Mindfulness for preschoolers
Children are naturally mindful. They have focus and curiosity that we as adults often lose sight of. This blog is not about teaching children to be mindful, it is about helping to recognise what they already have within them – an innate peace, stillness, joy default.
I trained with Mindful Magic and we strongly believe that children are innately resilient, happy, calm, joyful. However the stresses and pressures of modern day life, education and general busy-ness can layer over this. Mindfulness is a wonderful way to explore feelings and emotions and slowly start to uncover to layers to show children the magic that lies beneath.
Our preschool classes are designed to gently introduce children to an understanding of their physical bodies, as well as some of their emotions. We share some simple, fun breathing and movement activities. We also explore natural craft activities which we believe is a beautiful way to encourage children to notice and explore the natural world around them.
Breathe
We use our breathing buddy teddies to encourage children to explore what breathing feels like.
Focus
Bringing our attention to a particular activity in a mindful way is a lovely way of developing concentration and an awareness of our surroundings and things we may not have noticed before. The preschool children love to identify smells, explore our sense of touch, hearing and sight.
Move
Mindfulness isn’t all about sitting still. Movement can be a really fun way to introduce children to noticing how they move, how their bodies feel or how their breathe changes as they move.
Create
Kids are our best teachers in mindfulness and no more so than when they are creating! It’s a chance to explore our weekly theme in a fun way! All our craft activities are as natural, sustainable and recyclable as possible and we are constantly working on ideas that involve only natural products.
Meditate
This is a lovely chance to rest under some blankets for the preschool children. We might read a lovely mindfulness-inspired story, a mini relaxation exercise, a body awareness exercise or even a short mini meditation if they are ready.
