How To Teach What Is Mindfulness For Children At Home

Understanding “what is mindfulness for children?” is crucial for fostering healthy emotional and cognitive development. Mindfulness helps children manage stress, regulate emotions and build resilience.

Through simple exercises, young minds can learn to stay present and engaged. This article explores mindfulness for children and offers ten practical exercises grounded in research and school-based implementation. Let’s delve in!

Table Of Contents

What Is Mindfulness For Children?
Benefits Of Mindfulness For Children
10 Mindfulness Exercises for Children
Embracing Mindfulness for Children with UNIS Hanoi

What Is Mindfulness For Children?

Mindfulness for children is the intentional practice of focusing awareness on the present moment, with curiosity and without judgment. It involves helping children pay attention to their thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and environment.

Mindfulness exercises for children are often short, engaging, and rooted in sensory experiences to suit their developmental stage.

Parents can use relatable metaphors to explain mindfulness to a child. For instance, you might refer to thoughts as clouds floating in the sky and emotions as waves, like the ocean.

Parents should reinforce that all kinds of feelings are permissible, and mindfulness allows us to notice and understand feelings better.

Benefits Of Mindfulness For Children

Mindfulness has wide-ranging benefits for children, supporting their mental, emotional and social development. Cultivating present-moment awareness nurtures both inner resilience and outer calm.

Benefits of mindfulness for children include:

Emotional Regulation: Mindfulness aids children in recognising and managing emotions. Instead of reacting impulsively, they learn to pause and respond thoughtfully.
Concentration Improvement: Regular practice enhances a child’s ability to focus on tasks by training attention and reducing mental distractions.
Stress Reduction: Mindful breathing and observation reduce cortisol levels, helping children feel calmer in stressful situations.
Self-awareness Discovery: Children become more conscious of their thoughts, emotions, and actions, which helps them later on to reflect and understand their inner self.
Empathy Enhancement: When children understand feelings, they show kindness and care for others.
Resilience Increase: Mindfulness helps children recover from setbacks more easily by fostering emotional flexibility and a positive mindset.
Overall Well-being Boost: Through consistent practice, children experience improved sleep, reduced anxiety, and a more positive outlook.

10 Mindfulness Exercises for Children

To fully grasp what is mindfulness for children, it is essential to see it in action. The following exercises are practical, accessible, and adaptable to various settings, including at home and in schools.

1. Honour the Feelings

This exercise consists of asking children to name their emotions, encouraging them to label their feelings without judgment as they speak.

Children can “label” feelings as “angry”, “excited”, or “nervous”. This allows children to distance themselves from emotions and respond thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively.

At UNIS Hanoi, honouring emotions is part of the school’s wellbeing philosophy.

Through guided discussions and age-appropriate activities in a safe and nurturing environment, we provide students with tools to identify and articulate what they feel as a form of emotional literacy.

2. Try ‘Teddy Bear’ Breathing

Have children lie down and place a small stuffed animal on their belly. As they breathe in and out, they can watch the toy rise and fall. This visual cue helps focus attention on the breath.

UNIS Hanoi integrates these imaginative breathing techniques into our daily routines.

Teddy bear breathing is a favourite in the early years programme, fostering body awareness and relaxation in a playful, effective manner.

3. Eat Mindfully

Ask children to eat a small snack (like a raisin or piece of chocolate) slowly, noticing its texture, taste, and smell. This activity builds awareness of sensory experiences and encourages gratitude.

UNIS Hanoi practices mindful eating during snack breaks. Our educators remind students to eat mindfully, allowing them to savour their food to appreciate their feelings and how it affects their well-being.

4. Practice Stillness

Guide children to sit quietly for a minute or two, focusing only on the sensations in their body or sounds around them. This builds tolerance for quiet and calm.

UNIS Hanoi values moments of stillness as part of our holistic educational approach. Designated quiet times during the school day allow students to reset, reflect, and centre themselves amid academic activities.

5. Encourage Journaling

Give children a journal and a writing prompt about their day, feelings, and gratitude. Journals encourage self reflection and emotional expression.

At UNIS Hanoi, journaling is encouraged as a reflective practice in classrooms. Children are given space and time to express their inner thoughts, supporting self-exploration and emotional clarity.

6. Practice ‘Cool the Pizza’ Breathing

Invite children to imagine holding a hot slice of pizza. They take a slow breath in to smell it and blow out gently to cool it down. This playful method engagingly teaches deep breathing.

UNIS Hanoi incorporates this creative technique to teach breathing control. Teachers use storytelling and imagery to help children visualise scenarios, making mindfulness relatable and fun.

7. Do Meditation

Introduce short guided meditations tailored to a child’s age. Focusing on the breath or visualising a calm scene are a few examples that may help with relaxation.

At UNIS Hanoi, meditation is integrated into all aspects of student wellbeing

Students join guided meditative practices in assemblies and in class, which helps with mental clarity and emotional balance.

8. Do Yoga

Yoga is breathing exercises combined with physical movement. Simple poses like tree or cat-cow help children build body awareness, coordination, and emotional calm.

UNIS Hanoi offers yoga as part of our physical education and after-school programmes. We recognise the holistic benefits of yoga in nurturing both physical health and mindfulness.

9. Focus on the Senses

Encourage children to use their five senses to explore their environment. Ask what they see, hear, smell, taste, and feel in the moment. This strengthens sensory awareness and present-moment focus.

At UNIS Hanoi, we embrace sensory exploration in our learning environments. Outdoor activities and sensory corners help students mindfully connect with their surroundings.

10. Count Your Breaths Together

Sit with your child and count each breath aloud to ten. Then start again. This shared breathing practice builds connection and soothes nervous energy.

This practice is regularly used in UNIS Hanoi’s wellbeing sessions. Our teachers guide group breathing exercises during transitions or after energetic activities to help students recalibrate and refocus.

Embracing Mindfulness for Children with UNIS Hanoi

Understanding what mindfulness is for children is a practical way to build compassion and awareness. UNIS Hanoi embeds it into school culture, nurturing children’s mental health from the earliest years.

If you are looking for an all-rounded education that integrates wellness with academics, apply to UNIS Hanoi and witness a mindful community flourish!