Mindfulness Activities for Kids

May is Anxiety Awareness Month, and for kids it can be an especially anxious time with end of year tests and projects and things. But any time is a great time to talk to kids about anxiety and give them tools to help calm them down, and mindfulness is a big part of that.

Kids (and people) of any age need practice noticing how they feel in the moment and understanding that those feelings can and will pass. Even just being reminded to check in on their feelings a few times a day (whether they are feeling anxiety or not) can help them build mindful awareness and naming of emotions that is so important.

Mediation is not a thing that a lot of kids like (my teen has always hated it) but sometimes you can sneak in some mindful breathing even if you’re not formally meditating. There are lots of ways to make breathing fun for kids, and you can find a bunch of them at Calm Ahoy Kids. My daughter learned some of these at school like the candle and balloon, but they are all fun for kids to try. They also have an ebook and printable cards available on Etsy if you want these for a classroom or to use at home.

This mindful breathing stick craft from Local Anchor is an easy one for kids to make and keep in their backpacks (or even wear as a bracelet) to use as a tool for mindful breathing. I also love this one for making a calming stone of out clay. Get the details on that one from Hands On Teaching Ideas. Having something to hold that reminds you to breathe or pay attention can be super helpful.

Other mindful things you can practice in the classroom or at home include listening to calming music and really focusing on it, taking a very slow walk around the room or outside and paying attention to what you see, doing a slow body scan or eating something very slowly. Get more details on some of these ideas and others from The OT Toolbox and from Very Special Tales.

Another one that I like (which is also on the Very Special Tales list) that my daughter used a lot during covid was a variation on the 5-4-3-2-1 idea, which has you notice five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste (or you can change the last one to just taking a deep breath). This is a great way to ground and pay attention to your surrounds and it helps people of all ages, too.

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Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

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