I was asked if I’d like to take Big and Little M to a kid’s mindfulness session in a local village. I have to admit I was a little bit dubious – how can we teach children under the age of 6 to be more mindful?
The first thing that the children did was to learn about Star Breathing. They did it standing up first in the shape of a star. The girls listened well and it was clear that they had something like this before at school as they were quite comfortable with this process. They then repeated this process sitting down. The children were calm and focused at this point.
We were then introduced to the glitter jars we we’re going to make. The idea behind these is so that a child who is feeling upset, angry or anxious can take their glitter jar. Shake it. And watch the glitter fall in a calming fashion. The girls were mesmerised and couldn’t wait to make their own!
The making of the glitter jars was pretty straight forward. Fill half full with warm water, add glitter glue, stir and then add tonnes of glitter. Then top up to the top of the jar and add more glitter glue is needed.
Both girls had a say in what colour combinations they wanted. It surprised me that they had a clear view on what they wanted to create.
After the mess of the glitter we went back into a circle again to use the glitter jars and to think about how to include the star breathing. The children were invited to sit or to lie down. I think they thought it was quite exciting to lie down. They were then asked to close their eyes and think about an warm light shining over different parts of their body. The language was simple and the children were able to follow the instructions. My girls enjoyed the process and I would like to be able to go again.
Being able to teach my children coping strategies is very important to me. This is a busy and changing world and I want the girls to be able to think about how to cope in it.
the very busy mummy 
Interesting post. Children do surprise us sometimes.
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