As the first half-term of the year approaches, parents often find themselves facing the delightful challenge of keeping their children entertained. This break from school presents a perfect opportunity to engage in activities that go beyond entertainment, instead focusing on fostering mindfulness and supporting their emotional well-being. Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment and has been shown to have a number of benefits for mental health and emotional resilience. By incorporating mindfulness into their half-term routines, parents can provide their children with invaluable tools for managing stress and regulating emotions. Let’s jump right in, and discover 5 mindful activities you could explore this February.
1. Mindful Colouring
Mindful colouring offers children a therapeutic outlet to express themselves creatively, whilst cultivating focus and relaxation. You can either go to the shops and get them to choose a colouring book, or you can look online and print off designs for them to colour in. As they fill in the different patterns and choose which colour to fill them with, they will immerse themselves in the present moment, which should help to distract them from any worries they may have. This simple activity fosters concentration, fine motor skills and emotional regulation in a fun and accessible way.
2. Gratitude Journaling
During their time off school, you could encourage your child to keep a gratitude journal. As they reflect on each day’s highlights, big or small, they are learning to develop a positive outlook and appreciation for their day. This simple act of gratitude fosters resilience, empathy, and self-awareness, empowering children to navigate through different challenges. This activity will only take between 5-10 minutes, and can be carried on into their everyday evening routine.
3. My Little Morphée
If your little ones have had an exciting day, they can become overtired and find it hard to settle during the day or before bed. My Little Morphée is a screen-free device that contains 192 meditative journeys for your munchkins to listen to, as well as soothing nature and white noise sounds. It’s a simple 2-key device, the first key will allow them to choose a session and with the second they will choose a world to escape to. The simple system will allow your little one to self-soothe themselves whilst they listen to the sessions that last between 8 and 16 minutes.
My Little Morphée is recommended for children up to 8-years old, so if they are that bit older they could explore our original Morphée. Morphée is our sleep and meditation device that contains over 200 meditation sessions as well as nature sounds and a white noise sound. Morphée’s meditation sessions are slightly longer than My Little Morphée as they last between 8-20 minutes. The sessions are also more advanced, and contain sessions such as body scans, breathing exercise, movement routines and more.
We know the best way to see if Morphée would be a great fit for you and your family would be to test it out. That’s why you will have 100 nights to try it out once you have received it.
4. Children's Yoga
Children’s yoga offers a holistic approach to fitness and mental well-being. Through gentle stretches and playful poses, children will develop strength, flexibility and body awareness. There are hundreds of children’s yoga tutorials on YouTube for them to follow, and you can join in too. Yoga will help them to learn new breathing techniques and relaxation exercises to help calm their mind and reduce stress. Yoga also fosters concentration, self-confidence and emotional regulation. By adding yoga into their routine, it will help to cultivate healthy habits that support both their physical and emotional health.
5. Mindful Walking
If the weather permits, heading outside to get some fresh air can help to break up the day. Instead of your usual walk to the park or around the estate, why not practise mindful walking this time round? Whilst you are on your walk, ask your child to focus on their senses. What do they see? What do they hear? What can they smell? This mindful activity will again help them to stay focused on the present moment, instil a sense of calm and help them to appreciate nature and their surroundings.
The team hopes you have a lovely half-term break and fingers crossed that the weather stays dry so you can head out on a few outdoor adventures.
