Mindfulness Exercises for Kids: 75 Easy Relaxation Techniques To Help Your Child Feel Better
Reviews (48)
Interesting Techniques
Mindfulness is such a buzzword these days, and it has certainly come far from its Eastern roots. The 75 exercises or techniques in this book are not truly all about mindfulness or even relaxation. It's actually hard to distill down to one or two words what this book precisely offers. If you've read any adult-oriented mindfulness, gratitude, or meditation books, you'll find similar concepts and techniques in this book. It offers a variety of things to do, from self-help standards like meditation and purposeful breathing to more actionable techniques, like crafts and body awareness/movement. The author offers exercises for different concepts like anti-anxiety, concentration, emotional awareness, and observation. I wish the author were more consistent with how she presented the ideas. The craft ideas list the things you need and what to do. For meditations and other concepts for the child to ponder, the author provides a script to read. Most sections have paragraphs or pages for the adult to read as well as the scripts to read to the kids. Not all scripts were clearly marked. Unfortunately, many scripts didn't really seem like a parent or loved one talking to the child. The words were often stilted or seemed to talk “at” the child instead of “to” the child. Kids don't like that! Also, I thought some exercises seemed like they were spoken as if from a teacher to a child, not from a parent or caregiver. Some exercises and techniques would be good for the entire family to practice, whether together or apart. If you’d like to work with the concepts mentioned with your child or children, so long as you read ahead and understand what the exercises are about and meant to do, you and your family might find this book helpful and perhaps even fun. I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
This was the right book at the right time for my family and I
I'm the father of 2 boys in this pandemic, I have been very worried about assessing their mental state and making sure they have the right tools to deal with it. This book gave me a different outlook - practice to the tools to deal with mindfulness all the time so that you have them when you need them. Or, as I like to say, if you stay ready you don't have to get ready. There are plenty of exercises to choose from in this book. We won't do all of them with our kids, but we will consistently practice some of them. And, as adults, many of these exercises are useful too. There is bound to be at least a handful of techniques that will work with your child's temperament. I also like that this book starts with data about the importance of mindfulness and how it improves child behavior. I love data and evidence-based practices. I don't want a dissertation on it, but some data is good. I only wish I had started with techniques like these when my kids were younger. But it's never too late.
A gold mine of fun ways for children to practice mindfulness
This book achieves a certain perfection. It is simply and very well-written and in the most helpful, enthusiastic and optimistic tone. The key theme of psychological health/mindfulness pervades these exercises: learning to pause. I find in my private practice of psychotherapy with adults throughout my career that this well-rehearsed ability to pause inside your mind is the very essence of psychological, behavioral health and a feeling of well-being. We each have a limbic system (fight/flight mechanism) that we humans have not kept in check very well throughout our human history. Our job as individuals and as members of societies is to learn to hold this fight/flight system in check when it’s not appropriate for situations we’re in. Enhancing the pausing powers of consciousness is the way to achieve this control of the primitive part of our brain which, unchecked, has caused so much havoc through history, from mental and emotional illness to war. Instituting these wonderful exercises at a young age in the population would be dramatic for individuals living their complex lives and for society. Excellent book!
Childhood is Challenging - this book may help
For parents with children who are stressed out or have problems conveying their emotions or empathizing with other children, this could be a helpful book. The author lays out a series of exercises (drawing faces -happy or mad, journal or note-keeping, role-playing charades, different ways of breathing), anger-busting meditations and thought-provoking techniques that can help to drastically reduce aggression in children. The exercises may also help your child have better concentration for school work and play. It’s easy to read, well laid out, with step by step instructions that anyone can follow. Easy to recommend.
Wonderful!
As a teacher and a mother to five sons, I think this book is a wonderful resource for children and parents. The games, arts/craft activities, meditations, visualizations, and breath work are perfect for kids who need help managing stress or anxiety, or for those who simply want to relax. I love the detail to attention the author provided with yoga exercises and craft ideas--the layout and design of this book is excellent, too. I've done several activities with my youngest son, and look forward to doing more. I highly recommend this book for parents who want to teach mindfulness to their children.
Excellent resource!
I downloaded this as an ebook and think I will probably buy the hard copy since I like it so much. I've perused various books on mindfulness for kids and this is my favorite so far. The book is filled with guided exercises that an adult could use for their kids or a group of kids (I can't wait to use this with my Scout troop)! It's clear that the author is well trained/experienced in working with kids in this capacity as the guided exercises paint such effective and vivid imagery in one's mind as you read through each one. Bravo to this book - highly recommended!
Very Appropriate
This book contains a large collection of mindfulness exercises that can be used with children. The number of different ideas provide a lot of variety and help avoid too much repetition. The different exercises are well thought out with excellent instructions on how to execute them. Studies continue to support mindfulness as a useful technique to promote positive attitude, self-awareness, self-control, and stress relief. Using exercises from this book will not only provide those benefits, but should also help provide some stability during our current situation. Highly recommended.
Superb Resource
A great resource for anyone working with anxious kids. The exercises are simple and can be used at home as well as in school, both for mainstream and for special needs education, which is important from my point of view. A great addition to my school's wellbeing reference library. I look forward to doing these exercises with groups of my kids. Highly recommend!
Excellent
The world needs more books like this. Excellent book for parents and teachers. Mindfulness is sort of a buzz word now, but for good reason. Learning to be in-the-moment and in-control of your emotions is a skill we should all be working on, especially children. This makes it fun and engaging for kids, and not a "calm down!" sort of way. I liked the Best Day Ever Contemplation Script - it puts you in the right frame of mind. Congrats to the author for an excellent book.
I love this book!
A great activity book for kids. My kids have been anxious for a long time, since the pandemic has started and that book would be a great help. I also like that there are various activities for other aspects like concentration, affirmation, etc. I didn't finish the book yet, but I can clearly see it's a great one, and that it was written by an expert in the field. I definitely recommend it! I received a free copy in return for an honest review.
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