaining a present awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing and non-judgmental lens.
There are plenty of examples of mindfulness practices in our daily lives. To clarify, first, think about the time when you start making a grocery list while listening to music or how your children open a bag of chips and finish it while watching TV. You and your children, and almost everybody else, complete almost every task on autopilot, juggling more than one task at a time.
Mindfulness games and activities are one of the most effective ways for children to get rid of their stressful energy. In this way, they can both have fun and develop. Keep in mind that they always need a safe space to ease up. 🎈 ✌
MentalUP provides kids with 150+ brain-boosting games and 240+ fitness exercises that they can use to relax by spending quality time. You can help your children to have a better development process if you support them with the best relaxing sources. ✨ 🌈
When you are in autopilot -research shows that an average person spends nearly 47% of their time in autopilot- you lower your attention span and your mind starts to wander, which prevents you from focusing, being present and aware. However, when you are mindful of your surroundings, your current actions and etc., you enjoy life, reduce stress, increase happiness, and start noticing things and processes around you such as the flowers blooming on your path to school or work.
Mindfulness for kids is no different. A child that applies unique mindfulness activities can take advantage of the many benefits that they provide such as less time spent online.
Therefore, we compiled the most effective mindfulness exercises for kids and the best apps for your child. Before looking at these apps, you can do a digital addiction test for your kids and find the most appropriate app for them.
Mental exercises help children develop mental, physical and psychological skills and improve their intelligence. MentalUP is an educational and entertaining app with 150+ games that provides children with daily mental exercises.
As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. There are plenty of benefits of mindfulness for kids, especially when mindfulness techniques for children are applied at a young age:
Mindfulness games for kids help improve their lives and provide them with a better adulthood as they will be more open and adjustable to change and have a better chance of handling stress and enjoying life in the future. In addition, children’s minds are more adaptable to such activities and exercises.
You may think “How can a toddler benefit from mindfulness?” The answer is pretty simple: the human brain starts to develop and improve as it starts to form. Therefore, mindfulness for toddlers is very effective and easy to apply with the guidance of the parents. Toddler mindfulness activities are mainly based on the connection between the mother (caregiver) and the infant.
Firstly, being less involved with technological devices and making eye contact is an important step to develop mindfulness for toddlers. This will allow the baby to calm down and help you overcome stress and frustration easily. Exchanging smiles, glances and sounds with an infant will help nourish them, let them feel secure and loved.
Preschool is one of the first developmental stages in which a child spends the longest time away from home and with people who are not their family. Therefore, mindfulness for preschoolers can be very helpful in helping them adjust to these changes. Fun mindfulness activities for kids can help them socialize, overcome anxiety and embrace differences and changes in life.
Here are some mindfulness exercises for kids that you can easily apply.
Breathing exercises are one of the most effective meditation applications and one of the best mindfulness activities for children. Plus, they are very easy to apply.
Breathing exercises help soothe children, relieve anxiety and calm stress.
Mindfulness strategies for kids are more about doing it correctly rather than how long it takes. Breathing exercises can take 2 to 5 minutes. When you apply the technique correctly, you will notice how your mind eases and your pulse regulates, therefore you can tell your children to concentrate on the process and recognize the changes.
Breathing exercises can be applied to children aged 4 and up.
Children who experience stress, lack of attention or anxiety can struggle with socializing or learning at school. In such conditions, supporting kids with educational apps can be very effective.
MentalUP is an educational game that helps promote social and mental skills while boosting learning skills and help reduce stress.
Who doesn’t love chocolate? Almost every child eats a piece of chocolate every now and then (sometimes even more), but when was the last time that you actually enjoyed eating chocolate?
One of the main benefits of mindfulness exercises for kids is to be present and enjoy the little things in life. This exercise is cut out just for this.
Due to cacao’s nature, mindfulness-based stress reduction for children can be achieved with this mindfulness exercise. It comes with all the benefits that mindfulness activities provide.
Mindfulness is all about savoring the moment and chocolate is no doubt something that deserves all the attention. Take your time.
This activity is suitable for everyone older than 2 and that isn’t allergic to chocolate. For ones that can’t consume chocolate, you can follow the process with other foods that you can savor such as raisins or strawberries.
Mindfulness drawing activities are a creative and expressive way to experience mindfulness. Its therapeutic nature allows you to embrace your thoughts and calm your mind. Apart from drawing, children can benefit from coloring as a mindfulness activity as well.
These activities help feel more present, appreciate colors and calm your mind.
Setting aside 5 to 15 minutes for mindful coloring will do the job.
These mindfulness creative activities can be performed by children aged 5+.
Heartbeat exercise is a useful mindfulness therapy for children. It is easy to practice and very effective.
This exercise builds self-awareness and calms the mind and body.
It takes only a minute or two.
Suitable for children aged 7+.
Listening seems like a simple task but it requires plenty of attention and practice to be able to do mindful listening.
Improved communication skills and better learning abilities are the most important benefits of this activity.
Mindful listening takes as long as you engage in a conversation.
This activity can be completed by children aged 10+.
A successful practice for mindful listening is H.E.A.R.
Tasks like listening and paying attention are very crucial to promote the children’s learning abilities. MentalUP is a pedagogically certified app that has more than 10+ million users and effectively develops and boosts skills that children require.
Daily mindfulness for kids can be applied with simple activities. Mindful body scans are one of them.
Body scans allow the mind to settle and a person to notice physical sensations and emotions. It also provides mindfulness for children with anxiety.
This activity takes about two minutes.
Mindful body scans can be conveyed by children aged 7+.
It’s no wonder that mindfulness can be accomplished with yoga. Root to Rise is among the most effective yoga stretching exercises for kids and mindfulness practices for children.
This exercise builds courage, kindness, awareness and gratitude.
The Root and Rise practice takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
This practice can be practiced by children aged 5+.
Do you want to experience more mindfulness activities? Then, MentalUP is ready to support you! 🙌
With 150+ mindfulness games and 240+ physical exercises, you can stay at present while having so much fun! 🤗
Mentalup is developed by academicians and pedagogues. Try the award-winning MentalUP to boost your mental and physical abilities! 🥳
There are so many experiences that we don’t appreciate and enjoy thoroughly that we miss out on a lot of stuff. This guided mindfulness for kids practically forces them to use senses and enjoy the present.
Awareness, triggered senses and being present are the benefits of this experience.
This activity can take 5-10 minutes, depending on how many tastes you or your child will taste.
It is an activity suitable for children aged 5+.
This is another way to provide daily mindfulness for kids. It is great to deal with anxiety within the day for both children and parents. Teach your children these 5 easy steps.
Activities that empower all five senses provide awareness, gratitude, reduce stress and increase attention.
This activity can take up to 5 minutes.
This activity is suitable for children aged 7+.
Expressing your feelings is one of the most effective ways of raising awareness and thus being mindful. Encourage your child to acknowledge their feelings. You can use the printable sheet that we provide to help keep track of your child’s feelings.
This practice can help soothe feelings, calm anxiety, raise awareness and focus on feelings.
This exercise will only take a minute.
You can apply it to children aged 4+.
Hang up this feeling chart on your wall and teach your children how to recognize the emotions they feel each day.
Mindfulness apps for kids are very beneficial and easy to use. Here are some of the best apps that you can use for your child to enjoy mindfulness exercises for kids.
The best mindfulness games for kids are at MentalUP. MentalUP is an educational gaming app that is specifically designed for children at the age of 4-13. It also has many other activities that promote intelligence, focus and mental skills.
Headspace for Kids consists of breathing exercises, visualizations, and meditations grouped into five categories: kindness, focus, sleep, calm, and wake-up. You can choose from the age groups 5 and under, 6 to 8, 9 to 12.
Stop, Breathe & Think helps kids focus, have a quiet, peaceful sleep, and process emotions. Best for ages 5-10.
Calm is one of the mindfulness apps for kids that provides mindfulness exercises and other meditation types. This alternative, which is also one of the best mental health apps, is suitable for age groups 3 to 4, 5 to 6, 7 to 10, 11 to 13, and 14 to 17.
Here are some mindfulness games for kids that you can play at home by yourself or with family and friends.
This game not only provides mindfulness, but also helps build proper motor skills and develop attention.
Body awareness, Focus, Awareness, Mindful seeing
Nothing at all :)
This mindfulness activity is very practical and easy to apply. You can use it to combat boredom while waiting in the queue.
Have your children focus their eyes on a point slightly below eye level. Then ask him/her to stand on one leg and keep their focus on the focal point and keep their balance on one leg as long as they can.
After keeping their balance for some time now, let them try their other leg. Pull them into a conversation to make it more difficult for them to balance and concentrate. Or you can ask them to sing or close their eyes.
If they are with a group of friends, make it a contest and see who would last longer. Add mindful breathing to see if it makes balancing easier.
Children can get bored very easily. Finding beneficial apps for boredom to combat these feelings is a tough task for most parents.
MentalUP is an educational gaming app that offers 150+ beneficial games. While these games help develop verbal, visual and spatial intelligence, you can easily track your children’s progress.
Jenga is a fun game that is enjoyed by everyone. Besides being one of the best mindfulness activities for young adults and children, it also helps with improving attention and building motor skills.
Body awareness, Focus, Awareness, Understanding emotions
Jenga the game
Jenga is a game in which you build a tower with wooden blocks without shattering it. It requires plenty of attention, so you can turn it into a mindfulness practice for children by asking them to pay attention to whatever it is that distracts them from the game.
Can they recognize when they get distracted and why?
Did they overthink or did their mind wander off, resulting in them losing their concentration?
Ask them to play the game with a calm mind and try to realize any differences. Adding in mindful breaths can help too.
You can read our article to learn more about Jenga.
One of the purposes of mindfulness techniques for children is to be able to live in the moment and realize the small details in life. This game will allow your children to absorb the little details that life presents and appreciate them.
Detail Awareness, Focus, Awareness
A coin for each player (with the same value), a basket
Every player gets a coin and a minute to examine it in detail. Then, the coins are placed in a basket and mixed. Each player has to find their coin out of the others and tell why it is theirs. You can play it with other objects, the important point is to use the same objects that have little differences.
Just like the Balancing on One Foot game, The Balance Game is one of the mindfulness creative activities that can be played at home and one of the best mindfulness school activities as it can be played with the whole class.
Body awareness, Focus, Awareness
A spoon and some water per team
Just like the egg-and-spoon race, the point is to carry a spoon of water to the next kid without spilling it. To make it even more difficult, you can ask your child to walk backwards or sideways and make a race out of it.
Simon Says is a game that requires plenty of attention and is one of the fun mindfulness activities for kids. It uses both mindful seeing and listening.
Mindful listening and seeing, Focus, Awareness
Space to move around
First, a leader which will give directions is chosen. The leader will give verbal instructions while demonstrating them visually. Kids need to pay close attention to the instructions because they are to follow them only if they start with “Simon Says”.
Keep in mind that there’s a conflict between what is said visually and what is instructed to do verbally and that you should only act when the leader says “Simon says” before the instruction.
We tend to act without thinking (autopilot), and this game shows just that.
Players fail if they perform the action without the “Simon says” phrase or if they fail to perform the action when the phrase “Simon says” is used before the instruction.
For example:
“Simon says laugh out loud” (you should laugh out loud). “Simon laughs out loud” (you should wait for the next instruction without doing anything).
You can choose whether or not to eliminate the players who fail or how many times they have to fail to be eliminated to specify the competition in the game.
🧠 Don't ignore games! Brain games can teach children patience, strategic thinking, how to reduce stress and can help them improve their developmental skills.
We have put together some best mind games for kids. These games are chosen to maximize their progress and enjoyment: MentalUP Mind Games
Have fun 🥳