Staring at a screen is challenging for adults, imagine how challenging this will be for young students. In this video I’m going to share one mindful moment idea that you can easily incorporate into your lesson.
I like to include mindful moments or mindful breaks in my lesson. These are great to include as a transition or when you notice that your students are feeling a little sluggish or when they have way too much energy and you need them to calm down a bit before you move on to your next activity.
I have these cards called, Animal Action Cards, but you don’t need these cards. You can pull images from the internet or if you’re artistic you can draw the images yourself. What I like to do is randomly pull a card or have a student pull a card and read the animal action. So, for example if I pull the “Stomp like an elephant” card we’ll all stomp our feet like an elephant. I like to then ask students what else does the animal do. And in this example, students might say “flap their big ears;” “lift their trunk;” “make loud noises;” and so on. You can then have students lead in those movements and show how the elephant flaps its ear or uses its trunk.
You can continue to do this for as long as you want. In a classroom you might use one of the cards to get students back to their seats. So, maybe “slowly stomp like an elephant to your spot on the carpet.”
You can also use mindful animal movements or sounds to increase or decrease students' energy level. So, if you notice your students are feeling really sleepy you can ask them to show you how a gorilla thumps its chest or to gallop in place like a horse.
On the flip side if your students' energy is too high for the learning activity you have planned for them you may want to include slower movements and stretch, such as “stretch like a cat” or “walk slowly like a turtle.”
This is just one way you can include fun, kid friendly mindful moments throughout your day.
If you enjoyed this post be sure to check out my Mindful Kids Series, where I share kid friendly mindfulness activities and stories.
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