Mindfulness for children is an excellent way to confront school anxiety, trauma, or stress, and can help build resilience and emotional intelligence. A nurturing approach in schools can often include a focus on mindfulness and mindful activities to support the social, emotional, and mental health of children and young people.
In this blog post, we’ll break down the importance of mindfulness in schools and give a sneak peak into our recommended mindfulness activities. Already convinced? The full toolkit can be found on our shop.
What is mindfulness?
The NHS describes mindfulness like this:
Mindfulness is about living more in the present moment, appreciating the here and now, and not dwelling too much on the past or future. While we have some control over the present, we cannot go back and change things that have already happened. We also have less control over future events than we might think.
This means we can spend a lot of energy worrying when it could be more beneficial to focus on, and enjoy, what is happening right now. Mindful living means paying attention to the present, appreciating what is happening and enjoying the simple things in life. This can help us to feel calmer, reduce stress or anxiety, sleep better and might help us cope better with difficult situations.
Why children and young people need mindfulness
Historically, mindfulness has primarily been utilised in clinical settings by practitioners aiming to support individuals dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression. However, it has become increasingly clear that mindfulness can serve as a preventative tool for students in non-clinical school environments. Implementing mindfulness in this context presents a practical approach to intervention.
When used regularly and appropriately, mindfulness can enhance pupils’ self-awareness. It also nurtures their capacity to regulate automatic emotional reactions to events and difficulties that they may encounter daily in both the school and social contexts.
Mindfulness and a nurturing approach
Dr Tina Rae states that there have been concerns raised by some teachers and parents that mindfulness training could be perceived as focusing on the perceived deficits in children. This might suggest that young people have problems that need fixing. However, this is not the intended purpose of such interventions, and most practitioners do not view it this way.
Mindfulness training should not be seen simply as a tool in therapy; instead, it should be firmly rooted in the concept of flourishing. It must be part of a whole-school approach to positive psychology that emphasises building on strengths and resilience.
Mindfulness can be an effective intervention in both nurture groups and mainstream classroom settings. Many children and young people who require a nurturing approach often exhibit complex needs along with significant attachment difficulties. Therefore, it is essential to provide them with opportunities to develop the skills necessary for functioning more effectively in both social and learning environments.
What mindfulness for children can achieve
Dr Tina Rae suggests that when presenting such an initiative to school-based staff, it is important to highlight some of the key aims and outcomes. Mindfulness with children and young people will hopefully ensure the following:
- Encourage an ability to balance emotions and lower stress and anger
- Encourage an ability to practice staying calm and focused when learning in the classroom, and therefore further develop their skills in both areas
- Encourage an increase in the level of trust between themselves and the adults who look after them, thus making communication easier overall
- Encourage the ability to develop emotional and cognitive understanding and interpersonal awareness, and skills
- Encourage the skill of paying attention; we often say ‘pay attention’ to children, but we don’t always teach them how to do this
- Encourage the ability to become less reactive and more compassionate to others
These are all laudable aims and outcomes, and ones we would propose for all children within a nurturing context, whether that is within the mainstream school or a nurture group. These are the pupils that we want to be able to achieve the following:
- Better able to focus and concentrate
- Experience increased levels of calm
- Experience decreased levels of stress and anxiety
- Display improved impulse control
- Display increased self-awareness
- Develop natural conflict resolution skills
- Develop more empathy and compassion for others
- Develop and maintain skilful ways to manage difficult emotions
60 Mindful Minutes: How to use the toolkit
There are 60 suggested activities that are presented on individual cards for ease of use. These are relatively straightforward in terms of delivery and organisation and are arranged under three key headings:
Thinking and breathing
Thinking and moving
Thinking and recording
60 Mindful minutes | free taster activity cards
This nurtureuk resource, created by Dr Tina Rae, is designed to support children and young people within both the mainstream classroom context and the nurture group setting for both Primary and Secondary age pupils. The key aim is to introduce and practise mindfulness, which is an approach that increases children and young people’s life skills by supporting them in developing the ability to both soothe and calm themselves; to pay attention to themselves in the world and to think about and reflect on both their actions and their relationships.
To begin with, it is essential to understand that mindfulness is not merely an abstract concept; it is, fundamentally, a practical set of skills. In our hectic daily lives, we often experience significant stress. Mindfulness helps us become more fully aware of and present in the moment we are living in right now.
Delivering the mindful activities
The first section of 60 Mindful Minutes introduces key concepts of mindfulness, including thinking, observing, and regulating thoughts and emotions. The second part features a variety of activities that focus on movement and physical control. Finally, the last section emphasises recording mindful behaviours through both written descriptions, art activities and illustrations. The cards are organised in a deliberate order, beginning with introductory activities and advancing to those that demand a higher skill level towards the end. This structure is flexible, enabling teachers and support staff to modify the sequence to better suit the needs of the group they are working with.
For staff
It would be beneficial for staff to introduce the concept of mindfulness at the beginning by describing to pupils how mindfulness may work for them. Staff can explain that all the pupils will engage in activities that will help them to learn more about themselves and each other. The 60 Mindful Minutes programme will support them in terms of teaching them new skills they can use every day. These are the kinds of skills that will help them for the rest of their lives.
For children
The children and young people will be asked to pay attention to every moment, not to make any judgements about those moments and also to be able to accept themselves for simply being the people that they are. Staff can explain to the children and young people that it is possible to allow themselves to have feelings without allowing those feelings to overcome them.
Mindfulness taught in this programme will help children and young people relax and stay calm during stressful situations. It encourages self-compassion and tolerance, reducing the tendency to compare oneself to others, which can lead to unhappiness. Staff will guide them through games and activities that promote awareness of physical sensations, thoughts, and feelings. They will learn to slow down, focus on their breathing, and accept thoughts without judgment.
Mindfulness and resilience
Resilient pupils can withstand adversity, cope with uncertainty, and recover effectively from traumatic events. Psychologists have long recognised that some children thrive despite growing up in high-risk environments. This ability to handle difficulties and even become stronger as a result is the essence of resilience. It is not a trait that people either possess or lack. Resilience can be learned and taught, and as we develop these skills, we expand the range of strategies we can use when faced with challenges.
Promoting resilience along with a positive sense of self and effective coping skills is essential in both social and learning contexts. Mindfulness approaches can support this objective as part of a whole-school strategy at both individual, nurture group and systems levels. It can serve as one component of such an approach, specifically targeting students who may appear most vulnerable in both learning and social environments.
The 60 Mindful Minutes resource can play a crucial role in developing resilience, which is important for all children and young people, not just those who may have been adversely affected by a lack of nurturing in their early years. Increasing resilience can help protect against depression and other mental health issues, while also fostering self-confidence and promoting achievement.
60 Mindful minutes | free taster activity cards
Get a glimpse into this nurtureuk resource before buying the product.