Kids are dealing with so many health issues and pressures these days! It may be hard for them to name their feelings and this can result in meltdowns or growing emotional problems. Mindfulness meditation is a doorway to these feelings that they can experience in their bodies. But kids meditation makes the biggest difference if it’s done consistently and modeled by the adults in their lives.
My son and I created this kids meditation not just for children, but for the whole family. Together, you can train up your mindfulness skills, develop emotional intelligence, promote anger management, and learn to treat each other (and yourselves!) with more kindness. These mindfulness techniques bring balanced awareness to the body, heart, and mind. They form a framework that can help your children grow into compassionate beings who approach life with gratitude, hope, and bold enthusiasm!
You can watch the video below, or just read through the instructions and try it on your own. It would be really helpful for your family to talk afterwards, or to have some time for personal journaling.
If you want even more help dealing with emotional stress, check out this guide which you can incorporate into your mindfulness practice. Enjoy!
Meditation Video for Kids and Families
How to Meditate with Your Kids
Take a minute to get a small object that is precious to you. It could be a beautiful rock, crystal, button, or even a small toy. Don’t worry if you can’t find anything right now, you can just use your hands instead.
You can sit up with your legs crossed or lay down in a comfortable spot on the floor. Let’s place your special object over your belly button.
Meditation for Kids Instructions
Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
Feel the precious item on your belly rise and fall as you breathe or feel your belly moving into your hand.
It rises up as you breathe in and it gently falls when you breathe out.
Let your breath be smooth and slow so it feels easy and it feels good.
Mindfulness of the Body
Now we’re going to use your imagination to make your mind more full and aware.
See your precious item shining with a bright white light, like a little star. If you’re using your hand, imagine that a ball of white light comes out of your hand. This ball of light sinks down into your belly and shines in every direction.
It goes down into each leg: your right leg, your left leg, and each toe. It goes up into your chest and head and out through each arm and every finger.
See your whole body shining with this white light from inside, as bright and as powerful as our sun. Can you feel the power of your body? Does it feel warm or cool? Do you feel heavy or do you feel like you’re floating like a balloon?
Mindfulness of Emotions
Keep your body shining bright and now we’re going to place your precious item or your hand on the center of your chest where your heart is.
How are you feeling in your heart right now? Are you feeling love, happiness, anger, fear, boredom, or excited?
Whatever you’re feeling is absolutely normal! We all have these feelings. But sometimes they can get a little too big. Sometimes our anger may make us hurt ourselves or others with our words or with our bodies. Sometimes when we get too excited we may knock things over.
Let’s shine this bright light on our feelings right now so you know what you’re feeling and you can control what your body does when you feel this way. Sometimes when we shine this light on our feelings, they change into something else!
As you take some more deep breaths, maybe your light shines even brighter.
Now we’re going to take off our precious item, put it to the side, and stretch your arms up overhead. If you’re laying down you can slowly roll over and come back up to sit.
You can keep this light burning bright is side you for as long as you remember to do so, letting it relax you and comfort you from the inside like it’s giving you a big hug and a warm smile.
And take a moment to actually give yourself a big hug.
And if you’re doing this with your family, you can give them a big hug too.
Remember that you can do this mindfulness meditation anytime! I hope it keeps your heart open and loving.
