5 ways to thread Mindfulness into the classroom
What is mindfulness?
In a nutshell, mindfulness is an awareness and acceptance of both our internal world and external world. Mindfulness allows us to be present without worrying too much about the future or living too much in the past. It shines a light on what, where and how we are right now. Mindfulness is directly linked to two fundamental social-emotional skills- self regulation and self awareness. These skills are crucial in order for children (and adults) to not only just acknowledge their thoughts, actions and emotions but also how to react
Here are 5 ways to bring mindfulness into your classroom:
1, MAKE A GLITTER JAR
Glitter or “Calming Jar” is great for calming children in a class as well as at home. Children often experience a great range of emotions but are still developing in their regulatory skills. This is where calm jars come in.
Filled with glitter, these jars help to “Shake out” the initial anger or frustration. There is then the effect of watching the glitter whirlwind around the jar and finally settling which instils this focus and inner calm within the child.
Each child could make their own glitter jar (see out blog post HERE) or there could be a communal Glitter jar in the class available for any child at any time.
2. Changing state with singing bowl / sound
Get children to sit on the floor, up tall and close their eyes, using an instrument (like a singing bowl or chimes or the sound of them on your phone) play the sound, get children to place hands on their hearts when they cannot hear the sound any longer.
3. Spidey Senses
Also known as 54321- Get children to name 5 things they can see, touch 4 things they can feel, name 3 things they can hear, smell 2 things they can smell and taste 1 thing they can taste ( maybe the teacher has slices of lemon for the children to take and explore).
4. Colouring in a Mandala
Getting children to colour in a mandala or some geometric shape in silence for 10-15 minutes, you can find some great printables on canva or through google! Once completed, aski them to share how they found it in 2 words to the class .
5. Hand Breathing
The hand breath is simple and you can do it in the comfort of anywhere you like. All you need is your hand. It is a beautiful tool to help us teach children how to breathe deeply and it is a great tool to help them (and us) reset in times of chaos. Below we have broken the breath down into steps to make it easy to follow.
1. Take your pointy finger to the base of your thumb
2. Breath in move to the top of the finger
3. Breathe out and move down
4. Inhale up the finger, exhale down the finger
5. One hand equals 5 breaths
6. Repeat as many times as you want