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summer 2020: here are 100 things to do with or without kids - cnn

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Summer is not completely canceled. Here are 100 things we can do with or without kids

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No matter how many limits the pandemic puts on our lives, there are still at least 100 fun things to do this summer to bring joy, do good, inspire and connect us to others as we navigate this new normal.

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Fridays 1-3pm

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Curated for Educators and Families

Support Social-Emotional Well-Being

When children practice social-emotional skills throughout their day, they learn to understand emotions and cope with everyday challenges. Use and share these research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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SEL Activities and Resources | Second Step

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Use and share these research-based SEL activities and resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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Watch the entire CNN/Sesame Street coronavirus town hall | CNN

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CNN's Erica Hill and Dr. Sanjay Gupta partner with Sesame Street to explain the ABC's of coronavirus in a town hall for parents and kids.

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12 Tools & family home activities will provide students and their families a warm presence of heart and mind, guidance and relief during these difficult and traumatic times.

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Building Resilience, Self-Mastery, and Empathy for Self & Others, Creating a world of kind, connected human beings.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Parenting During Coronavirus: You Are Enough | Parenting Tips & Advice

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I’ve never parented during a pandemic before. The best thing we can do right now is remind ourselves that for our kids, we are enough.

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Helping little ones understand their own feelings and the emotions of others takes time and consistency. Effort spent in this area helps children learn tactics to control their own behaviours which is a great help to their social development. I have listed here over 10 activities and 10 You Tube songs you might like to use with your kiddos. If you'd like to recommend others to add to the list please put the link in the comments.

10 + activities for exploring emotions

Make a mood bear from Skizzenblog

Make a stress ball from Gift of Curiosity

Make paper plate face masks from The Pinterested Parent or Balloon Faces from Early Learning

Make plastic egg faces from Laughing Kids Learn

Make a mood meter sign from Education.com

Make a face book from Ikat Bag or a board book from Love, Play and Learn

Make a craft and sing a song from Let's Play Music

Make some card games from No Time for Flash Cards and B-Inspired Mama

Make a fun animal feelings dice game from Sweeter than Sweet

Sing a song and engage in discussions about feelings from Liz's Early Learning Spot

Print off some free emotional robot flash cards from Mr Printables

If you would like to see a review of the Color Feelings books series pop over to Barbara's blog: Grade ONEderful.

23 Free Calming Strategy Cards for kids to use when learning to manage their anger from Liz's Early Learning Spot.

10 You Tube Songs

The following video uses American Sign Language.

The following video is set up like talking flashcards which makes it good for English learners.

The following video is easy for kids to sing along with.

The following video is great for kids to sing and act along with.

I hope you are able to use some of these excellent activities and songs with your own little ones and wish you happy teaching and learning.

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10 Activities and You Tube Songs to Explore Emotions - Liz's Early Learning Spot

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Helping little ones understand their own feelings and the emotions of others takes time and consistency. Effort spent in this area helps children learn tactics to control their own behaviours which is a great help to their social development. I have listed here over 10 activities and 10 You Tube songs you might like to use with your kiddos.

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Author and Illustrator Mo Willems has been awarded the American Library Association’s Caldecott Honor three times for his picture book illustration. Additionally, he is the recipient of two Theodor Geisel Medals and five Geisel Honors for his Elephant & Piggie early readers. Mo began his career as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards. His work has been exhibited around the world, including solo retrospectives at the High Museum in Atlanta and the New-York Historical Society. Over the last decade, Mo has written three musical theater works based on his books, two of which were commissioned and toured by the Kennedy Center.

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homeschooling: when 'regular school' parents must homeschool their kids - cnn

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How 'regular school' parents can homeschool their kids

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School closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak mean millions of parents and guardians who have grown accustomed to sending their children to traditional school are trying to homeschool.

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Stres Relief Playbook for Parents/Children

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Stres Relief Playbook for Parents/Children

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Hayward Area Resource Grid Covid 4.17.20.pdf

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Free Food 3 Times a Week in Hayward

FOOD GIVEAWAY Every Tuesday. Wednesday & Thursday Hope 4 Heart the BRING YOUR OWN BAGS Produce, dairy, meat, eggs, bread, etc 12:30 PM Hope 4 the Heart 22035 Meekland Ave, Hayward REGALO de comida gratis cuando: todos los martes, mieÌrcoles y jueves12:30 AM Donde: HOPE 4 el corazoÌn 22035 MEEKLAND AVE en HAYWARD por favor traiga bolsas de comestibles å...è²"é£Ÿç‰©è´ˆå" ä"€éº¼æ™‚å€™ï¼š æ¯é€±äºŒï¼Œé€±ä¸‰å'Œå'¨å››@ 12:30 AM å"ªè£¡ï¼š å¸Œæœ›4çš„å¿ƒ 22035 MEEKLAND AVEåœ¨æµ·æ²ƒå¾· è"‹å¸¶ä¸Šé›œè²¨è¢‹ MiÇŽnfÃ¨i shÃwÃ¹ zÃ¨ngpÇn shÃ©nme shÃhÃ²u: MÄ›i zhÅu Ã¨r, zhÅu sÄn hÃ© zhÅu sÃ¬@12:30 AM nÇŽlÇ: XÄ"wÃ ng 4 de xÄ"n 22035 MEEKLAND AVE zÃ i hÇŽi wÃ² dÃ© qÇng dÃ i shÃ ng zÃ¡huÃ² dÃ i

Flyer ID 971777

Sent from Palomares Elementary

© 2019 Peachjar. All rights reserved.

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FOOD GIVEAWAY Every Tuesday. Wednesday & Thursday Hope 4 Heart the BRING YOUR OWN BAGS Produce, dairy, meat, eggs, bread, etc 12:30 PM Hope 4 the Heart 22035 Meekland Ave, Hayward REGALO de comida gratis cuando: todos los martes, mieÌrcoles y jueves12:30 AM Donde: HOPE 4 el corazoÌn 2

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkQhhHbzFF4e1pUXghT032_gQn9bXjfj/view?usp=sharing

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wTfXruufPlGLyvAd86A6UtmcXAZmt21x/view?usp=sharing

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Understanding the discomfort we are feeling is grief.

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Executive Summary

During the global pandemic, a palpable sense of collective grief has emerged. Grief expert David Kessler says that grief is actually multiple feelings that we must manage. In an interview with HBR, he explains how the classic five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, acceptance) apply today, and the practical steps we can take to manage the anxiety. Those include balancing bad thoughts with good; focusing on the present; letting go of things you can't control; and stocking up on compassion. Kessler also talks about a sixth stage of grief: meaning. After acceptance, he says, we will find meaning in the hard-to-fathom events and we will be stronger for it.

HBR Staff/d3sign/Getty Images

We've made our coronavirus coverage free for all readers.

Some of the HBR edit staff met virtually the other day - a screen full of faces in a scene becoming more common everywhere. We talked about the content we're commissioning in this harrowing time of a pandemic and how we can help people. But we also talked about how we were feeling. One colleague mentioned that what she felt was grief. Heads nodded in all the panes.

If we can name it, perhaps we can manage it. We turned to David Kessler for ideas on how to do that. Kessler is the world's foremost expert on grief. He co-wrote with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Loss. His new book adds another stage to the process, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. Kessler also has worked for a decade in a three-hospital system in Los Angeles. He served on their biohazard's team. His volunteer work includes being an LAPD Specialist Reserve for traumatic events as well as having served on the Red Cross's disaster services team. He is the founder of www.grief.com which has over 5 million visits yearly from 167 countries.

Kessler shared his thoughts on why it's important to acknowledge the grief you may be feeling, how to manage it, and how he believes we will find meaning in it. The conversation is lightly edited for clarity.
HBR: People are feeling any number of things right now. Is it right to call some of what they're feeling grief?
Kessler: Yes, and we're feeling a number of different griefs. We feel the world has changed, and it has. We know this is temporary, but it doesn't feel that way, and we realize things will be different. Just as going to the airport is forever different from how it was before 9/11, things will change and this is the point at which they changed. The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we're grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.
You said we're feeling more than one kind of grief?
Yes, we're also feeling anticipatory grief. Anticipatory grief is that feeling we get about what the future holds when we're uncertain. Usually it centers on death. We feel it when someone gets a dire diagnosis or when we have the normal thought that we'll lose a parent someday. Anticipatory grief is also more broadly imagined futures. There is a storm coming. There's something bad out there. With a virus, this kind of grief is so confusing for people. Our primitive mind knows something bad is happening, but you can't see it. This breaks our sense of safety. We're feeling that loss of safety. I don't think we've collectively lost our sense of general safety like this. Individually or as smaller groups, people have felt this. But all together, this is new. We are grieving on a micro and a macro level.
What can individuals do to manage this all this grief?
Understanding the stages of grief is a start. But whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren't linear and may not happen in this order. It's not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There's denial, which we say a lot of early on: This virus won't affect us. There's anger: You're making me stay home and taking away my activities. There's bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There's sadness: I don't know when this will end. And finally there's Acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed.

Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance. I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually.
When we're feeling grief there's that physical pain. And the racing mind. Are there techniques to deal with that to make it less intense?
Let's go back to anticipatory grief. Unhealthy anticipatory grief is really anxiety, and that's the feeling you're talking about. Our mind begins to show us images. My parents getting sick. We see the worst scenarios. That's our minds being protective. Our goal is not to ignore those images or to try to make them go away-you mind won't let you do that and it can be painful to try and force it. The goal is to find balance in the things you're thinking. If you feel the worst image taking shape, make yourself think of the best image. We all get a little sick and the world continues. Not everyone I love dies. Maybe no one does because we're all taking the right steps. Neither scenario should be ignored but neither should dominate either.

Anticipatory grief is the mind going to the future and imagining the worst. To calm yourself, you want to come into the present. This will be familiar advice to anyone who has meditated or practiced mindfulness but people are always surprised at how prosaic this can be. You can name five things in the room. There's a computer, a chair, a picture of the dog, an old rug and a coffee mug. It's that simple. Breathe. Realize that in the present moment, nothing you've anticipated has happened. In this moment, you're okay. You have food. You are not sick. Use your senses and think about what they feel. The desk is hard. The blanket is soft. I can feel the breath coming into my nose. This really will work to dampen some of that pain.

You can also think about how to let go of what you can't control. What your neighbor is doing is out of your control. What is in your control is staying six feet away from them and washing your hands. Focus on that.

Finally, it's a good time to stock up on compassion. Everyone will have different levels of fear and grief and it manifests in different ways. A coworker got very snippy with me the other day and I thought, That's not like this person; that's how they're dealing with this. I'm seeing their fear and anxiety. So be patient. Think about who someone usually is and not who they seem to be in this moment.
One particularly troubling aspect of this pandemic is the open-endedness of it.
This is a temporary state. It helps to say it. I worked for 10 years in the hospital system. I've been trained for situations like this. I've also studied the Spanish Flu. The precautions we're taking are the right ones. History tells us that. This is survivable. We will survive. This is a time to overprotect but not overreact.

And, I believe we will find meaning in it. I've been honored that Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's family has given me permission to add a sixth stage to grief: Meaning. I had talked to Elisabeth quite a bit about what came after acceptance. I did not want to stop at acceptance when I experienced some personal grief. I wanted meaning in those darkest hours. And I do believe we find light in those times. Even now people are realizing they can connect through technology. They are not as remote as they thought. They are realizing their phones have phones and having long conversations. They're appreciating walks. I believe we will continue to find meaning now and when this is over.
What do you say to someone who's read all this and is still feeling overwhelmed with grief?
Keep trying. There is something powerful about naming this as grief. It helps us feel what's inside of us. So many have told me in the past week, "I'm telling my coworkers I'm having a hard time," or "I cried last night." When you name it, you feel it and it moves through you. Emotions need motion. It's important we acknowledge what we go through. One unfortunate byproduct of the self-help movement is we're the first generation to have feelings about our feelings. We tell ourselves things like, I feel sad, but I shouldn't feel that; other people have it worse. We can - we should - stop at the first feeling. I feel sad. Let me go for five minutes to feel sad. Your work is to feel your sadness and fear and anger whether or not someone else is feeling something. Fighting it doesn't help because your body is producing the feeling. If we allow the feelings to happen, they'll happen in an orderly way, and it empowers us. Then we're not victims.
In an orderly way?
Yes. Sometimes we try not to feel what we're feeling because we have this image of a "gang of feelings." If I feel sad and let that in, it'll never go away. The gang of bad feelings will overrun me. The truth is a feeling moves through us. We feel it and it goes and then we go to the next feeling. There's no gang out to get us. It's absurd to think we shouldn't feel grief right now. Let yourself feel the grief and keep going.

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Executive Summary During the global pandemic, a palpable sense of collective grief has emerged. Grief expert David Kessler says that grief is actually multiple feelings that we must manage. In an interview with HBR, he explains how the classic five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, acceptance) apply today, and the practical steps we can take to manage the anxiety.

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Handling Your Kids' Disappointment When Everything is Canceled

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Handling Your Kids' Disappointment When Everything is Canceled

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School and events are shutting down, impacting children in unexpected ways. Here's how to deal with the letdown.

Credit... Lilli Carré

As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, we're working to answer the questions on many parents' minds. This is a fast-moving situation, so some information may be outdated. For the latest updates, read The New York Times's live coronavirus coverage here.

When I told my 10-year-old daughter that her elementary school would be shutting down for two weeks, she didn't seem to mind. But after Lexi had time to process the news and realized a friend's birthday party, a dance competition and the "Jump Rope for Heart" fund-raiser at school were also looped into the cancellation list, I was met with tears and a string of questions, both of which caught me off-guard.

With the new coronavirus leading to school closures and event cancellations across the country, parents are getting mixed reactions from their kids that range from joy over extra time off to confusion and sadness over missing a highly anticipated event - and even fear of the unknown.
[10 questions parents may have about coronavirus.]
Whether they're forced to skip a musical performance, a tryout for a spring sport, a visit to their grandparents or a family vacation, simply telling children that disappointment is a part of life doesn't cut it. In fact, breaking this news may also spark anxiety in parents.

So how can parents help kids process their disappointment? I asked a few experts for their advice.

First, check your own emotions.

"Fear can be contagious, so above all, parents need to monitor and manage their own worry, especially in front of their children," said Robin F. Goodman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and art therapist in New York City. "The good news is this also means that calm is contagious."

Regardless of a child's age, honesty is the best approach, but Gayle Cicero, Ed.D., a clinical assistant professor at the Loyola University Maryland School of Education, advised not using phrases that kids simply don't have the capacity to understand. "Terms like 'the right thing to do' or 'think about the elderly' or 'for the greater good' are hard to grasp when, developmentally, kids are in a stage when their worldview centers around them, their family, and perhaps their neighborhood and friends," Dr. Cicero said.
[How to talk to kids about coronavirus.]
When breaking the news of cancellations, parents should focus on validating their children's emotions, whether that is disappointment or fear or something in between, said Dr. Neha Chaudhary, M.D., child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

"Kids often gain comfort in knowing that they are not alone," Dr. Chaudhary said. "It may help for parents to say that a lot of kids are feeling the same way and even admit that they are a little worried, too. At the end of the day, the most important thing that parents can do is to send their kid the message that it's OK for them to feel what they are feeling. These are the interactions that help a child feel seen."

Naming your child's emotion (for example, saying, "That must be so disappointing") helps them begin to realize what they are feeling, said Leighanne Scheuermann, an educator based in Dallas. "In the long term, your child is more likely to remember how you respond to their emotions and also will recognize the efforts you made to make the situation better for them," Scheuermann said.

Disappointment can be linked to a feeling of loss of control in children, said Roseann Capanna-Hodge, Ed.D., a psychologist and pediatric mental health specialist psychologist in Connecticut. "When you have to talk about canceled events that kids were looking forward to, think about it as a learning opportunity to manage disappointment," Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. "We often are so worried that our kids will get upset when we should be thinking: 'What can my child learn here? Can they learn about managing stress and feeling upset?'"

When Rachel Engel's 8-year-old daughter, Sydney, found out that her dad, currently mid-tour in South Korea with the Air Force, had to cancel his trip home to Kansas last week, she was confused. The family had been building a chain out of colorful construction paper to count down the days until his visit, and Sydney threw the remaining links into the trash after hearing her dad wouldn't be coming home. Engel noted after they talked through her daughter's disappointment, Sydney felt better and went to her dance class later that day.

It helps just to be a listening ear so your child can freely vent her frustration. Of course, as parents, there is an urge to swoop in and wipe out disappointment. But, Dr. Cicero said, parents can actually get in the way of a child's development when they do this. "Plus, there's something so therapeutic about a person willing to hear you out and just be with you," she added.

When a child's emotions are really starting to disrupt his usual disposition or he seems stuck in a funk, it's probably time for some direction from you.

A fun technique to distract younger kids, said Alexandra Friedmann Finkel, L.C.S.W., a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in New York, is a color game. Have your child choose a color and look around the room to point out everything he can see in that color. "This can help a child break the worry spiral and calm the body and mind," Finkel said.

Once your child is in a good place emotionally, don't make any promises about rescheduling events or making up for lost time, Dr. Goodman said. Instead, she advised focusing on what you can do now for enjoyment or to support your community.

For example, rather than the planned movie party with friends that Suzanne Cope's son, Rocco, of New York, was looking forward to, they improvised and celebrated his seventh birthday at a park by flying kites and riding bikes with one other family.

[Schools are closing for coronavirus. Now what?]
If your child is upset about missing the chance to star in a play, ask if she wants to put on a play with stuffed animals, Scheuermann suggested. Can you FaceTime Grandma for her birthday or support a local business by having a cake sent to her? If a vacation has been canceled, have the kids create a poster board of activities they wanted to do on that trip. Essentially, find a way to modify the missed activity so it can be creatively executed at home.

In tackling school closures, a routine is crucial, whether the teachers sent home a lesson plan or not. "Just by putting a routine in place can help alleviate stress for children and their parents," Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. "Create a homeschooling schedule and go over it every morning with your children and teens. Make sure to have consistency in your day-to-day and incorporate breaks, exercise and snack time." Keep a physical copy of the schedule your child can look at, too.

Since research shows that those with a positive outlook can manage stress better and actually live longer, this is a time to help foster resilience in children, Dr. Capanna-Hodge said. "While some kids have a glass-half-full outlook naturally, others need to develop that over time, and these kinds of disappointments are great opportunities to do that."

Erinne Magee is a Maine-based journalist. Follow her on Twitter.

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Handling Your Kid's Disappointment When Everything Is Canceled

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School and events are shutting down, impacting children in unexpected ways. Here's how to deal with the letdown. As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, we're working to answer the questions on many parents' minds. This is a fast-moving situation, so some information may be outdated.

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Parenting strategies

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Love and Structure Will Carry Us Through

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Love and Structure Will Carry Us Through

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Love and Structure Will Carry Us Through

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On March 23, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia announced that all schools would be canceled there until "at least" the end of the academic year; Kansas made that choice on March 17, and other states like New Jersey have indicated they may do the same.

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SEL at home - Gr 3-5

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Curated for Educators and Families

Support Social-Emotional Well-Being

When children practice social-emotional skills throughout their day, they learn to understand emotions and cope with everyday challenges. Use and share these research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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SEL Activities and Resources | Second Step

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Use and share these research-based SEL activities and resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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Talking to Kids about Coronavirus

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Join CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for the latest news about the coronavirus. He'll make sense of the headlines, speak with the experts and give you all the information you need to stay safe and healthy.

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Practice using I-Statements

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Resilience Guide

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Pick one to try today

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Mindful Schools has created ten free mindfulness classes for kids (as seen on CNN) . Join us online - for mindful activities, mindful movement, read-alouds - and let's have fun exploring mindfulness together.

Free Online: Mindfulness Class for Kids!

Sign up to receive classes and mindfulness resources in your inbox .

Mindful Schools has designed these online mindfulness classes with K-5 students in mind - AND please know that students and adults of all ages are welcome to participate. We are aware that many families are away from school and work, and we hope this is a resource that families can enjoy together.
Sign up above to receive the online classes and mindfulness resources in your inbox! What to Expect:

10 classes with fun and interactive activities for kids such as mindful eating, movement, and more

30 minutes of mindfulness and a restful break from the busyness of daily life

Experienced teachers from the Mindful Schools Training Team

About Mindful Schools

Mindful Schools is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and our everyday work is training educators to bring mindfulness to their K-12 classrooms - we've trained over 50,000 teachers, parents, and school leaders. We created these online kids classes as an immediate resource for families that may be away from school and work during these challenging times.

If you enjoy these classes, please share with friends and explore professional development programs for educators to start bringing mindfulness to your school community. If you'd like to support Mindful Schools and you have the capacity, consider a donation to Mindful Schools Thank you for your support.

Extra Credit!

Students, did you enjoy class today? Send us your notes, photos, and drawings to community@mindfulschools.org, or tag us online:

Educators and parents, tell us how we're doing. Your feedback is important to us so we can continue to create helpful resources for our community. Please email us at community@mindfulschools.org.

FAQs

What age group is this for? While we welcome all age groups including adults, we are designing these classes to be age appropriate for K-5 students. Friends, siblings, parents, and even grandparents are welcome to enjoy the class together!

Can I share this with my community? Yes absolutely - we hope these classes are a helpful resource for everyone in your school community.

How do I watch the classes? All classes are posted on this page, see below. Sign up to receive an email when we create new online resources.

What Is Mindfulness?

At Mindful Schools, we define mindfulness as being present in the moment here and now, paying attention to our thoughts, bodily sensations, and external environment with kindness, nonjudgment, and curiosity. Mindfulness can provide immediate tools to meet challenges with more openness, care, and compassion, as well as strategies that promote everyday self-care and well-being.

It has a variety of research-backed impacts, including reduction in stress, and improvements in emotional regulation, and focus. Learn how the benefits of mindfulness can be transformative in education.

Watch the Mindful Schools Kids Classes:
#1 to #10!

About Mindful Schools
Mindful Schools is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and our everyday work is training educators to bring mindfulness to their K-12 classrooms - we've trained over 50,000 teachers, parents, and school leaders. We created these online kids classes as an immediate resource for families that may be away from school and work during these challenging times.
If you enjoy these classes, please share with friends and explore our programs to find out how you can bring mindfulness to your school community. If you'd like to support Mindful Schools and you have the capacity, consider a donation to Mindful Schools. Thank you for your support.

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Free: Online Mindfulness Class for Kids!

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Mindful Schools has created ten free mindfulness classes for kids (as seen on CNN). Join us online - for mindful activities, mindful movement, read-alouds - and let's have fun exploring mindfulness together. Free Online: Mindfulness Class for Kids! Sign up to receive classes and mindfulness resources in your inbox.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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#COVIBOOK Supporting and reassuring children around the world

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#COVIBOOK Supporting and reassuring children around the world

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(also comes in different languages)

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Esplicacion de el virus COVID para ninos

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Esplicacion de el virus COVID para ninos

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Explore guided exercises, videos, and more to help you get healthier and happier.

Just 10 days of Headspace can increase happiness by 16%.

Connect with friends and over 60 million people benefiting from mindfulness.

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Meditation and Sleep Made Simple - Headspace

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Explore guided exercises, videos, and more to help you get healthier and happier. Just 10 days of Headspace can increase happiness by 16%. Connect with friends and over 60 million people benefiting from mindfulness.

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Color or draw to calm your mind and body

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Simple mandalas coloring pages | Free Coloring Pages

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Simple mandalas Coloring pages. Select from 36426 printable Coloring pages of cartoons, animals, nature, Bible and many more.

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Create your own cards

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Yoga for Kids

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"kids yoga" "yoga for kids" "yoga for children yoga story for kids" "children's yoga" "yoga adventure for kids" "kindergarten yoga" "preschool yoga" "kids me...

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YOGA | MINDFULNESS | RELAXATION FOR KIDS! Screentime that gives kids SUPERPOWERS! ⬇️ D O W N L O A D T H E C O S M I C K I D S A P P ⬇️ 🍏Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cosmic-kids/ 🛍️Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cosmickids 🖥️ Desktop (great for teachers!): https://app.cosmickids.com/ 📺 Roku: https://rb.gy/44r8d -------------------------------------------------------------------- Why watch on the App?

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Indoor Recess, mindfulness etc.

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Get Your Kids Moving & Practicing Mindfulness with GoNoodle®. Start Watching Now & Get Access to Hundreds of Videos! Active Learning. Healthy Kids. Active Kids. Boost Learning.

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Make a cube

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Updated on March 16 at 1:56 p.m. ET. This comic has been updated. Click here for the newest version.
Kids, this comic is for you.

It's based on a radio story that NPR education reporter Cory Turner did. He asked some experts what kids might want to know about the new coronavirus discovered in China.

To make this comic, we've used his interviews with Tara Powell at the University of Illinois School of Social Work, Joy Osofsky at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Print and fold a zine version of this comic here. Here are directions on how to fold it. To read this comic in Chinese, click here.To read it in Spanish, click here.

Malaka Gharib is an NPR editor and the author and illustrator of I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir, about being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American.

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Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus

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You may have heard the word "coronavirus" online or on TV. You probably have a lot of questions. Check out our comic to get some answers - and print out a zine version at home.

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Trace the lazy 8 as you breathe in and out

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Author and Illustrator Mo Willems has been awarded the American Library Association’s Caldecott Honor three times for his picture book illustration. Additionally, he is the recipient of two Theodor Geisel Medals and five Geisel Honors for his Elephant & Piggie early readers. Mo began his career as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards. His work has been exhibited around the world, including solo retrospectives at the High Museum in Atlanta and the New-York Historical Society. Over the last decade, Mo has written three musical theater works based on his books, two of which were commissioned and toured by the Kennedy Center.

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DIY Kindness Rocks, Kindness Rock Painting Ideas || Crayola CIY

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Calm down jars are a must-have when there are children around, so I'm sharing six ways or recipes on how to make a calm down jar or glitter jar or some call it a mindfulness jar. I want to give you six recipes here so that you can choose which one works best for you, or you can try them all.

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Watch the live cams of animals at the zoo

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Uncertainty about coronavirus spreads anxiety through social contagion. Here's a way to minimize that.

Stocking up on large amounts of toilet paper when you see others doing so is an example of social contagion. Credit... NurPhoto, via Getty Images

By

Anxiety is a strange beast.

As a psychiatrist, I have learned that anxiety and its close cousin, panic, are both born from fear. As a behavioral neuroscientist, I know that fear's main evolutionary function is helping us survive. In fact, fear is the oldest survival mechanism we have. Fear helps us learn to avoid dangerous situations in the future through a process called negative reinforcement.

For example, if we step out into a busy street, turn our head and see a car coming right at us, we instinctively jump back onto the safety of the sidewalk. Evolution made this really simple for us. So simple that we need only three elements in situations like this to learn: an environmental cue, a behavior and a result. In this case, walking up to a busy street cues us to look both ways before crossing. The result of not getting killed helps us remember to repeat the action again in the future.

Sometime in the last million years, humans evolved a new layer on top of our more primitive survival brain, called the prefrontal cortex. Involved in creativity and planning, the prefrontal cortex helps us think and plan for the future. It predicts what will happen in the future based on past experience. If information is lacking, our prefrontal cortex lays out different scenarios about what might happen, and guesses which will be most likely. It does this by running simulations based on previous events that are most similar.

Enter anxiety.

Defined as "a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome," anxiety comes up when our prefrontal cortexes don't have enough information to accurately predict the future. We see this right now with coronavirus.

Scientists are racing to study the characteristics of the coronavirus so that we can know precisely how contagious and deadly it is - and act accordingly. Uncertainty abounds.

Without accurate information, it is easy for our brains to spin stories of fear and dread.

In addition to being fueled by uncertainty, anxiety is also contagious. In psychology, the spread of emotion from one person to another is aptly termed social contagion. Our own anxiety can be cued or triggered simply by talking to someone else who is anxious. Their fearful words are like a sneeze landing directly on our brain, emotionally infecting our prefrontal cortex, and sending it out of control as it worries about everything from whether our family members will get sick to how our jobs will be affected.

Wall Street is a great example of social contagion: We watch the stock market spike and crash, the stock indexes being a thermometer for how feverish our collective anxiety is at the moment. Wall Street even has something known as the Fear Index, or VIX, which outstripped the 2008 financial crisis this week.

When we can't control our anxiety, that emotional fever spikes into panic. Panic is defined as "sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior." Overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear of the future, the rational parts of our brains go offline. Logically, we know that we don't need a six-month supply of toilet paper, but when we see someone's cart piled high, their anxiety infects us, and we go into survival mode.

So how do we not panic? Too many times, I've seen my anxious clinic patients try to suppress or think themselves out of anxiety. Unfortunately, both willpower and reasoning rely on the prefrontal cortex, which isn't available at these critical moments. Instead, I start by teaching them how their brains work, so that they can see how uncertainty weakens the brain's ability to deal with stress, priming it for anxiety when fear hits.

But this is only the first step.

To hack our brains and break the anxiety cycle, we need to become aware of two things: that we are getting anxious or panicking and what the result is. This helps us see if our behavior is actually helping us survive, or in fact moving us in the opposite direction - panic can lead to impulsive behaviors that are dangerous; anxiety is both acutely mentally and physically weakening and a slow burn that has more long-term health consequences.

Once we are aware of how unrewarding anxiety is, we can then deliberately bring in the "bigger better offer." Since our brains will choose more rewarding behaviors simply because they feel better, we can practice replacing old habitual behaviors - such as worry - with those that are naturally more rewarding.

For example, if we notice that we have a habit of touching our face, we can be on the lookout for when we act that behavior out. For example:

If we are starting to worry: "Oh no, I touched my face, maybe I'll get sick!",

Instead of panicking, take a deep breath and ask: "When was the last time I cleaned my hands?"

Think. "Oh, right! I just washed my hands."

Just by taking a moment to pause and ask the question, we give our prefrontal cortex a chance to come back online and do what it does best: think.

Here, we can leverage certainty: If we've just washed our hands, and haven't been out in public, the likelihood that we're going to get sick is pretty low.

The more we can see the positive feeling and effects of good hygiene and compare them to the negative feeling of uncertainty or getting caught in anxiety, the more our brains naturally move toward the former, because it feels better.

How do I know this works? My lab has studied these mechanisms for decades. We've recently found that simple awareness training ( delivered through an app) can reduce anxiety by 57 percent ( in a study with anxious physicians) to 63 percent (in a study with people with generalized anxiety disorder) in two to three months.

Understanding these simple learning mechanisms will help all of us "keep calm and carry on" (which is how London dealt with the uncertainty of constant air raids in World War II) instead of getting caught in anxiety or panic in the coming days, and whenever we face uncertainty.

When our prefrontal cortex comes back online, we can compare anxiety to what it feels like to be calm. To our brains, it's a no-brainer. It simply takes a little practice so that the bigger, better offers become new habits.
Judson A. Brewer is an associate professor at Brown University and the author of "The Craving Mind."

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A Brain Hack to Break the Coronavirus Anxiety Cycle

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Uncertainty about coronavirus spreads anxiety through social contagion. Here's a way to minimize that. By Anxiety is a strange beast. As a psychiatrist, I have learned that anxiety and its close cousin, panic, are both born from fear. As a behavioral neuroscientist, I know that fear's main evolutionary function is helping us survive.

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Reminder on ways to calm down. From Second Step

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Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus Crisis - Child Mind Institute

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What parents and other adults can say to kids about the coronavirus COVID-19. How to answer their questions and keep kids feeling safe.

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Problem Solving Steps from Second Step Lessons