Bringing Mindfulness Home

Julia Testori OTD, OTR/L 

Mindfulness is an important practice in the lives of students everywhere, especially Complex Learners! Mindfulness is the practice of being aware and accepting of our present feelings, emotions, thoughts, and sensations. Essentially, mindfulness is all about living in the present and understanding how we feel here and now. It can help students improve their self-management, interoception, and executive functioning skills. Other benefits of mindfulness include a decrease in pervasive thoughts and stress and an increase in academic performance, focus, and attention. 

There are so many simple, calming, and grounding activities that your child’s classroom team implements daily to ensure everyone in the class is practicing mindfulness so they can be ready, present, and actively engaged throughout the school day. These activities are very beneficial at various points in the school day, especially:

• During morning meetings to help our learners be ready for the day ahead 
• After lunch and recess to encourage calmness and the chance to refocus 
• Between transitions to provide a grounding mental break 
• Before in-depth classroom assignments to help students prepare, focus, and be completely present. 

Mindfulness isn’t only beneficial to practice at school, but can also be very helpful at home. Here are some times when mindfulness could be helpful for your child throughout their day: 

• Before they begin their morning routine to help them focus on themselves and how they are feeling heading into the day 
• Before any event that causes stress including social gatherings, appointments, sports practices or tryouts, playdates, etc. to help relieve social anxiety as well as attempt to prevent future stressors 
• Before they begin their homework for the night to help them prepare and focus

You may still be asking, what types of activities can I be using with my child to help them practice mindfulness? Here are a few favorites among our complex learners! 

Counting Heart Beats:

Have your child jump up and down or do jumping jacks for one minute straight. After, have them sit down and place their hand on their heart. Have them think about how fast their heart is beating and how their breathing has changed. 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation:

Start by having your child sit in a comfortable position with their feet flat on the floor. Start by having them squeeze the muscles in their feet. After 10 seconds have them shift to squeezing the muscles in their calves. Progressively move up their body, having them squeeze the muscles in their thighs, stomach, fingers, forearms, chest, shoulders, neck, and face/head. 

Glitter Jar:

Fill a jar with water and glitter. Have your child shake the jar like a snow globe. Have your child watch all the glitter settle to the bottom. While they’re watching, have them be silent, focusing on their breathing and noticing different body sensations. 

Five-Finger Breathing:

Have your child trace their fingers slowly with their pointer finger on their opposite hand. While they are tracing up their finger have them take a deep breath in, and then when they trace back down toward their palm have them breathe out. Pro Tip: Use a plastic jar, glass jars might break and cover your floor in glitter! 

Raisin Exercise:

Have your child hold one raisin (or any small, handheld food item you have available) have your child use their five senses to describe what the raisin smells, feels, sounds, looks, and tastes like. Encourage them to use different words and sounds to describe what they are experiencing.

Try one (or all!) of these exercises at home and see what a difference a bit of mindfulness can make in your day! Want to get notified when there’s a new World of Complex Learners blog post? Subscribe to our blog!