Children's Mindfulness In Schools
Children experience stress just like adults do – if not more so – and teaching them how to embrace mindfulness can go a long way to helping them live a happier and more peaceful life.
Long lasting and intense stress has been linked to a smaller memory centre in children’s brains. These differences in the brain also extend to cognitive ability, with children who live stressful lives performing less well on spatial memory tests.
Most parents and teachers would probably agree that stress in children is not good and finding ways to help them counter-act it can be life-changing.
Mindfulness and meditation helps children to counteract the effects of stress, with simple ways it can be brought into the child’s daily routine.
Happy In The Moment mindfulness courses aim to help children to benefit from practising mindfulness, providing techniques which will help them to handle negative emotions and give them tools that they can use throughout their lives
Following a course in mindfulness, children show an improvement in attention, calmness, social compliance and even caring towards others. Research has also shown that mindfulness training for children has the ability to increase attention and social-emotional awareness as well.
The benefits of mindfulness for young people:
- Students are better able to stay more focused
- Better able to pay more attention in class
- Students experience more awareness of their body, thoughts and emotions
- Students experience less test anxiety
- Classroom management improves because mindfulness improves impulse control and interpersonal skills
- Executive function increases, a key predictor of academic success
Mindfulness training leads to structural changes in the brain that develop and enhance the qualities of:
- Kindness
- Patience
- Compassion
- Attunement to others
- Increases executive function
- Better impulse control
- Longer attention span
- Mindfulness has shown effective in treating depression, anxiety, illness and stress
I provide private individual sessions, small group and large group mindfulness and meditation sessions for young people, in schools, in clubs and organisations. This training is not only beneficial for the young people but for parents, carers and teachers who would like the opportunity to create a mindfulness practice for their children.
I teach young people the important concepts and definitions of mindfulness (e.g., awareness, gratitude, self-compassion, empathy) and lead them through guided meditations designed for children which really appeal to their imaginations. These are designed to be fun and interactive and suitable for all ages and abilities.
(I am a qualified mindfulness therapist and teaching assistant. I am a Youth Mental Health First Aider, DBS checked and fully insured.)
Young Peoples Packages
We provide a range of different packages. However, we can work with you to develop a course that fits your needs and budget if none of these are the right fit for you. Our trainings are always bespoke.
All childrens courses are delivered in your school, centre or in your organisation.
All resources and craft materials are provided. Price may vary slightly depending on numbers of students in the groups.
All activities will be differentiated for different age groups.
Option 1 - Simply mindfulness & meditation
- Regular guided one hour mindfulness and meditation sessions for groups of children
- At intervals to suit your requirements
- Themed sessions for stress, sleep, focus, confidence and more
Option 2 - Half day Mindfulness & Meditation Workshop
A three hour workshop for groups of students
- Mindfulness and Your Super Brain
- Mindful arts - exploring thoughts, emotions and feelings
- Group Meditation and reflection
Option 3 - 6 week Mindfulness & Meditation Course
A full 6 sessions of 75 minutes per session for groups of students
- Mindfulness and your super brain
- The Stress Bucket
- Mindful arts - exploring thoughts, emotions and feelings
- Gratitude and Appreciation
- Mindful Movement
- Mindful postivity and affirmations
The Mindfulness course has been very enjoyable and informative. I am now much more confident moving forwards, that I can continue with a mindfulness approach in helping the children and others.
Staff Member
Leverington Primary School
Brilliant course! Easy and interesting to listen to. We were given different ways to meditate and it's good for me to relieve stress. I will definitely try to incorporate this into my personal life and in the nursery. Great techniques provided that brought things into perspective. Thank you! I cant wait to implement this at work and with the children.
Staff Member
Wisbech Day Nursery