Family Mindfulness Activities

Family mindfulness activities are a great way to spend time together in ways that benefit the whole family. But what exactly is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is simply about BEING present in the moment. The beauty of mindfulness is that absolutely anything can be done ‘mindfully’ and it is accessible to anyone, at any age and from any background.

Benefits of Mindfulness

The regular use and practice of mindfulness can have many benefits including:

• Stress reduction
• Improved emotional wellbeing
• Reduction of anxiety and depression
• Improved social skills
• Increased confidence
• Heightened feeling of connection to others

The ability to pay attention in the present moment is an incredibly valuable skill that can be learned from a young age. Learning this skill early in life gives children a huge advantage in managing the twists and turns of life as they grow and develop.

When we are able to be more present to our experiences we feel calmer, more focused and develop a more positive outlook on ourselves and life.

Like anything, the more we practise mindfulness the easier and more automatic it becomes.

There are different aspects to mindfulness that can be developed including: focus, noticing, concentration, sensing.

Helping Children Develop Mindfulness

Here we share some ideas for helping your child to build their ‘mindfulness muscles’:

• Arts and crafts activities are a great way for your child to learn to focus and concentrate
• Stopping to appreciate things with your child helps them develop their skills of noticing and sensing
• Listening to music and pointing out the different instruments or lyrics helps them with sensing and noticing
• Looking after pets or pot plants helps children develop compassion and noticing others’ experience

ART-BASED FAMILY MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES

Exploring creativity through painting, drawing or creating sculpture is a wonderful way for your child to develop their focus and concentration.

It can help to provide a range of materials and different mediums for your child to explore to find one that they enjoy and can stay with for longer periods of time.

To help encourage the mindful aspects of the activity:

• Ask your child to tell you about their picture. Pay attention to detail.
• Comment about the colours, or the lines or shapes.
• Introduce your child to works by professional artists in a variety of mediums.

LISTENING TO MUSIC

Listening to music requires your child to focus their attention and notice.

Don’t worry if your child’s attention span is not great to begin with – it will gradually improve with regular listening sessions. Select a variety of music for your child to sample. Resist the urge to stick to well-known favourites (yours or theirs).

Look for music from cultures other than your own. This gives your child a rich experience of the sounds the world has to offer and help them notice lyrics and details in the music.

Encourage your child to listen to and notice the sounds of nature too. Waves crashing on the beach, birds singing in the trees, crickets chirping or wind in the trees…

STOPPING, NOTICING AND SENSING

Regardless or what activities your child and your family engage in, there are endless opportunities to stop, and notice what is happening around and within.

By developing this habit for yourself, and demonstrating that to your child, you help them to learn how to take a moment and place attention on the experience at hand.

How sophisticated that noticing is, will develop over time as your child

matures and their view of the world expands.

It can be as simple as noticing the sounds around you during a walk. It can also be taken to the next level by then going inside to sense and notice what effect your external experiences have on your internal state.

The benefits of mindfulness are available to everyone and the more you and your family develop these skills the easier and more natural it becomes.

LOOKING AFTER PETS OR PLANTS

In addition to helping children develop a sense of responsibility, looking after the needs of plants or animals is a wonderful way to help your child develop compassion. They can start to notice the needs of other beings and living things.

Teach your child to care for a plant. You can help them to notice things that give signs as to whether the plant is in need of anything, like more sun or water.

If teaching your child to care for an animal, you can help them to notice non-verbal communication cues. This helps them see what the internal experience of the pet might be in that moment.

This noticing is a critical skill for developing compassion and care for other beings, both people and animals.

We hope this article will help you develop regular family mindfulness activities