Mindful Games: Sharing Mindfulness and Meditation with Children, Teens, and Families

A playful approach for cultivating mindfulness in kids, with sixty simple games to develop attention and focus, and identify and regulate emotions--by the author of The Mindful Child.


     Playing games is a great way for kids to develop their focusing and attention skills and to become more mindful. Susan Kaiser Greenland has had a lot of success bringing mindfulness to the classroom, and in this book she shares her experience, showing how parents, caregivers, and teachers can cultivate these qualities at home or in a school setting. She includes fifty mindfulness games that develop what 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 others 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. Greenland contextualizes each game and offers guidance for the parents/caregivers throughout.
    Even though the games are written 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 explore the universal concepts that she presents. She points out that as caregivers, our own mindfulness has a powerful effect on everyone in our lives, especially our children. They notice when we're calmer, more composed, and more joyful, and learn by our example.

• Mindful Games Activity Cards: 55 Fun Ways to Share Mindfulness with Kids and Teens
• The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate
• Mindful Kids: 50 Activities for Calm, Focus and Peace
• Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents)
• Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom (The Norton Series on the Social Neuroscience of Education)
• A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles
• Be Mindful Card Deck for Teens
• Growing Up Mindful: Essential Practices to Help Children, Teens, and Families Find Balance, Calm, and Resilience
• Mindfulness Skills for Kids & Teens: A Workbook for Clinicians & Clients with 154 Tools, Techniques, Activities & Worksheets
• Practicing Mindfulness: 75 Essential Meditations to Reduce Stress, Improve Mental Health, and Find Peace in the Everyday