Mindfulness

We hope that everyone is keeping safe and well. We hope you are doing your
best to stay active and be kind. Here are some mindfulness activities that you
can try.
Mindfulness is noticing what your mind is doing. Mindfulness is also taking
notice of how your body feels and what you see, smell and taste. When you
notice what is happening around you, it can help you to calm down when
you’re sad, angry or frustrated. Mindfulness helps you deal with
tough emotions, and mindfulness can make you happy and feel good. Here are
some simple activities for you to try out this week. Let us know how you get on
by sending an e-mail to kids@stphilips.ie

1. Mindful Posing

Fun poses can help children feel strong, brave, and happy.
Have the kids go somewhere quiet and familiar, a place they feel safe. Next,
tell them to try one of the following poses:
1. The Superman: this pose is practised by standing with the feet just wider
than the hips, fists clenched, and arms reached out to the sky, stretching
the body as tall as possible.

2. The Wonder Woman: this pose is struck by standing tall with legs wider
than hip-width apart and hands or fists placed on the hips.
Ask your child/ children how they feel after a few rounds of trying either of
these poses. You may be surprised.
 
2. Spidey-Senses
Instruct your child to turn-on their “Spidey senses,” or the super-focused
senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch that Spiderman uses to keep
tabs on the world around him. This will encourage them to pause and focus
their attention on the present, opening their awareness to the information
their senses bring in.
This is a classic mindfulness exercise and encourages observation and
curiosity—great skills for anyone to practice.

3. The Mindful Jar
This activity can teach children how strong emotions can take hold, and how to
find peace when these strong emotions when they feel overwhelming. Maybe
you tried this last week when it was a daily challenge.
 First, get a clear jar and fill it almost all the way with water. Next, add a
big spoonful of glitter glue or glue and dry glitter to the jar, use some oil
if you don’t have any glitter. Put the lid back on the jar and shake it to
make the glitter swirl.

 Finally, use the following script or take inspiration from it to form your
own mini-lesson:
“Imagine that the glitter is like your thoughts when you’re stressed, mad or
upset. See how they whirl around and make it really hard to see clearly? That’s
why it’s so easy to make silly decisions when you’re upset – because you’re not
thinking clearly. Don’t worry this is normal and it happens in all of us (yep,
grownups too).
[Now put the jar down in front of them.]
Now watch what happens when you are still for a couple of moments. Keep
watching. See how the glitter starts to settle and the water clears? Your mind
works the same way. When you are calm for a little while, your thoughts start
to settle and you start to see things much clearer. Deep breaths during this
calming process can help us settle when we feel a lot of emotions”.
This exercise not only helps children learn about how their emotions can cloud
their thoughts, but it also facilitates the practice of mindfulness while focusing
on the swirling glitter in the jar. 

4. Safari
The Safari exercise is a great way to help kids learn mindfulness. This activity
turns an average, everyday walk into an exciting new adventure.
Tell your kids that you will be going on a safari: their goal is to notice as many
birds, bugs, creepy-crawlies, and any other animals as they can. Anything that
walks, crawls, swims, or flies is of interest, and they’ll need to focus all of their
senses to find them, especially the little ones.
A similar exercise for adults is the mindfulness walk. This exercise provokes the
same response in children that a mindful walk elicits in adults: a state of
awareness and grounding in the present.
 
5. Blowing bubbles
Have your children focus on taking in a deep, slow breath, and exhaling
steadily to fill the bubble. Encourage them to pay close attention to the
bubbles as they form, detach, and pop or float away.