Mindfulness and Meditation for Kids
We have a lot to think about these days. I don’t even think I could list all that’s wrong with the world right now. For one, it’s too depressing. It’s completely natural to feel overwhelmed right now. And, as parents, we often cannot let our true feelings show because we’re keeping up a brave face for our kids.
Our kids are watching. Unless you don’t own a TV or any devices, no doubt your kids have seen some of the chaos. They also are out of their normal routines since most schools, ESY and summer camps are still not operating as usual. But easy solutions are within our reach.
The Best Free Mindfulness App
Have you seen that commercial with the green circle, and it just tells you to “do nothing for 15 seconds?” I think it’s for the app called Calm. Anyway, I took that idea and personalized it. I went to a local state park that we enjoy. I filmed the babbling creek for 20 seconds. Now, whenever I need to center myself, I can go to my phone and watch it. And then I put it on a loop for one minute.
The following are some mindfulness and meditation ideas that can be implemented by people of all ages and abilities.
Moving Past Negative or Anxious Thinking
- Move past or through Negative Thinking: Here are two ideas to get past negative thoughts or anxiety. Most importantly, you don’t want to feed the anxiety. So you can either keep going with the feelings until they pass and talk your child through them. Or, if they have a tendency to get stuck, you can interrupt the thought pattern. Substitute negative thoughts with positive thoughts or activities, no matter how simple. Some ideas that cost you nothing could be: coloring, throwing a toy/ball to your dog, or revisiting a happy memory like a birthday party or funny moment.
- Gratitude Moments: Write down just one item of gratitude each day. Studies have shown that gratitude journals do work to change thinking. If writing is a struggle for your child, consider starting a gracious moment every night before you go to bed. “Before you go to bed, what’s one good thing that happened today? Or what is one thing that made you smile today?” Over time, one’s thought process becomes more positive. And, you can find notebooks and journals at Dollar Tree for $1, but you probably have one lying around the house somewhere.
- Meditation and Mindfulness Apps: There are literally thousands of apps online, so find one that you like. Or, as I said above, make your own. I like it because we can also talk about all the times we’ve visited that state park which can derail negative thoughts.
- Mindfulness Techniques: I have a separate list of 17 Mindfulness Activities for Kids | Music | Books for you to get your child started in mindfulness activities. Most of the things you can do together.
Mindfulness and Meditation Apps for Kids
Bestseller No. 1
Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness
- Remove anxiety and stress from the bedtime routine
- Reduce the time it takes for your kids to fall asleep when it’s time for lights out
- Reclaim precious time in your evening
- Over 145 pieces of completely original sleepy content created by the BAFTA winning Moshi team
- Choose from Stories, Meditations, Music and Sounds to soothe kids into a peaceful sleep
Bestseller No. 2
Yoto Children Friendly Audio Mindfulness Card – Bedtime Meditations by Christiane Kerr for Kids for Yoto Player and Yoto App – Toy for Boys and Girls Age 3–8 Years
- BEDTIME MEDITATIONS FOR KIDS AUDIOBOOK: Help your little one drift off to sleep calmly and peacefully with one of these 3 relaxing bedtime meditations just for kids
- HOW IT WORKS: Pop any of these audio cards into the Yoto Player and the audio starts, take the card out again and the audio stops. You can also play the card via our app
- IN DETAIL: One Story card; Running time: 51mins; Age: 0-8 years old; Language: English; Read by: Christiane Kerr; Author: Christiane Kerr
- YOTO PLAYER: Child Friendly Interactive Audio Speaker is sold separately
- CONTENT LIBRARY: Yoto gives access to the best content for children with over 300 titles across categories including stories, music, activities, podcasts & radio
SaleBestseller No. 3
Transcendental Deception: Behind the TM curtain – bogus science, hidden agendas, and David Lynch’s campaign to push a million public school kids into Transcendental Meditation
- Siegel, Aryeh (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 224 Pages - 01/15/2018 (Publication Date) - Janreg Press (Publisher)
Bestseller No. 4
Bestseller No. 6
Bunny Mindfulness: Meditation For Kids of All Ages
- ANIMATED BREATHING BUNNY: The bunny’s tummy fills up as it breaths in and empties when it breathes out!
- NO IN-APP PURCHASES: pay once for the app, and never pay again for any feature or update!
- NO INTERNET REQUIRED: once you’ve downloaded the app, it requires no data connection and sends no information to us!
- EARN POINTS: every time you complete a meditation exercise, you get points. The longer the exercise, the more points you get!
- PROGRESS BAR: the progress bar shows how much time is left in the exercise, depending on how many cycles you choose at what difficulty level
Bestseller No. 7
Yoto Children Friendly Audio Mindfulness Card – Magical Bedtime Meditation by Nicola Haslett for Kids for Yoto Player and Yoto App – Toy for Boys and Girls Age 3–8 Years
- MAGICAL BEDTIME MEDITATION AUDIOBOOK: The perfect meditation for a calming, relaxing bedtime and a well-rested child
- HOW IT WORKS: Pop any of these audio cards into the Yoto Player and the audio starts, take the card out again and the audio stops. You can also play the card via our app
- IN DETAIL: One Story card; Running time: 15mins; Age: 0-8 years old; Language: English; Read by: Nicola Haslett, Samantha Redgrave; Author: Katie Flaxman
- YOTO PLAYER: Child Friendly Interactive Audio Speaker is sold separately
- CONTENT LIBRARY: Yoto gives access to the best content for children with over 300 titles across categories including stories, music, activities, podcasts & radio
Bestseller No. 8
Anti Stress Breathing
- help you relax
- Anti Stress Breathing features:
- Calming Anxiety
- Managing Stress
- Focus and Concentration
SaleBestseller No. 9
Bubble Riding: Children Lower Stress, Reduce Anxiety and Learn How to Visualize Positive Outcomes
- Bubble Riding: A Relaxation Story
- Lite, Lori (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 31 Pages - 06/20/2019 (Publication Date) - Stress Free Kids (Publisher)
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