Mindful Games Activity Cards

Playing games is a great way for kids to develop their focusing and attention skills and to become more mindful. This card deck helps parents, caregivers, and teachers cultivate these qualities at home or in a school setting. The games develop what Susan Kaiser Greenland calls the "new A, B, C's" for learning and for a happy and successful life: Attention, Balance, and Compassion. In a playful way, the games introduce kids to breathing practices and techniques for developing focus, concentration, and sensory awareness, and identifying and self-regulating emotions, among other skills. They include "anchor" games that develop concentration; visualization games that encourage kindness and focus; analytical games that cultivate clear thinking; and awareness games that develop all of these qualities and give greater insight into ourselves, others, and relationships. The deck contains 55 5X7 illustrated cards, each devoted to one game or activity, and comes in a sturdy, beautifully designed box.

A practical and playful guide for cultivating mindfulness in kids, with 50 simple games to develop attention and focus, and identify and regulate emotions Playing games is a great way for kids to improve their focus and become more mindful. In this book, The Mindful Child author Susan Kaiser Greenland shares how parents, caregivers, and teachers can bring mindfulness into the classroom or home. She provides 50 entertaining games that develop what she calls the new "A, B, C's"—Attention, Balance, and Compassion—for your child's learning, happiness, and success, offering context and guidance throughout. She introduces: · Anchor games that develop concentration · Visualization games that encourage kindness and focus · Analytical games that cultivate clear thinking · Awareness games for sensory awareness, self-regulating emotions, and gaining insight into ourselves, others, and relationships Even though the games are designed for kids, they can be just as fun and transformative for adults. Greenland encourages parents and caregivers to develop their own Attention, Balance, and Compassion and to explore the universal concepts that she presents. Our own mindfulness has a powerful effect on everyone in our lives—especially our children.

The techniques of mindful awareness have helped millions of adults reduce stress in their lives. Now, children—who are under more pressure than ever before—can learn to protect themselves with these well-established methods adapted for their ages. Based on a program affiliated with UCLA, The Mindful Child is a groundbreaking book, the first to show parents how to teach these transformative practices to their children. Mindful awareness works by enabling you to pay closer attention to what is happening within you—your thoughts, feelings, and emotions—so you can better understand what is happening to you. The Mindful Child extends the vast benefits of mindfulness training to children from four to eighteen years old with age-appropriate exercises, songs, games, and fables that Susan Kaiser Greenland has developed over more than a decade of teaching mindful awareness to kids. These fun and friendly techniques build kids’ inner and outer awareness and attention, which positively affects their academic performance as well as their social and emotional skills, such as making friends, being compassionate and kind to others, and playing sports, while also providing tools to manage stress and to overcome specific challenges like insomnia, overeating, ADHD, hyper-perfectionism, anxiety, and chronic pain. When children take a few moments before responding to stressful situations, they allow their own healthy inner compasses to click in and guide them to become more thoughtful, resilient, and empathetic. The step-by-step process of mental training presented in The Mindful Child provides tools from which all children—and all families—will benefit.

"Make any moment mindful from morning to night with 5 categories of cards, designed to fit into each part of the day. Whimsical full-color illustrations on both sides of the cards provide easy-to-follow steps for each practice. The cards and 8-page instructional booklet include tips for children of a wide range of abilities"--Publisher's website

An adorable activity book to help kids (ages 3-7) learn about anger, anxiety, and stress and how to deal with these challenging emotions. Bailey the Bear can get ever-so angry. Katie the Kangaroo often finds it hard to concentrate. And Ricky the Rabbit's mind is always busy! Every child can relate to these experiences of losing emotional control. Follow Bailey, Katie, and Ricky as they learn to understand their feelings and gain the resources to express themselves through mindful play. Bright and cheerful illustrations present a variety of mazes, puzzles, collages, and coloring activities to uncover ways for kids to process their anger, anxiety, and stress. By following the critters' narratives--and playing the fun games sprinkled throughout--your child will learn how they can calm their anger, concentrate, and relax--healthier and happier alternatives to letting big feelings get the best of them. Answer keys for all the puzzles and activities are included at the end of each section of the book.

“I Wonder offers crucial lessons in emotional intelligence, starting with being secure in the face of uncertainty. Annaka Harris has woven a beautiful tapestry of art, storytelling, and profound wisdom. Any young child – and parent – will benefit from sharing this wondrous book together.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence “I Wonder captures the beauty of life and the mystery of our world, sweeping child and adult into a powerful journey of discovery. Magnificent!”—Dr. Daniel Siegel, author of Mindsight and The Whole-Brain Child Eva takes a walk with her mother and encounters a range of mysteries: from gravity, to life cycles, to the vastness of the universe. She learns that it’s okay to say “I don’t know,” and she discovers that there are some things even adults don’t know—mysteries for everyone to wonder about together! I Wonder is a book that celebrates the feelings of awe and curiosity in children, as the foundation for all learning.

You try to be supportive through all the emotional ups and downs, but if you’re too supportive, they feel smothered. You want to give them the freedom necessary to grow, but not so much that they’re left vulnerable—and however you try to do it, you can count on being wrong. Parenting a teenager is a challenge, to be sure, but Eline Snel has some very good news for those facing that challenge: there’s a way to stay mindful, present, and, yes, positive throughout it all by developing a base of mindful awareness as your resource. With her characteristic practical wisdom, Snel provides methods for developing that resource, along with strategies for forging a bond of courage, compassion, and trust with your teenager—and for making space for yourself within the process too. Mindfulness meditation helps us stay calm in tense moments and be less reactive with our children. It allows us to respond to them in ways that are most helpful and that promote dialogue rather than clashing. The practices that Snel teaches, developed in her clinical work and honed in her own experience as a parent, are supplemented with one audio download of guided meditations for parents and another one for teens. They will help you calm down during tense and heated moments and become a more focused and openhearted parent.