Upload
others
View
1
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The 51 Mindful Summer Challenge
Are you ready to take on ‘The 51 day Mindful Summer Challenge?’ One activity for every day of the school holidays.
These mindful summer activities are mindful in the sense that they are helping our children learn to pay attention (to their bodies and their minds) and to understand their feelings. You don’t even have to use the word mindfulness — make it a fun activity and the learning will happen organically!
How many challenges can you complete as a family this summer? I would love to see photos so these can be shared when we return to Balliol in September. Please send them to [email protected]
1. The Ice Lolly Challenge
When you eat an ice lolly/ice cream, challenge your kids to be silent until their ice lolly/ice cream is entirely gone. Encourage them to really notice all the different tastes (one
of those ice lollies/ice cream that has different flavours would be great
for this).
2. Sky StudySpend at least 10-15
minutes
studying the sky — and notice how the clouds gently move along. Notice how the cloud that first
looked like a pig now looks like a cat. This
is a great way to introduce the idea that our minds are kind of like the sky — thoughts float through on their own, and they
change on their own. We can watch our
thoughts in our minds like we watch
the clouds!
3. Create your own Pose
Think about different poses you can make with your body. Can you create your own yoga pose? Take a photo and name it.
4. Slow-Fast-SlowWith mindfulness,
we practice slowing down, so we don’t
feel so rushed all the time. The next time
you’re at the playground, try
playing “Slow-Fast-Slow.” Whatever your children are
doing — playing in the sand, running through tunnels —
have them try to do it slow, then fast,
and then slow again.
Talk about what it felt like to do
something slowly. Did it feel different?
5. Mindful ReadingThe next time you read a story with
your children, take some time to engage
in conversation about the feelings of
the people (or animals) in the book.
It can be hard for children to talk about their own emotions, so sometimes it’s
easier to talk about fictional characters.
You can ask questions like, “What do you think the girl is thinking about?”; “Why do you think
he is sad?”; “How do you think you would feel if that happened to you?” or, “Have you ever felt like
that before?”
6. Make Mind JarsUsing glitter and water, you can
make a “mind jar” — the glitter represents all the thoughts and
emotions in their minds (and when the jar is
shaken they go crazy!) But if you stop moving it and breathe for a few
moments, the glitter settles and the water
becomes clear.
7. Organise Your Photos or Make a
ScrapbookHave your children
help you sort through old photos. This can
spark some great conversations about
their favourite memories, and, if
you’ve seen Inside Out, you could ask
kids what they think their “core
memories” are. Create collages that
represent core memories or the different
“islands” that make up their personality.
8. ColourWhen we colour, we
focus our attention on a single activity, and that can feel really pleasant.
Join your kids in colouring time,
perhaps with a cool mandala colouring book or one with intricate designs.
(Colouring Sheets enclosed)
9. Dance Party!Crank up the tunes and dance! Get out of your
head and into your body. I love dancing with kids —
there’s no self-consciousness. It’s just pure movement and joy and self-expression. We
can learn a lot from them!
10. Listen!Listen carefully with your eyes closed to any sounds you can
hear. After one minute, open your
eyes and tell someone everything
you heard.
11. Feather Drop!Ask someone to drop a feather and watch it very closely as it
floats to the ground.
12. Listen and Draw
Listen carefully to a piece of music and
draw a line on a piece of paper which matches the feeling
created by the music.
13. Tummy Movements
Lie with your back on the floor and place a
soft toy on your tummy. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply and try to
concentrate on the way your toy rises
14. Smell!Find something with a strong and pleasant
scent e.g. lavender or orange peel and place it close to your nose.
Try to concentrate just on the smell for a
whole minute.
15. Rainbow Pose!(Yoga)
and falls with your breathing.
16. Blowing Bubbles!
Tell children to 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.
17. Hot Floor!Tell children that the floor is hot and the balloon
will burst if it touches the
floor. The aim of this game is to
keep the balloon off the ground, but have them
move slowly and gently.
18. Taste!Give children a
starburst, skittle
(something similar) and ask them to put it in their mouth and really take
in the taste, texture, smell
etc…
19. Heartbeat 20. Emotion BottlesCreate your own emotion bottle characters using
different shapes, sizes and colours to represent the
different emotions.
21. Mindful Scavenger Hunt!
(Sheet enclosed)
22. Rainbow WalkGo for a walk and take in the colours
around you. Can you take a picture of
things that are the different colours of
the rainbow?
23. Mindfulness Safari 24. Texture Box
Put a selection of objects with
different shapes and
textures into a bag. Get the
children to take turns putting
their hands in, feeling one of
the objects and describing it to
the others (without
looking at it) in as much detail
as possible.
25. Kind Quotes
Get children to create pictures and send them to close family
and friends.
May want to add positive quotes, e.g.
Your Amazing! Smile! Never
Stop |Believing!
26. Memory JarEvery time an
activity is completed at home that
children / the family have enjoyed write it down and pop it in a
jar.
After a few days / weeks go back and have a read of all the fun activities
completed and talk about what you
remember.
27. Squishy BallsThis fun craft has the
added benefit of giving your kids an excellent mindfulness tool. Take colourful balloons and
insert a funnel in the neck. Help your kids carefully pour in the filling of your choice. Try flour or sand for squishy balls. You can
also use dry rice or birdseed for a firmer
texture and a less messy experience.
Once the balloons are filled, tie them up and let
the kids decorate the outside with paint or
stickers. Squishy balls allow kids to physically
relieve any negative feelings with just a
squeeze.
28. The Squish and Relax Whilst the children are lying down with their eyes closed, ask them to squish and squeeze every muscle
in their bodies as tight as they can. Ask them to start with their toes and feet, squish the muscles in
their legs, squeeze their stomachs, then their hands into fists and raise their shoulders up to their heads.
Ask them to hold themselves squished up for a few seconds and
then fully release and relax.
29. Hugs Take a moment to
hug a family / friend. How does it feel? Could you
feel your heart beat?
30. The Name Game
This game is simpler than Eye Spy and yet it can be a powerful tool
31. I am Amazing!
Stop and think about all the
positive things
32. How do you feel?
Take a moment to think about how you are
33. Pen WalkTake a
pen/pencil for a walk on a piece
of paper.
34. Positive Comments
Get every member of your house a jar
and every day
35. Wiggle and Freeze!
In this game you wiggle, bounce around, or dance until you say "Freeze!"
36. Snake Pose (Yoga)
to curb spiralling thoughts.
First, look around you and name three things you can hear, then two
things you can see, and finally one
sensation that you feel.
you can do. Share these with someone else.
You could complete
attached sheet ‘I am an Amazing Person!’ to show
how amazing you are.
(I would love to see them).
feeling. Which words would describe how
you are feeling? Can
you trace back the origins of
those feelings?
Colour, decorate each
section created.
everyone has to write a positive comment about someone else in
their family. At the end of the summer holidays open your jar up and read all
the positive comments your
family have written about you.
"Then everyone freezes and takes a moment to
notice what they can feel in their body — perhaps
movement, tingling, heat, shaking, buzzing, or
something else."
37. Cook a MealCook a meal together and take in the smells created when cooking.
38. Be Helpful!
Do one thing to help around the
house.
It may be help with the
washing/washing up, read a story to a sibling, tidy your toys/room
etc…
39. Nature Collage
Visit the woods, collect lots of natural items and create a
nature collage.
Explore the different
textures and colours in your collage. Can you describe
them?
40. Daisy Chains
Find some daisy chains and see how long you
can make your daisy chain.
41. Yoga VideoFollow one of the
yoga videos on this link:
https://awakeandmindful.co
m/best-kids-yoga-videos-on-youtube/
42. Pennies!You will need a basket/pot of pennies. Everyone gets a penny and a minute to
study it in detail. The pennies are then placed back in the basket. Each player has to pick their
penny out of all the pennies and say how they
knew it was theirs. This game can be played with
different objects.
43. Through the Window!Sit and look out of one of your
windows for 10 minutes. What do you see? Who did you see? Did
you see any cars? Can you remember what you saw?
44. Hand TracingSit quietly and take a
few slow, deep breaths.
Stretch out your fingers on one hand.
With your other hand, slowly trace around your thumb. Breathe
in as you trace up one side of the
thumb, and breathe out as you trace
down the other side.Do the same for the other four fingers,
tracing up and breathing in, tracing down and breathing
out.Switch hands and do it again. This time,
pause slightly at the top and bottom of
each finger.Think about which method you prefer
today: with or without the pause.
45. Bug Watch!Find an old piece of
log, branch or lift up an old plant pot. Take a few minutes to watch the creepy crawlies
and describe what you see.
46. Make a Splash!Splash in puddles or
dance in the rain. How did it make you feel?
47. Tree Pose (Yoga) 48. Blow! Blow a dandelion and watch the petals float
away. Where do you think they will land?
49. Colour Mood
Ask children to identify
different colours to represent
different moods/feelings.
Talk about what makes them
feel that colour and what colour they are feeling each day or at different times
50. Doughnut Time!
Eat a doughnut without licking
your lips.
Think about the taste of the
doughnut and the texture of the sugar on
your lips.
51. Noticing Walk Go for a walk in your
local area and ask your children to try to
notice 10 things they’ve never really
paid attention to before — perhaps
the colour of the neighbour’s car/front door or the flowers in the area. You could also try to listen for
new sounds, too. Ask them why they think
of the day. they’ve never noticed them!
Other useful websites / Apps:
Smiling Mind App – Free o Practice your daily meditation and mindfulness exercises from any device. Smiling Mind is a unique tool developed by psychologists and educators to
help bring balance to your life. https://www.cosmickids.com/mindfulness- activities-kids/
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame o This app teaches skills such as problem-solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence. The research-based app
helps your child learn Sesame’s “Breathe, Think, Do” strategy for problem-solving. Children enjoy silly learn emotional vocabulary, a calm breathing technique, personalised encouragement, and more!
Go Zen o https://gozen.com/category/mindfulness- meditation/
Go Noodle o https:// family.gonoodle.com/
Books:
Matt’s Swirly World by Madeleine Matthewso An adorable journey featuring a mother and her young son, this book is a great reminder about how all emotions are accepted and that
proper behaviours can be learned by kids and taught by caregivers.
What Does it Mean to be Present? by Rana DiOrioo Follow a group of friends at school, at home, and at the beach as they experience just what it means to be
present.
I Can Handle It! by Laurie Wrighto Parents and teachers are amazed when children start saying 'I CAN handle it' almost immediately after reading this book! In tough
situations that usually cause meltdowns, kids start to realize they can problem-solve solutions and likely 'handle' the situation themselves.
For further information / support regarding SEND and Pupil’s Emotional Well-Being:Bedford Borough Advice / Support:https://localoffer.bedford.gov.uk/kb5/bedford/directory/advice.page?id=DIOI7rT1-n4
This website has lots of useful information and leaflets about ‘Returning to School’, ‘Policies’, ‘Referrals’ (for further support, e.g. Speech and Language) and useful advice supporting children with SEND.
Parent Carer Forum:https://www.bbpcf.co.uk/
Young Minds:https://youngminds.org.uk/
Enjoy your mindful summer activities, have a wonderful summer and we all look forward to seeing you in September!