Mindful Listening

The bell is significant in Buddhism, as it enhances meditation by focusing the attention in the present moment, and it promotes a feeling of peace and calm. For children, it helps them tune in to what they can hear and develops their listening skills.

Ask the child to listen closely to the vibration of the sound that's made when you ring the bell. Ask them to silently raise their hand when they can no longer hear the sound, then remain silent for a minute afterwards, listening closely to the other sounds they can hear. You can then chat about all the sounds you each noticed.

You can do this just with one child or with a group. You don't have to use an actual bell — you can use anything that creates a sound vibration.

Mindful Breathing

Breathing is a major part of mindfulness and meditation, and there are fun and simple ways to introduce this key calming skill to children.

There's a technique called breathing boats (also known as breathing buddies), which helps children to physically tune in to their breath. Ask the child to lie down and imagine they have a boat resting on their belly. Ask them to breathe deeply, right down into their bellies as they breathe in, and notice how their imaginary boat is riding the waves up and down with their breath. They can imagine any thoughts that come into their minds as bubbles that float away.

In the Breathing Buddies version, you actually place a physical object on their tummies — a small stuffed toy, for example.

Mindful Eating

Eating can involve all the senses when we really pay attention, and mindful eating simply involves deliberately noticing the food in relation to all the senses.

Give the child something to eat (at my daughter's nursery, it was a large rice cake), and start by asking them to take a good look at it. Then ask them to sniff it and notice how it smells. How does it feel in their hands, and what is its texture like? Then when they take a bite, ask them how it feels in their mouth. My daughter and her classmates would then place their hands over their ears and listen to the sound their mouths made as they chewed.

This slows down the eating process (an added bonus of being good for digestion!), helps children pay attention to all the signals their body is providing, and shows them how many ways they can enjoy food.

Mindful Smelling

We all know how powerful scent can be — it can take us back to a place, an emotion, a different time. Certain scents can also be very helpful for relieving stress. So encouraging children to be aware of the power of their sense of smell will help them in lots of ways.

This activity is also known as "smell and tell" by Kaia Roman [3], who has taught mindfulness in a school setting. Give the child something fragrant to smell, whether that's a flower, a fruit, or a herb. Ask them to close their eyes while they focus on smelling the scent.

You could give them different scents and ask how each one was different, how they made them feel, and which they preferred — and why.

Mindful Jar

Making a mindful jar can help children deal with their feelings. It helps show them how big emotions can be stirred up and how they can find peace. Karen Young has instructions to show you how to make your own [4].

Fill a clear jar (they used clean jam jars at my daughter's nursery) almost to the top with water. Then get the child to add a big spoonful of glitter glue (or dry glitter and glue, or just some glitter on its own) to the jar, and secure the lid.

Now ask the child to shake the jar to make the glitter whirl around. Ask them to imagine the glitter is like their thoughts when they're feeling sad, cross, or stressed. Explain how the swirls of glitter make it hard to see clearly and that's like how it's hard for them to think clearly when they're experiencing big emotions. Reassure them that it's normal to think and feel this way and that it happens to everyone — even grown-ups.

Then place the jar on a surface and ask them to watch what happens when everything is still. The glitter starts to settle and the water clears, just like their thoughts will settle and their mind will become clear when they stay calm.

Mindful Walking

Going on a nature walk is an excellent way for children to experience being in the moment in a relaxing, inspiring environment. It also develops their ability to look, listen, smell, hear, and feel what is happening in nature.

My daughter's nursery class would go on nature walks at the local park and nature reserve but also just around the grounds of the school, so this is something you can do in your garden, the park, or the countryside — wherever you want.

To help stop it from becoming overwhelming, you can ask the child to focus on one sense at a time and ask them what they notice. From the sounds of leaves rustling and birds singing to the feel of the sun or wind on their skin and the smell of freshly cut grass to the difference in textures on the trees, there will be plenty to enjoy in that present moment.

You can also ask them to spot as many creepy crawlies as possible and notice all the different things about them.

Mindful Pebble Meditation

There are a couple of ways you can use pebbles to help focus attention. You can either use one pebble to help focus on looking — called a "focus rock" — or you can use a set of four pebbles in what is known as a "pebble meditation".

Focus Rocks

Mindfulness expert and author Annaka Harris [5] explains how to develop mindful looking by using a focus rock. Ask the child to sit still and tall, like a mountain, and place their small rock or pebble about two feet in front of them. After closing their eyes and focusing on their breathing, ask the child to look very closely at the rock's patterns, colours, shapes, and details.

They can then tell you about it or just notice how something small can have so much detail when you pay close attention. They can try this activity with a leaf or shell, too.

Pebble Meditation

Another activity involves collecting a few pebbles, which each represent something different — a flower, mountain, water, and space. My daughter's nursery has links with Plum Village — an international Buddhist practice centre in France — and they produce really helpful resources to use with children, one of which is this pebble meditation [6].

Take each pebble in your hand in turn, and repeat the following phrases. When you breathe in, imagine yourself as that symbol; for example, with the flower pebble, you would say, "I am a flower". When you breathe out, imagine yourself as the quality of that symbol; for example, you would say, "I am fresh as a flower". The flower is helpful when you feel angry.

With the mountain pebble, the quality is "solid", which is helpful when feeling frightened. With the still water pebble, the quality is to have a calm mind that will "reflect things as they are", which is helpful when the mind doesn't seem clear. With the space pebble, the quality is to "feel free", which is helpful when you feel trapped or bored.

This can nurture an interconnectedness with nature and introduce meditation in a fun way. My daughter chose pebbles that looked like each of the symbols and also drew on them!