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Ten Minutes Exercise at 10a.m.

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The official website of RTÉjr & RTÉ Kids Online - Streaming shows, Podcasts and much more fun!

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Family Fitness Activities

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Childrens Activities and Family Fun | Limerick Sports Partnership

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Access resources and ideas on how to #BeActive at home in our Active limerick Hub. Learn more about Childrens Activities and Family Fun in Limerick.

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"relaxing music" "light music" "study music" music "work music" "piano music" "background music" "spa music" "slow music" "healing music" "easy listening music" "relaxing instrumental music" "relaxing piano music" "music for work" "peaceful music" "yoga music" "bar music" "coffee music"

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Hi, I'm Michael. I create calm piano music and relaxing music for your study, focus, creativity, or stress-release music playlist. I love composing, recordin...

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How to Play Hopscotch

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How to Play Hopscotch: Rules & Variations

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A fun hopscotch play-by-play for all ages Hopscotch is arguably the best playground game of all time. It offers lighthearted fun and teaches younger players plenty of valuable developmental lessons like counting, gross motor skills, and…

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Games & Sports for Kids

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Inspired by the desire to get children interested in sport and exercise from an early age Footy Pups focuses on the world's favourite game, football, and aim...

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Creidimid & Newsletters from Limerick Diocesan Office

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Creidimid Newsletter April 2020

Greetings in these last days of Lent. We hope and pray that you are well in these trying days, and we hope that this Creidimid might be a support to you and your school community.
Read more

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Creidimid Newsletter April 2020 Greetings in these last days of Lent. We hope and pray that you are well in these trying days, and we hope that this Creidimid might be a support to you and your school community. Read more

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Keep Active, Keep Fit

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"kids exercise" "kids workout" "workout for kids" "exercise for kids" "fitness for kids" "weight loss for kids" "little sports" "bacchon ki exercise"

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Fun and simple exercises for kids to do at home. I provide the best family-friendly fitness videos that you can do at home - to make sure everybody burns calories everyday! Let's go!

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Dance Moves for Everyone

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Welcome to our official KIDZ BOP YouTube channel! KIDZ BOP is the #1 music brand for kids in the U.S., and our YouTube channel is THE place to watch exclusive KIDZ BOP Kids interviews, behind the scenes footage, videos of our talented KIDZ BOP Kids singing and dancing, and official KIDZ BOP music…

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Three hours of Disney relaxing music

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RELAXING PIANO Disney Piano Collection 3 HOUR LONG (Piano Covered by kno)

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Enjoy relaxing music from Disney

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Relaxing Disney Piano Music ~ Beautiful Music for Studying & Sleeping

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Create Your Own Storybook

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Summary: Do you believe that digital storytelling is important in education? Are you looking for a creative, critical, and powerful way to help your students? Would you be interested in a list of free digital storytelling tools?

Free Digital Storytelling Tools For Teachers And Students
Editor's note: We have originally written and published this article in February 2013. Thanks to your useful suggestions and our own following of the latest developments in the fast paced field of technology, we have updated this piece in November 2015 in the hope that you will keep finding it useful. Thank you for sharing!
Stories are important. At the following list you will find 18 free digital storytelling tools, both websites and apps, which will help you use technology to tell a story while being highly creative and having fun.

11 Free Digital Storytelling Websites

Capzles
All of your media and stories together like never before. Create rich multimedia experiences with videos, photos, music, blogs, and documents.

Comic Master
Comic Master allows you to create your own short graphic novel! With Comic Master you can decide how you want the page or your graphic novel to look, add backgrounds, choose characters and props to appear in your scenes, add dialogue and captions, and much more.

Slidestory
Slidestory allows you to combine picture slideshows with voice narration. Each picture in a slideshow has an accompanying voice narrated mp3 audio file, optional tags, and text caption. Isn't this a very exciting way to make presentations and share them?

ZooBurst
ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D popup books. ZooBurst books "live" online and can be experienced on your desktop or laptop computer, or on your iPad via the free ZooBurst mobile app. Authors can arrange characters and props within a 3D world that can be customized using uploaded artwork or items found in a built-in database of over 10,000 free images and materials. The basic, free, account allows you to create 10 books of 10 pages each.

7 Free Apps For Digital Storytelling

Sock Puppets
Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.

Toontastic
Toontastic is a storytelling and creative learning tool that enables kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons with friends and family around the world through simple and fun imaginative play! With over 2 million cartoons created in over 150 countries, parents and teachers rave about the app and kids can't stop creating!

30hands Starter
A very easy and exciting way to tell a story, explain a concept, or flip a classroom. Create a multimedia presentation in minutes and publish it as a video to share. This tool was designed to be simple and fast, so it takes backseat to learning and expression. In a single class period, students can complete a video activity. Mapping these activities to a longer project helps students make PBL projects authentic and fun. Whether you are in Kindergarten or College, 30hands Storyteller helps you learn better by following UDL principles and getting you to think and create iteratively.

You may also find the following lists of tools useful:

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18 Free Digital Storytelling Tools For Teachers And Students

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Interested in some great Free Digital Storytelling Tools for teachers and students? Check 18 Free Digital Storytelling Tools for teachers and students.

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Enjoy Stories

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Fun with Jigsaws

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Millions of free jigsaw puzzles created by a large community. Create, play, share jigsaw puzzles and compete with other users.

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Colour Disney style

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Disney.com | The official home for all things Disney

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The official website for all things Disney: theme parks, resorts, movies, tv programs, characters, games, videos, music, shopping, and more!

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Colouring pages

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Tools to Bring More Calm and Connection During Chaos

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Tools to Bring More Calm and Connection During Chaos

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Help and advice

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Top Books for SEL

Check out some favorite books to help kids navigate the messy feelings in their lives so they can become more aware, connected, compassionate, kind, inclusive, responsible, and resilient.

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Cultivating Well-being, Resilience, and SEL for Educators and Children - constantloveandlearning.com

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Helping educators nurture well-being, resilience, and social emotional learning within themselves, their students, & their school systems to sustainably increase impact without sacrificing their health, happiness, or wholeness

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Be active

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The Access Sport Flyerz Project has been working with community clubs to create inclusive hockey sessions since 2012. There are now Flyerz Clubs across the UK, from the South Coast to Scotland, welcoming young people of all abilities. During the current restrictions the pitches have had to close, but the sessions have not - TW Flyerz Club launched the first virtual session with long-time supporters and Olympic Champions Kate and Helen Richardson Walsh and guest player Jim White from the Telegraph. THE TELEGRAPH TUNES INTO FLYERZ VIRTUAL HOCKEY

Read the Telegraph article by Jim White Or to learn more about Flyerz Hockey visit the webpage

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Access Sport is a charity working to directly combat shocking levels of exclusion, hardship and poor health faced by millions of children in the UK. We do this by building thriving community sports clubs, in the most disadvantaged areas, which provide life-changing opportunities for local, vulnerable young people

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Get Moving

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Chatter Pack Home Learning Resources List for Schools and Families

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Chatter Pack Home Learning Resources List for Schools and Families

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Home Learning Resources List for Schools and Families

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We wanted to do something positive to ease the burden on schools and families during this undoubtedly worrying time. So, we asked the community to send in links and ideas for free home learning and the response has been phenomenal!

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50 YouTube Channels for Home Learning - Resources for Teachers and Educators

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50 Youtube Channels for Home Learning - Resources for Teachers and Educators

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Before choosing to watch any online video, it’s worth taking some to think about these questions:

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50 Youtube Channels for Home Learning

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Easy, Peasy and Fun - How to Draw Step by Step Drawing for Kids and Beginners

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Easy, Peasy and Fun - How to Draw Step by Step Drawing for Kids and Beginners

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How to Draw

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Who doesn't want to learn how to draw? Grab our step by step drawing for kids, beginners, and everyone else! Our easy tutorials all come with a super handy directed drawing printable and are perfect for all ages.

You will learn to draw all kinds of cute, cartoon like, and even realistic characters, and our collection of lessons is always growing.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Draw - Step by Step Drawing For Kids, Beginners, and Enthusiasts

We'll be learning to draw many fun things together. Each of our tutorials comes with a handy directed drawing printable with all the steps included, as well as room to make your drawing. Perfect for getting artsy on the go or to use in the classroom (you could also bind them in your own personal book to practice).

Magical Creatures

As everyone needs a bit of magic. These are some of the cutest things to draw; they will look like they came straight out of fairy tales.

Flowers

Simple flowers that are super easy to draw.

Animals

To keep things easier, we have divided the animals into a few subsections.

Pets

Some of the animals we commonly regard as pets.

Farm Animals

A collection of animal how to draw tutorials that come to mind when you think about farms.

Bugs

Cartoon like crawlies with a cute look. Bugs are one of the things that are easy to draw no matter your skill level.

Forest Animals

Browse through these easy pictures to draw - just a few steps, and you will be making your own woodland creatures.

Jungle, Safari, Zoo

If you need drawing ideas for beginners, give these jungle animals a go.

Ocean Animals

Ocean animals are one of the most popular drawings for the beginner. Give these a try!

Reptiles and Amphibians

Frogs, lizards, and all beyond and in between.

Objects & Food

Use these objects on their own or as little images to complement your other drawings.

Holidays & Seasons

Tutorials for seasonal characters, animals, and objects.

Halloween

Some drawing ideas for the scariest time of the year!

Christmas

These easy to draw pictures will look great on your kid-made homemade cards.

Fall

Winter

Be sure to be back often, as we are constantly updating our collection with new guided drawing tutorials.

Want instant access to all of our printable crafts, activities, and resources?

With thousands of crafts, activities, worksheets, coloring pages, and drawing tutorials to print, you will always have just the resource you need at your disposal. Perfect for parents and teachers alike!

Sign Up Now and Start Printing!

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How to Draw - Step by Step Drawing For Kids and Beginners

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Who doesn't want to learn how to draw! Grab our step by step drawing for kids, beginners and everyone else! Our easy tutorials all come with a super handy directed drawing printable and are perfect for all ages. You will learn to draw all kind of cute, cartoon like and even realistic characters in no time.

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Use Your Imagination

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Self-care kit

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Not Sure What To Gift The Child In Your Life?

Do you have nieces or nephews or even children of your own that your knee deep in present planning for? Are you a little anxious about hosting a holiday this year that involves children?

Do you have a shy niece that becomes anxious around a large group of people? Or perhaps a good friend seems to always leave the holiday fun early because her middle schooler is too high energy to stay long enough and not break something.

Giving Them a Leg Up in Self Awareness

Although self care is fast becoming an everyday household word, have you spent any thought on children's self care? It's true, that as children watch the adults improve their self care, they undoubtedly pick up on it, but what if we took deliberate action towards helping children develop their own self care skills?

Reach Out to The Children Around You

Last week I shared post on the value of preparing a traveling self care kit for those times you cannot avoid difficult social situations that often, come up in the holidays. Today I'm sharing the value of doing the same for the child or children in your life. Whether you'll be hosting gatherings at your home that involve children, want to gift friends that have children or for your own child, gifting a self care kit that caters to their unique needs is an invaluable gift.

Ever Been in Line With A Crying Child?

Not only does a self care kit help the child, but it also helps everyone else whom that child visits because as you may have experienced at least once in a grocery store on any given day, an unhappy child makes for an unhappy situation for everyone

Cultivating A Sense of Self-Possession

When a child needs something and can independently get it themselves, it gives a sense of dignity, independence and sovereignty. Not to mention that children these days, face challenges my generation would of never have dreamed of, so their needs may very well be different then a generation ago.

Self care kits can help children become aware of their own needs and be proactive in getting them met in whatever environment they are in.

Take A Minute to Create This Thoughtful Gift

Before I begin let me just suggest that if the child your thinking of is not yours, to take the time to reflect on your experiences when around the child so far. Reflect on what the behavior might be revealing about the child's needs. An example would be if the child is high energy and fidgets, perhaps then some fidget toys that engage their hands may be a good choice. If the child is noise sensitive, perhaps some noise blocking headsets would be best and of course, always ask the parent who knows best.

Toiletry Bags Are Extremely Versatile and Durable

In regards to creating a travel friendly self care kit, toiletry or cosmetic bags are amazing! Because they have many compartments, are compact, many times durable and easy to clean, they make the perfect travel friendly container. I recently made a kit for my 2 year old niece with this Allegro Basics Black Fitted Weekender Cosmetic Bag that I found at a local Bed and Bath.

Although I'm all for color and blossoms particularly, I had to be realistic about what my niece's mother would want to carry around that matches her style, so I went with a basic black bag. To prevent it from easily getting mixed up with other black things she carries, I hot ironed her name on it and plan on adding an iron on rose like this one from the PatchForestShop on Etsy

Restaurant Saving Grace Kit

Since my niece is a busy body that makes it difficult for her parents to sit through a restaurant meal, I catered to that and inserted small toys that I thought would hold her attention. I also gifted a stash of similar sized toys that my sister could tuck away at home and every now and then rotate through the bag to keep it feeling new and interesting.

Here are some pictures of the things I added to it. You can click on the pictures to read the caption descriptions.

Toddler Strategy

The only catch I explained to my sister was that, for this particular kit to work for Camila, she had to absolutely adhere to only having her play with these things when they dined out. In this way the toys were special and dining out would be a time she could look forward to playing with these out of the ordinary objects.

Your Kit

When it comes to a creating a kit for the child in your life, I recommend you consider the developmental stage their in and what they need.

2 categories I'll list here are objects that:

Disperse excess energy

Soothe and comfort

When Hyper Aroused, Encourage Deep Breathing Activities

When kids have too much energy, anything that gets them to breathe deep is a winner.

Put a straw, some mini plastic containers (for travel friendly purposes I would suggest water bottle caps) and some mini pom poms in a ziplock bag and have it ready to play a "pom pom game". This idea I found at the Nu rturestore site where the child sucks air through a straw to pick up a pom pom and then gently blows out to place it in it's container.
Be a Fire Breathing Dragon

Here is dragon breathing craft you can create with the child before hand from onelittleproject.com. I'm going to try this for my own son but for For travel friendly durability, I will wrap the toilet paper roll in a duct tape of his choice in color and have the paper streamers plastic ones, perhaps cut from a disposable plastic table cover I have laying around unused from last year's birthday party.

When They Have the Wigglies, Engage the Hands

Any kind of object that is squishy and requires a child to press their hands and fingers into, is great at helping them to workout tension. One DIY option is to create a water bead stress ball . I know I've found water beads at the Dollar store and many times clear balloons can be found at any party store.

A more textured version of this a stress ball is this that is filled with hair conditioner and baking soda and covered with vegetable netting. Love that these ingredients everyone has at home! This idea is from

Another easy DIY is putting beads into a key ring and then joining the key rings. This is good for those that need to fiddle the tips of their fingers. This cute Laffodills Learning etsy shop sells them if you don't want the hassle.

Here are some fun fidgets you can buy online that also work the hand in fun ways .

This is a Tangle Therapy Relax by

For those of children that need a snapping sound to relax them, perhaps they enjoy popping the end of a pen, here is a fidget that makes a snapping sound as the hand bends the fidget called the Snap and Click Fidget. You can buy these online from Stimtastic or get them at the dollar store. I know I have purchased these before there.

Here is a that presses points in the hand by Impresa Products. This to me seems like a great way to trick kids into giving themselves pressure point therapy.

When They Need to Be Soothed, Think Soft and Quiet
Warm, Soft and Sweet Smelling in One!
Here are some fun objects that uniquely comfort the senses. Take for example these microwavable , herb scented stuffed toys from the

I can't imagine how amazing it must be to hug something that's warm, soft and smells good. I seriously want the adult version
Block Out the Excess Noise
For that noise sensitive child that is easily started by the noise that get-togethers naturally make, this that looks like headphones is great.

Reminders of Loved Ones

Pictures of things and people loved are always excellent ways to comfort. This can be attached to the opening zipper of the travel bag or on the handle.

This very inexpensive accordion wallet insert can hold many wallet sized pictures of the child's' loved ones and be easily tucked into the kit. Another option if the child is already reading, is to create business card sized notes from you personally appreciating all the great qualities of that child. A self esteem boost like this that's at the child's fingertips can be an effective tool in self soothing when overwhelmed.

Soft key chain pom pom's like are fashionable but when it comes to soothing a sensory sensitive child, are highly effective.

Coloring is all the craze right now and for good reason. The hushed swish swish sound of pencil on paper when coloring is incomparable in how it relaxes. Mini coloring books with mini colored pencils like fit great in a kit. This one is by

Here is another example of a cosmetic bag used for a children's restaurant bag by

Something I haven't mentioned that Angela at the included in her child's kit was that of snacks. This like everything else is to be customized to the child and parents preferences but is very practical.

All of these ideas are for you to of course, edit according to what you know is appropriate for the child you have in mind. A rambunctious child may not be attracted to a mini coloring book, a baking soda stress ball may not do well for toddler that would bite it, you catch my drift.

Are there other ways you have observed to be helpful for children in encouraging their self care skills?

Drop a comment and share!

If you found this post helpful take a sec to like, share or comment below. As always, thanks for stopping by!

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How to Create A Self Care Kit for Children

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as you may have experienced at least once in ...a grocery store on any given day, an unhappy child makes for an unhappy situation for everyone...Self care kits can help children become aware of their own needs and be proactive in getting them met in whatever environment they are in.

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Keep active even on rainy days

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Ah the joys of being stuck indoors. The weather outside is frightful but you can make sure the time inside is delightful. Here are 50 Simple Ideas for Rainy Day Activities for Kids by Age:
Sign up for our free Newsletter stuffed full of ideas, competitions and offers. PS Did we mention it's free?
Rainy Day Activities for Kids of All Ages

1. Have a fashion show

2. Play charades

3. Experiment with new hairstyles

4. Play a game of cards

5. Create an art wall with everyone's artwork

6. Make shadow puppet shows with your hands

7. Play a board game

8. Bake a cake or cookies

9. Play "The Floor Is Lava"

10. Make a family tree together
You might also enjoy reading 50 Fun Rainy Day Activities For Kids
Ideas for Rainy Days with Toddlers

11. Go to the library for story time

12. Play Simon Says or What's the Time Mr Wolf

13. Have a disco with musical bumps/chairs/statues

14. Make a comfy den with pillows and twinkly lights for story time

15. Play together with blocks or Duplo

16. Make finger-paint masterpieces

17. Do a jigsaw puzzle

18. Have a puppet show with socks

19. Sing songs together

20. Enjoy water play or sand play
You might also enjoy reading 8 Simple Craft Ideas That Will Amuse Preschoolers
Rainy Day Activities for Kids Aged 5-8

21. Make a summer music playlist

22. Make an obstacle course throughout the house

23. Play Hide and Seek or Sardines

24. Have an indoor beach party with towels and snacks

25. Do an at-home facial together

26. Build an indoor fort with blankets

27. Do one of the challenges on our Lego Challenge

28. Play dress-up with costumes

29. Create a collage with magazines and glue

30. Listen to an audiobook
You might also enjoy reading 25 Of the Most Fun Things to Do With Kids on Rainy Days
Rainy Day Ideas for Tweens

31. Write letters or postcards to family members far away

32. Try a new card game that you've never played before

33. Create a slideshow of your last family holiday

34. Colour a mandala

35. Try guided meditation with an app or some yoga

36. Make your own scary movie

37. Have a scavenger hunt

38. Create your own family magazine or newspaper

39. Make music with household objects or make a bottle/jar piano

40. Make a fortune teller
You might also enjoy reading 25 of the Best Indoor Games for Kids aged 8-12
Rainy Day Activities for Teens

41. Teach them to play poker

42. Have an all-day movie marathon

43. Help reorganise their room

44. Cook a new recipe together

45. Learn some origami e.g. hopping origami frogs

46. Watch a horror film together

47. Introduce them to your 1980s or 1990s playlists

48. Have a pillow fight

49. Make s'mores in the oven

50. Write Haikus

You might also enjoy reading 50 Best Boredom-busting Fun Activities for Teens

Over to you now. What would you add to our list of rainy day activities for kids? Tell us in the comments below.

Jill is one of the co-founders of Mykidstime and a mum of 2 girls

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50 Simple Ideas for Rainy Day Activities for Kids by Age

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Ah the joys of being stuck indoors. The weather outside is frightful but you can make sure the time inside is delightful. Here are 50 Simple Ideas for Rainy Day Activities for Kids by Age: Sign up for our free Newsletter stuffed full of ideas, competitions and offers.

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Be fit and exercise

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Laya Super Troopers - Ireland's first ever health homework programme

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The Laya Super Troopers Programme encourages children and their families to live a healthier life. Through fun and engaging activities, the programme helps to promote healthier bodies and minds focussing on 3 key pillars.

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Looking for an easy kitchen craft for kids? Our simple homemade playdough can be made in minutes. Combine flour, oil, water and food colouring then knead until pliable. Children will have fun making shapes using our creative ideas. For more on this thrifty project for little ones, see our playdough recipe.
These videos are part of a home kitchen series run by BBC Good Food, encouraging the nation to stay home and get cooking.

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Looking for an easy kitchen craft for kids? Our simple homemade playdough can be made in minutes. Combine flour, oil, water and food colouring then knead until pliable. Children will have fun making shapes using our creative ideas. For more on this thrifty project for little ones, see our playdough recipe.

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Speech therapy

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Mommy Speech Therapy - Thoughts on speech & language development

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Helpful documents and activities for you to download to help you work with your child in different areas of their speech

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Weaving wellness

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Weaving Well-Being is the first Irish designed positive mental health programme of its kind which aims to enhance well-being in children aged from 8-12 years within the framework of the SPHE curriculum.

This affordable Positive Education programme consists of 10 lessons for each class level and is grounded in evidence-based interventions from the rapidly expanding field of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is the science of well-being.

It is underpinned by the concept that a state of well-being is not simply the absence of the negative, but the presence of the positive. The Weaving Well-Being programme gives children the opportunity to weave positivity into their daily lives through a range of activities in a variety of areas resilience skills (including mindfulness) and developing self-efficacy through empowering beliefs. The lessons are designed to be implemented within the framework of the SPHE curriculum.

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Weaving Well-Being: Homepage - Outside the Box Learning Resources

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Weaving Well-Being is the first Irish designed positive mental health programme of its kind which aims to enhance well-being in children aged from 8-12 years within the framework of the SPHE curriculum. This affordable Positive Education programme consists of 10 lessons for each class level and is grounded in evidence-based interventions from the rapidly expanding field of Positive Psychology.

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Well-being video

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We have a selection of videos which we feel will help to give you an understanding of the Weaving Well-Being Programme and how it can be implemented successfully in the classroom. Most of the videos include footage of children in Irish Classrooms talking about their experience of the different strategies taught as part of the programme.

The first video is our Weaving Well-Beng Rap with lyrics that the children can dance and sing along to if they want.

Weaving Well Being Rap from OTB on Vimeo.

The next video is an overview of the overall Weaving Well-Being programme.

In this video the children talk about using one of our Positive Emotions tools "Rainbow Moments" and how it makes them feel.

This video shows how one of our key strategies in the Tools of Resilience programme "Mindfulness" can be used in the classroom and how the children feel about using Mindfulness.

Here the children talk about different "Random Acts of Kindness" they have performed and how it benefits both themselves and the receiver.

This video shows the children's views and understanding of well-being and why it should be taught in the classroom.

Identifying and using your character strengths can enhance well-being. This video shows the children talking about their character strengths and how they can use these strengths in different areas of their lives.

To see a full selection of videos exploring many of the other tools and strategies included on our programme and some more contributions and insights from the authors Fiona and Mick you can go to our publisher's website Outside the Box.

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We have a selection of videos which we feel will help to give you an understanding of the Weaving Well-Being Programme and how it can be implemented successfully in the classroom.

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Weaving Well-being Journal

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Enjoy a crossword

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Our collection of free printable crossword puzzles for kids is an easy and fun way for children and students of all ages to become familiar with a subject or just to enjoy themselves. If you get stumped on any of them, not to worry, of course we will give you the answers!

Try Out Our Other Word Puzzles

Keep the children happy for hours with different sorts of puzzling fun. Find printables in the following categories:

Word Scrambles - A great way to review spelling and open the mind to looking beyond what is apparent.

Cryptograms - Everyone loves to crack a secret code.

Word Search for Kids - Choose the puzzle that is best for their age.

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Our collection of free printable crossoword puzzles for kids make fun and easy learning games for students of all ages. We cover a variety of academic subjects and solutions are included.

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Footloose Action Song

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Footloose Page

Footloose

Lose your blues, kick off your Sunday shoes, and cut FOOTLOOSE to this stellar song!

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Lose your blues, kick off your Sunday shoes, and cut FOOTLOOSE to this stellar song!

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Activities & Exercises

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Classroom Meditation - For All Ages!  |  7-Minute Guided Meditation

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Art activities

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Relaxing Music

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This music album was created to help children relax and relieve anxiety, but the music works for all ages! Sit down, put yourself comfortable and try it.

Relaxing Music For Kids's tracks

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This music album was created to help children relax and relieve anxiety, but the music works for all ages! Sit down, put yourself comfortable and try it.

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Alphabet Fitness Bingo is ready to send home. Your students can begin anytime. Simply begin on the present day. How many of the 35 days can they complete. This is a fun, active way for your students and families to stay fit!

As an added bonus, students are asked to discuss each word with their families and how it relates to them.

Click Alphabet Fitness Bingo for a copy of the challenge!

Seuss, Dr. Dr Seuss's ABC Book. Random House, 1991.

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ALPHABET FITNESS BINGO - 35 Days of Workouts for HOME

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Alphabet Fitness Bingo is ready to send home. Your students can begin anytime. Simply begin on the present day. How many of the 35 days can they complete. This is a fun, active way for your students and families to stay fit! As an added bonus, students are asked to discuss each word with their...

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Cross off the activity

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Over the past 6 years of teaching, I have observed how my students are inspired by the unknown. The element of surprise that comes from a randomly drawn task. This observation led me to begin using the app " Classroom Roulette ' which has gone on to become a hit amongst Phys Ed Teachers across the Globe.

However more recently, I've taken the app to a whole new level by pairing it with the classic game of 'Bingo'. Watch the video or follow the steps below to see how it works
Step 1
Visit the website www.bingobaker.com and create a bingo card that contains a list of fitness activities, movements and actions that can be completed without equipment. Once completed you can print these for your students or direct them to the link that Bingo Baker provides. See an example fitness bingo card here
Step 2
Create a Spinner wheel using the ' Classroom Roulette ' app that contains the same list of activities you included in the Bingo card. Watch the video above to see exactly how you can use the app 'Classroom Roulett" in the instructional video below
Step 3
Once your students have downloaded their customised bingo board, its time to get active by spinning the spinner you built inside ' Classroom Roulette '. As activities appear on the screen, the students participate in that activity and then cross off the matching square on their bingo cards.

Repeat with the second spin...

Continuing the process until a student wins the game of Fitness Bingo, by crossing off a complete row of fitness activities as shown below.

Each and every time I've completed the Fitness Bingo Warm Up, it's been incredibly well received by students with high levels of engagement from all involved. We've often continued the game after the winner has been announced given the enormous energy levels flowing from the group.

So how could you use a bingo competition to get your students moving? Leave your thoughts and comments below.

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Over the past 6 years of teaching, I have observed how my students are inspired by the unknown. The element of surprise that comes from a randomly drawn task. This observation led me to begin using the app " Classroom Roulette ' which has gone on to become a hit amongst Phys Ed Teachers across the Globe.

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Morning Meditation Ocean Guided Meditation with Critters

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Morning Meditation Ocean Guided Meditation with Critters

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Morning activities

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Morning MeditOceans - Guided Meditations With The Ocean

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Stay calm

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Calm For Kids specialises in children's yoga and mindfulness training. We provide high-quality training in yoga and mindfulness for yoga teachers, serious yoga students, school teachers, mindfulness practitioners and professionals working with children. Our courses provide all the skills and tools necessary to enable you to confidently start teaching to children..

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Calm For Kids specialises in children's yoga and mindfulness training. We provide high-quality training in yoga and mindfulness for yoga teachers, serious yoga students, school teachers, mindfulness practitioners and professionals working with children. Our courses provide all the skills and tools necessary to enable you to confidently start teaching to children..

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Action Song

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Enjoy Food

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Home of the Children's Feeding Experts * Foodoppi

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Foodoppi are the children's feeding experts. We teach parents how to take the mayhem out of mealtimes, changing children's eating... Read more "

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Plan your chores for the week

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It seems that up to age 11 the chore chart is a boon and then it becomes a bane. Nevertheless, everyone in the family must pull their weight. Consider using a blank chore chart to fill in with age-appropriate weekly chores. For the older kids, responsibilities may begin to expand outside of the home to jobs where they are expected to earn some spending money.

Personal hygiene (showering, teeth, etc.)

Keep bedroom neat and clean

Be responsible for homework

Be responsible for belongings

Wake up using an alarm clock

Wash dishes

Help wash the family car

Help plan and prepare a few easy meals

Clean the bathroom with supervision

Rake leaves

Learn to use the washer and dryer

Put all laundry away with supervision

Take the trash can to the curb for pick up

Take care of personal hygiene, belongings, and homework

Set the alarm clock

Maintain personal items, such as recharging batteries

Change bed sheets

Keep rooms tidy

Change light bulbs

Change the vacuum bag

Dust, vacuum, clean bathrooms and do dishes

Clean mirrors

Mow the lawn with supervision

Babysit (in most states)

Prepare an occasional family meal

Responsible for all personal chores for ages 12 and 13

Responsible for library card and books

Do assigned housework without prompting

Do yard work as needed

Babysit

Prepare food - from making a grocery list and buying the items (with supervision) to serving a meal - occasionally

Wash windows with supervision

Responsible for all personal chores for ages 14 and 15

Responsible for earning spending money and to develop their own budget

Responsible for purchasing their own clothes

Responsible for maintaining any car they drive (e.g., gas, oil changes, tire pressure, etc.)

Do housework as needed

Do yard work as needed

Prepare family meals - from grocery list to serving the meal - as needed

Deep cleaning of household appliances, such as defrosting the freezer, as needed

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It seems that up to age 11 the chore chart is a boon and then it becomes a bane. Nevertheless, everyone in the family must pull their weight. Consider using a blank chore chart to fill in with age-appropriate weekly chores.

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Enjoy Nature

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The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885). A non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 1982873.

Woodland Trust (Enterprises) Limited, registered in England (No. 2296645), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Woodland Trust. Registered office: Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL.The Woodland Trust and Woodland Trust Nature Detectives logos are registered trademarks.

Images © protected Woodland Trust. VAT No. GB520 6111 04.

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The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885). A non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 1982873. Woodland Trust (Enterprises) Limited, registered in England (No. 2296645), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Woodland Trust.

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See the animals live

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Check out what's happening at the Zoo on our webcams!

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Enjoy art & crafts

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"art for kids" "art projects for kids" "art ideas for kids" "art tips" "how to draw" "art for kids hub" lessons

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Hey, art friends! Welcome to Art For Kids Hub! 🎨✏️ Here, you'll discover all sorts of awesome art lessons, from drawing to painting, and even some super cool origami. Whether you're a beginner or a budding artist, there's something fun for everyone!

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Improve Fine Motor Skills

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Here is a collection of 40 fine motor skills activities for young children that are easy to set up and promote a whole range of skills. They're creative, open-ended, appropriate and varied with ideas for practising motor skills through art, sensory play and simple manipulative games, and there are so many to choose from!

One of the most important ways we can help our children while playing with them at home or in a childcare/ classroom setting is through setting up simple activities that help to develop fine motor skills. Young children need to be able to hold and use scissors and pencils appropriately before using them in a classroom context. We cannot expect them to be able to write if they haven't yet developed the strength needed in their hands and fingers.

There are plenty of easy ways to strengthen these muscles, practise co-ordination and develop hand:eye co-ordination using simple, everyday materials and a bit of creative fun! Here are 40 that we have done over the past few years with babies to 5 year olds. There are a million variations you could make from each of these to cater for your own child's particular interests and learning dispositions. Use these as a springboard and pin it for future reference too!

[ Herbal play dough with natural materials to explore]

My personal favourite tool for developing all fine motor skills is the humble ball of homemade play dough. It can be used in SO many ways by adding other combinations of materials to it, and automatically strengthens little hands as they roll, squeeze, twist and build with it. Here is a whole post about the benefits of playing with play dough and a handy guide to starting out with building your own play dough tool kit. Of course, baking with real dough is another wonderful way to play and learn simultaneously!
The many benefits of play dough (and a tool kit)
Other activities we have loved have included exploring sensory play materials, transporting small parts, threading beads, hands-on art projects, cutting and sticking, tearing and scrunching papers, opening and closing fastenings and countless others. Here is a selection of some of those favourites, all of which can be adapted for different age groups and abilities.
Threading with beads onto pipe cleaners Threading, posting and slotting toys for babies and toddlers Poking straws into holes Pasta necklaces Monster play dough Weaving around cardboard Fairy sparkle playdough Pipe cleaners and colanders Beads on spaghetti Hair rollers sticky construction First sewing basket Edible fingerpainting Making marks in fairy dust Decorating play dough eggs Mark making and scooping in lavender sensory salt Building 3D models Sorting and pattern making with shells Patterning with lego Lid posting game Snipping and doodling sticky stained glass windows Whisking up coloured sensory soap Salt dough alphabet modelling Pebble sorting Stacking cups Play dough cupcakes Foam and water window art

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40 Fine Motor Skills Activities - The Imagination Tree

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Here is a collection of 40 fine motor skills activities for young children that are easy to set up and promote a whole range of basic learning skills.

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Saying Thank YOu

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We usually show our gratitude to others when we feel indebted to them, when we have benefitted from their actions, and when we want to make our feelings towards them known.

Showing gratitude is sometimes a required or expected thing, but at other times, a spontaneous "thank you" to someone who has unknowingly made our day. On most occasions, we show gratitude to bring the good feelings we have been gifted back to the gifter.

While it is admirable to want to share our gratitude and good feelings with others, we rarely stop to think about what giving others our gratitude does for us.

As it turns out, it does quite a lot for our brains and mental wellbeing.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

Research shows that gratitude can (Morin, 2014):

Help you make friends. One study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek a more lasting relationship with you.

Improve your physical health. People who exhibit gratitude report fewer aches and pains, a general feeling of health, more regular exercise, and more frequent checkups with their doctor than those who don't.

Improve your psychological health. Grateful people enjoy higher wellbeing and happiness and suffer from reduced symptoms of depression.

Enhance empathy and reduces aggression. Those who show their gratitude are less likely to seek revenge against others and more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, with sensitivity and empathy.

Improve your sleep. Practicing gratitude regularly can help you sleep longer and better.

Enhance your self-esteem. People who are grateful have increased self-esteem, partly due to their ability to appreciate other peoples' accomplishments.

Increase in mental strength. Grateful people have an advantage in overcoming trauma and enhanced resilience, helping them to bounce back from highly stressful situations.

With all of these benefits to practicing gratitude, your next question is probably "How do I do it?"

If so, you're in luck! Read on to discover some of the most popular exercises and activities for this, as well as tips to cultivate your own gratitude practice.

13 Most Popular Gratitude Exercises and Activities

There are infinite ways to show our gratitude to others, to ourselves, and to a higher power or even "the universe" itself.

However, it can be tough to get started without practical ideas. These gratitude exercises and activities are some of the most well-known and proven ways to practice and enhance your gratitude.

1. Journaling

Writing down a few things you are grateful for is one of the easiest and most popular exercises available.

The purpose of the exercise is to reflect on the past day, few days, or week, and remember 3-5 things you are especially grateful for. In this way, you are focusing on all the good things that happened to you in a given set of time.

What is the appropriate amount of journaling one should do per week? Some people propose doing it every day while others suggest once per week. The arguments against doing it every day are that it can be tedious and forced. It becomes a practice you feel you should do or need to do instead of something you want to do.

When journaling becomes a banal task and not an enjoyable practice then you need to adjust the amount of journaling you do.

Besides the benefit of focusing on the wonderful things, this practice actually can increase your quality of sleep, decrease symptoms of sickness, and increase joy (Marsh, 2011).

It is important to cater your practice to what you need. Perhaps journaling every day for a short amount of time works for you, but over time, it feels better to journal every Friday.

Paying attention to what you are grateful for becomes easier as you practice it.

Imagine your life without the things or people that matter to you, before you begin writing. That should definitely boost your gratitude barometer.

2. Gratitude Jar

The gratitude jar is a stunningly simple exercise that can have profound effects on your wellbeing and outlook. It only requires a few ingredients: a jar (a box can also work); a ribbon, stickers, glitter, or whatever else you like to decorate the jar; paper and a pen or pencil for writing your gratitude notes; and gratitude!

Step 1: Find a jar or box.

Step 2: Decorate the jar however you wish. You can tie a ribbon around the jar's neck, put stickers on the sides, use clear glue and glitter to make it sparkle, paint it, keep it simple, or do whatever else you can think of to make it a pleasing sight.

Step 3: This is the most important step, which will be repeated every day. Think of at least three things throughout your day that you are grateful for. It can be something as benign as a coffee at your favorite place, or as grand as the love of your significant other or dear friend. Do this every day, write down what you are grateful for on little slips of paper and fill the jar.

Over time, you will find that you have a jar full of a myriad of reasons to be thankful for what you have and enjoy the life you are living. It also will cultivate a practice of expressing thanks.

If you are ever feeling especially down and need a quick pick-me-up, take a few notes out of the jar to remind yourself of who, and what, is good in your life.

3. Gratitude Rock

This exercise may sound a little silly. You may be thinking, "A rock? How can a rock help me practice gratitude?"

The secret to this exercise is that the rock is a symbol, a physical object you can use, to remind yourself of what you have.

The instructions are about as simple as instructions can be: just find a rock!

Make sure to pick one you like, whether you like it because it's pretty because it is smooth or has an interesting texture, or because you picked it up from a special place. If you have another small object you'd rather use instead, feel free to substitute that for the rock.

Carry this rock around in your pocket, leave it on your desk where you will see it throughout your day, or even wear it on a chain around your neck or your wrist.

Whenever you see it or touch it, pause to think about at least one thing you are grateful for. Whether it's something as small as the sun shining down on you in this moment or as large as the job that allows you to feed yourself or your family, just think of one thing that brings you joy or fulfillment.

When you take the stone out of your pocket or off of your body at the end of the day, take a moment to remember the things that you were grateful for throughout the day. When you put it on or in your pocket again in the morning, repeat this process to remember what you were grateful for yesterday.

Not only will this help you remember the things you are grateful for, but also it can trigger a mini-mindfulness moment in your day. It will bring you out of your head and into the present moment, giving you something to focus your attention on. It can also act as a switch to more positive thinking.

When you flip this switch multiple times a day, you will likely find that your average day has become much more positive.

4. Gratitude Tree

The gratitude tree is a great activity for children, and it can also be effective for adults who are open to experiencing a childlike sense of fun and wonder. You will need several double-sided colored sheets of paper, string or ribbon, scissors, twigs or tree branches, some stones or marbles, a vase, and a sense of gratitude.

Step 1: Make one or more leaf cutouts to use as a template for your leaves. Trace leaves on your colored paper.

Step 2: Cut out the leaves, punch a hole at the top of each leaf, and loop your string or ribbon through each hole.

Step 3: Put the stones or marbles in a vase and stick the tree branch or twig in the middle.

Step 4: Have your (or your child) draw or write things that you (or your child) are grateful for on the leaves. You can also use photographs if you'd like.

Step 5: Hang the leaves from the branches, and behold your gratitude tree!

This activity is easy and results in a pretty reminder of the things that bring you or your child joy throughout your daily life. It may be intended for kids but there is no age limit on finding creative ways to cultivate your gratitude, so get to drawing!

Here's a quick how-to video on the gratitude tree:

5. Gratitude Garden

The gratitude garden activity is a good activity to follow creating gratitude trees. This is also intended for children, but adults can certainly follow along to get into the gratitude spirit.

Follow these steps to journey to the gratitude garden (All Done Monkey, 2012).

Start the Journey: Stand up in front of the group, with the Thankfulness/Gratitude Tree in clear view. Explain that you are all going on a trip to the Grateful Garden, but to get there you have to go through three dangerous places. (Insert a word other than "dangerous" if more appropriate to the age group). The Thankfulness Tree will help you get through each one so you can make it to the Grateful Garden.

The Frowny Forest: The first stop is the Frowny Forest. Have the kids all mimic you as you frown, cross your arms, and hunch over. There is a lot of wind in the Frowny Forest, so mimic being tossed about by the wind, turning back and forth as if you are trying to fight it. The only way to leave the Frowny Forest is to feel happy again, so ask the kids to shout out things they are grateful for (using the Thankfulness Tree as a prompt). After they have named a few things, mimic great relief, with a big smile.

The Sad Swamp: But, oh no! Just beyond the Frowny Forest is the Sad Swamp! Hunch over again, swing your arms down low, and walk (in place) in big, heavy steps, as if walking through mud or water. Again, have the kids shout out things they are grateful for, so you can all leave the Sad Swamp.

The Mad Mountain: Past the Sad Swamp is the Mad Mountain. Have them imitate you as you pretend to climb up the mountain with great effort, making angry faces. Again, have the kids shout out things they are grateful for, so you can all feel happy again.

The Grateful Garden: Finally, you have all arrived at the Grateful Garden! What a good job they have done! To celebrate, everyone can do a Happy Hop!

Going through each of these negative emotions can be a fun and interactive learning opportunity for kids. For older children (or young-minded adults!), you can even add in a few other, more complex negative emotions, like the "Disgusted Dock" or the "Petty Pier."

To read these instructions, click here.

6. Gratitude Box

The gratitude box is a thoughtful way to share your feelings with loved ones and cultivate your own sense of gratitude.

This is another easy activity that requires only a box, some paper, and a pen or pencil to write down gratitude messages. You can make the box yourself or buy one, the prettier the better!

On the paper, write down a heartfelt message of gratitude to your loved one. If you're not sure how to start, here are some suggestions to begin your message:

1) "Thank you for..."

2) "What I love about you..."

3) "My holiday wish for you..."

You can also collect messages from others about your loved one, to pack the box with multiple messages of gratitude and love.

Place the message(s) into the box, wrap it up or put a bow on it, and give it to your loved one as a special gift, to both your loved one and yourself.

Read more about gratitude boxes here.

7. Gratitude Prompts

Gratitude prompts are a great way to get started, continue your practice, or kick-start a stalled gratitude practice. This is also a relatively simple exercise, with only one instruction: fill in the blank!

These prompts provide several ways to begin a gratitude statement, with infinite possibilities for completion. They cover multiple senses, colors, people, and things. The goal is to identify at least three things in each category that you are thankful for.

The prompts include:

I'm grateful for three things I hear:

I'm grateful for three things I see:

I'm grateful for three things I smell:

I'm grateful for three things I touch/feel:

I'm grateful for these three things I taste:

I'm grateful for these three blue things:

I'm grateful for these three animals/birds:

I'm grateful for these three friends:

I'm grateful for these three teachers:

I'm grateful for these three family members:

I'm grateful for these three things in my home:

I'm grateful for these three people who hired me:

Etc.

This simple exercise is a great way to identify all the things you are grateful for. To see all of the categories and examples for each category, click here.

8. Gratitude Amble

This exercise only requires your sense of gratitude and a pair of feet or wheelchair.

When you are going through a particularly rough time, try cleansing your mind with a gratitude walk. Just as the combination of meditation and gratitude can combat stress or increase feelings of wellbeing, walking with a gratitude focal point can offer the same remedy.

Walking is therapeutic in itself.

It has health benefits like increased endorphins that decrease stress, increased heart health, and circulation in the body, decreased lethargy, and decreases in blood pressure. Couple this activity with a grateful state of mind and you are bound to nurture a positive mind and body (Rickman 2013).

The goal of the gratitude walk is to observe the things you see around you as you walk. Take it all in. Be aware of nature, the colors of the trees, the sounds the birds make, and the smell of the plants. Notice how your feet feel when you step onto the ground.

The effects are more potent when you can enjoy a gratitude walk with your partner or a friend. In this way, you can show them an appreciation for being able to spend the time walking together.

9. Gratitude Reflection

Reflection is an important part of mindfulness meditation and the cultivation of a sense of self-awareness. These practices can lead to an enhanced sense of wellbeing, among other benefits, although enhanced wellbeing is enough of a benefit for most of us.

To practice gratitude reflection, follow these steps (Still Mind, 2014):

Settle yourself in a relaxed posture. Take a few deep, calming breaths to relax and center. Let your awareness move to your immediate environment: all the things you can smell, taste, touch, see, hear. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

Next, bring to mind those people in your life to whom you are close: your friends, family, partner.... Say to yourself, "For this, I am grateful."

Next, turn your attention onto yourself: you are a unique individual, blessed with imagination, the ability to communicate, to learn from the past and plan for the future, to overcome any pain you may be experiencing. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

Finally, rest in the realization that life is a precious gift. That you have been born into a period of immense prosperity, that you have the gift of health, culture, and access to spiritual teachings. Say to yourself: "For this, I am grateful."

10. Gratitude Flower

The gratitude flower is similar to the gratitude tree, except that instead of creating leaves of gratitude, we create flower petals of gratitude.

Start by cutting out a circle from colored paper. Yellow is a popular color for this piece since it will be the center of the flower.

On the circle, write "Things I'm Thankful For" or write your name or family name, or even an overarching thing you're grateful for (i.e., "my family").

Next, use a template or freehand cut to create flower petals. You can use several different colors for a bright and vibrant flower, or the same color for a more uniform looking flower.

On the flower petals, write down things you are grateful for. These can be things like the sunny weather, having wonderful parents, or a promotion at work.

Glue or tape these petals to the center to create a flower. This is your gratitude flower!

11. Gratitude Letter or Email / Gratitude Visit

This might be the most powerful gratitude exercise. Write a hand-written letter to a person you are particularly grateful to have in your life.

Be detailed. Express all the wonderful qualities about this person, and how they personally have affected your life for the better.

If you have the time personally deliver this letter to the person yourself.

Do it unexpectedly. Your level of gratitude should skyrocket, as you observe the bliss the receiver gets from your generous act. It will probably be one of the greatest gifts you will ever receive.

The positive effects of this gratitude exercise were researched and carried out by Kent State professor Steve Toepfer, associate professor in Human Development and Family Studies.

In his 2007 study, his undergraduate students experienced enhanced levels of life satisfaction and happiness, as well as decreased symptoms of depression. Toepfer's goal of this study was to determine the psychological benefits, if any, for the authors of these gratitude letters (Vincent, 2007).

The results of this study are quite straightforward. If you wish to increase your gratitude and happiness levels then intentionally script letters to inspiring people in your life.

If you are feeling down and maybe even depressed, you should most certainly give this practice a try. For an even further joy boost hand deliver your letter to the receivers so you can witness the receiver's reactions for yourself.

This activity can be either an email or a letter which you can send off in the mail or deliver personally.

Think about a person who has recently done something good for you, to whom you have not yet expressed your gratitude. This person may be a friend, family member, coworker, teacher, or mentor.

Try to pick someone who you can visit within the next week if you are practicing the visit component.

Next, write them an email or letter. Use these guidelines to write an effective and grateful letter:

Write as though you are addressing the person directly.

Don't worry about getting your grammar or spelling perfect (unless you are sending the email/letter to them).

Describe what this person has done that makes you grateful, and how they have impacted your life. Be as concrete as possible here.

Describe what you are doing in life now, and how frequently you remember their act of kindness or generosity.

Try to keep your letter to about 300 words or so.

If you are writing an email or a letter to be mailed, go through the letter to make sure it is clear and you get the intended message across. Hit the "send" button or drop it in a mailbox.

If you are delivering your letter in person via a gratitude visit, follow these steps:

Plan a visit with the recipient. Let him or her know you would like to meet with them to share something, but be vague about what you have to share.

When you meet this person, let them know that you are grateful and that you would like to read them a letter you wrote expressing your gratitude. Ask that he or she does not interrupt you until you are done reading the letter.

Take your time reading the letter. While you read, pay attention to the reactions of both you and the recipient.

After you have read the letter, listen to his or her reaction to the letter and be ready to discuss your feelings together.

Remember to leave the letter with this person when you leave.

If you are located far away from this person, you can arrange a phone call or video chat instead.

12. Meditation

Gratitude meditations are a double-whammy for wellbeing. You are performing two of the most impactful happiness practice at the same time.

Meditation isn't always easy especially when the mind is aggressively wandering and distracting your attention, but if you practice this kind of mediation consistently be prepared to experience incredible upgrades in gratitude and joy.

Unlike a normal meditation where intentionally become aware of your breath and keep your mind clear, during a gratitude meditation you visualize all the things in your life that you are grateful for.

It is important to give each person or item the concentration it deserves. You can take the time to go through all the people you are grateful for or all the physical objects you are grateful for.

I like to simplify this sometimes and show gratitude for the things that are often taken for granted: the ability to breath, hands to touch, eyes to see, legs to walk and run, etc. There are numerous advantages to meditating. These advantages magnify when you take the time to target your reasons for gratitude.

Spend some time really taking stock of the things you are grateful for and I am certain you will feel much better afterward. It is a powerful exercise.

13. Collage

This is similar to the gratitude journal, except you are going to take pictures of all the things you are grateful for. This gives you the opportunity to visualize your gratitude.

Try taking a picture of one thing you are grateful for every day for a week. Notice how you feel. Take a look back at the pictures every week. You don't have to find grandiose things to be grateful for. A simple picture of a flower will do.

The more you do this the easier it will be for you to spot out the things you are grateful for. You will no longer take these simple things for granted.

Perhaps you will document multiple pictures in a day. After a given time period put all your pictures together in a collage and simply be grateful for all that you have.

A Gratitude Trick That Marie Forleo Learned from Robert Emmons

The following video shows the results of a USC study where students kept a gratitude journal for 10 weeks. Watch what happened when the three groups had different prompts-and results.

If one of the three prompts mentioned in the video resonate with you, why not give it a try? If not for 10-weeks, for two weeks? You might be surprised with the slow and steady benefits this simple tip brings.

Gratitude Exercise: The Can of Beans

The following gratitude exercise was invented by Seph Fontane Pennock. For this exercise you're going to need:

Many of us can buy a can of white beans without thinking much, let alone the food many of us are fortunate to put into our bodies. For this exercise, we invite you to have a meal of a can of beans. Nothing else that night. Just the beans.

There's no warming them up or pouring the beans into a nice cup. That beats the purpose of the exercise. You simply grab a spoon, open up the can, imagine you're sitting around the campfire at the foot of the Sierra Madra, and dig in.

What is the purpose of the exercise?

The purpose of this gratitude exercise is to realize and appreciate what we have. Appreciation. It can make you realize that every day, you are able to eat all sorts of foods, flown or shipped in from all over the world for you to eat. It is quite extraordinary if you think about it, but it can be easy to take for granted for those who have food security.

During this exercise, you may start to compare the beans that you're eating with other meals you crave. This allows you to take a moment and appreciate those usual foods, and how they fuel you.

The benefits:

Performing this gratitude exercise once a week:

Makes you a more mindful eater.

Makes you appreciate what you have in life, or at least, what you eat.

Makes you realize that we don't need so much in order to satisfy our basic human needs.

Allows you to actually enjoy the ritual and experience positive emotions while your eating beans that tend to last throughout the whole evening.

The most powerful thing about this gratitude exercise is its simplicity. Performing this exercise is easier than its alternative, which means cooking up a whole meal (and ending up with the dishes).

What about your spouse or kids?

In case you are living with someone or if you have kids, you're going to have more of a challenge in performing this exercise.

You can either explain the exercise to them and invite them to join you if they wish (it's important that they decide to do so themselves), or do the exercise on one of those evenings that you don't get to eat together with your family or spouse.

2 Gratitude Quizzes and Questionnaires

Looking for a quick way to assess how grateful you are? These quizzes and questionnaires are readily available on the internet.

Greater Good at Berkeley Quiz - This 20-item quiz is based on a scale developed by psychologists, Mitchel Adler, and Nancy Fagley. It is available online, and completion will give an overall gratitude score, as well as being given steps on how to promote further gratitude in life.

This is the GQ-6, a brief questionnaire that may take as little as about 30 seconds to complete. It was devised by Michael E. McCullough, Ph.D., Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D. The GQ-6 gives an impression of how grateful a person is already. It consists of 6 questions, with responses in a Likert-type scale from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'.

Handy Gratitude Worksheets

If you like easy to follow worksheets, we have several suggestions that can help you get started practicing gratitude.

Try one of the following worksheets.

Gratitude Exercises

This handout describes several useful gratitude exercises, some of which are included above, in a short paragraph. Consider this your master list of the best gratitude exercises with a quick and easy explanation.

You can find this worksheet here.

To learn about these gratitude exercises in more detail, try the worksheets below.

Gratitude Journal

This worksheet is a quick and easy way to document the things you are grateful for each day. It begins by noting that keeping a journal helps to improve your mood. The worksheet then instructs the user to write at least three entries for each day.

This simple worksheet lists each day of the week with five sections of blank space to fill out with things that make you grateful. Gratitude Journal

Why I'm Grateful Worksheet

This simple worksheet helps you find things you are grateful for, complete with prompts to get you started. These prompts cover multiple areas of life and dive deeper into your sense of gratitude.

Instead of just helping you identify what you are grateful for, this worksheet digs into why you are grateful.

The prompts include:

"I am grateful for my family because..."

"Something good happened this week..."

"I am grateful for my friendship with... because..."

"I am grateful for who I am because..."

"Something silly that I am grateful for..."

"Something else I am grateful for..."

Simply fill in the blanks on this worksheet to discover more to be grateful for in your life! Click here to use this worksheet.

Gratitude Letter

Produced by Allina Health, this sheet looks at 'overlooked blessings' and reflections on positive things about the individual's health and body, activities they enjoy, and relationships they are grateful for.

Finally, the worksheet prompts individuals to write a gratitude letter.

Daily Gratitude

This worksheet provides a template for a daily gratitude journal, with room to record three things in the last 24 hours the client is thankful for, and three things that they are looking forward to in the next 24 hours.

Gratitude Journal Activity

This provides a gratitude journal activity creating a list of 100 things an individual is grateful for by completing 5 mini-lists, each containing 20 lines. For example, the prompt for the first list is to "list 20 things that you are grateful worked out for you...evidence that the universe is on your side."

Examples of Gratitude Interventions for Adults

Many of the gratitude exercises described above have been used in interventions to increase gratitude, with varying results. Check out the following studies.

Gratitude as a Psychotherapeutic Intervention

A paper by Robert A. Emmons and Robin Stern (Emmons & Stern, 2013) describes how gratitude can have a positive impact on patients and clients in therapeutic relationships.

The authors also outline several different methods of applying gratitude interventions to adults, including keeping a journal. The article includes a case study of a woman facing severe stress and multiple challenges in her life.

Susanna was suffering from thoughts of leaving her marriage, her husband's motorcycle accident, the reveal of an extramarital affair on the part of her husband, and finding out that her husband had been hiding a gambling addiction that had nearly bankrupted them.

Susanna's therapist worked with Susanna to develop a course of treatment that heavily incorporated gratitude. Her therapist encouraged Susanna to reflect on all of the things she had to be grateful for and helped her "self-right" her perspective to truly appreciate each moment in her daily life while building a new life that better suited her strengths, weaknesses, and her circumstances.

This treatment improved Susanna's ability to function and helped her to remain emotionally available to her children and more self-aware.

The authors end by noting the ways that gratitude interventions differ from most other types of interventions.

First, the prosocial and relational nature of gratitude can build unique pathways to happiness and wellbeing. Gratitude is also a fulfilling practice, facilitating an appreciation of both the current moment and one's past.

There is much evidence that gratitude interventions result in many positive benefits, and that incorporating gratitude into therapy can help clients and patients realize these benefits.

Using a Gratitude Intervention to Enhance Wellbeing in Older Adults

This study (Killen & Macaskill, 2015) utilized the "three good things" exercise to enhance gratitude in adults 60 years and older. This exercise involves writing down three good things you have to be grateful for each day, generally at night.

The study was conducted on a group of 88 healthy adults aged 60 or over and lasted for 45 days. Results showed that this gratitude intervention improved wellbeing via flourishing, at multiple points throughout the duration of the study. Perceived stress also decreased over the first 15 days.

This intervention was effective whether administered via paper or online and showed that gratitude journaling can have a significant positive effect on older adults.

Gratitude and Wellbeing: The Benefits of Appreciation

This piece by Randy A. Sansone and Lori A. Sansone (Sansone & Sansone, 2010) explores the effects of gratitude on wellbeing.

The authors describe several studies that have provided evidence of a link between these two constructs.

For example, the authors describe three journaling methods for investigating these effects undertaken by gratitude researchers Emmon and McCullough, including one group that journaled about negative events or hassles in life, one group that journaled about things they were grateful for, and one group that journaled about neutral life events.

The group focusing on things they were grateful for reported significantly higher wellbeing than the other two groups.

Another study pitted a group who completed the "counting one's blessings" exercise, in which participants wrote about things they were grateful for or for which they felt blessed at the end of each week, against a group who identified challenges or hassles in life and a control group. Those who counted their blessings seemed to experience a boost in wellbeing.

The authors conclude that gratitude can be an effective way to enhance wellbeing, and suggest several exercises that can be used as interventions in therapy, including:

Journaling about things for which to be grateful.

Thinking about someone for whom you are grateful.

Writing and/or sending a letter to someone for whom you are grateful.

Meditating on gratitude The "count your blessings" exercise.

Practicing saying "thank you" and really meaning it.

Writing thank you notes.

If you are religious, incorporating your gratitude in prayer.

To read about these examples and learn how to measure gratitude, you can read the paper here.

4 Gratitude Lesson Ideas for Teachers

The modern classroom sees teachers educating about far more than literacy and numeracy. Social and emotional learning is now incorporated into the curriculum. Teaching gratitude provides students with powerful life-skills. Here are some resources to utilize in planning gratitude lessons.

1. What is Gratitude?

After an initial 'activation of thinking' exercise, brainstorm about gratitude. Then, students can watch a video, such as Gratitude HD, Moving Art on YouTube, and jot down reflections from it on post-it notes. Then, in pairs, students work through guiding questions and the teacher introduces a book that is age-appropriate.

After the story, in pairs, have students discuss what they noticed in the book, what they connected with, and what they are thankful for.

Use photos, calendar images or Visual Talking Cards to provide a starting point for a discussion about gratitude and sharing knowledge among the class. Before closing the lesson, use an ABC Brainstorm Template (available from the link provided below) to generate a list of things students are grateful for.

Find the lesson idea here at its source (Heart-Mind online, 2014).

2. Acts of Kindness (Grades K - 2)

This lesson is designed for students to be given the opportunity to identify ways that they have acted with kindness and caring towards others.

Firstly, provide an explanation to the class about feeling grateful and have a discussion. Then, have the students close their eyes and visualize someone they have been kind to or helped, and to recall how this made them feel as well as what the other person said or did.

Ask students to open their eyes and share what they visualized. Then, ask students to draw a picture of what they visualized and write a caption to go with it. Alternatively, students could write a short paragraph about it.

To extend this lesson, older students could be encouraged to record times when they show kindness to others, the reasons why they did, and how they feel, in a gratitude journal. Or, the class could be prompted to talk about an act of kindness they could do for someone in the school and the teacher can help them put this into action.

3. Food Gratitude (Grades 3 - 5)

The class lists as many different fruits as they can. Then, they vote on which fruit is the favorite fruit for most people in the class.

Guide students through a visualization of all of the people or resources who made it possible for them to enjoy this fruit.

In groups of four, students discuss the visualization and on a large piece of paper, draw all of the people, tools and natural elements necessary to produce the fruit. As students draw, discuss the many people involved in the process of making the fruit available, and prompt the class to think about how they would show gratitude to all of the people-they then add this to the drawing.

The following day, bring in some of the fruit that the students selected (being sure no student is allergic) and ask them to think of all of the properties of the fruit and reflect upon all the people involved in its production.

Finally, before the class enjoys eating the fruit, invite them to recall the expressions of gratitude that they wrote on the drawings and to feel that gratitude.

4. People Who Made a Difference (Grades 6 - 8)

This exercise is designed to help students understand that they can feel gratitude to people whose actions benefit the whole of society and these benefits can last for centuries.

Students identify a historical figure who did something that they feel grateful for. Then, helps students visualize the person, what it would be like to be with them, and the sense of gratitude the student has. Following this, students write an essay looking into what the person did that they were grateful for, and consider the intention and motives of the person.

Students should also think about the 'cost' of the figure's actions, not only in terms of money but more general personal sacrifices. Ask students to reflect upon how they have benefited from the person's actions and how the whole of society may have benefited.

To conclude the lesson, the class can present brief summaries of the historical figure they researched.

Here are the original sources for Lesson Plans 2-4 above (Zakrzewski, 2016).

Gratitude Games and Ideas for Kids

By now, you're probably thinking about all the good things that can happen when gratitude is incorporated into one's life. This is particularly true for children and using gratitude to boost resilience, enhance wellbeing, and encourage a positive outlook on life.

7 Tips for Fostering Gratitude

This piece describes seven ways to encourage the development of gratitude in children.

These tips include:

Model and teach gratitude. This is the best way to teach any trait you want your child to develop.

Spend time with your kids and being mindful with them. Quality time is not only a positive experience for both children and adults; it also offers opportunities to model empathy and cultivates a sense of appreciation for the things you love.

Support your child's autonomy. Allowing your children to be semi-autonomous helps them to build their strengths and talents, and encourages them to take ownership of their actions.

Use your children's strengths to fuel gratitude. Create opportunities for your children to be helpful and cooperative with others, enhancing their ability to feel and express gratitude.

Help focus and support kids to achieve intrinsic goals. In steering children away from the pursuit of materialistic goals and toward intrinsic goals, you can help children fulfill their own higher-level needs and aid in their development. Savor their accomplishments with them as one way to boost their sense of gratitude even more.

Encourage children to help others and devote time to nurturing relationships. Volunteer to help others with your child, and encourage them to offer a helping hand to loved ones in need of support. Helping them to develop strong, positive relationships is a great way to make sure they have something to be grateful for.

Help kids find what matters to them. Assisting your child in finding what he or she is passionate about is a good way to help them find gratitude as well. A sense of purpose or meaning in life helps us all to discover what we love, contribute to society, and practice gratitude.

More information on cultivating a sense of gratitude in children can be found here.

Gratitude in the Classroom

If you'd like to build gratitude in your children or the children you teach or mentor, try these suggestions:

Create a classroom gratitude book for each child to take home and add a page of pictures and descriptions of what they're grateful for. Switch out each week so every child has the opportunity to add a page.

Take a picture of each student holding a large piece of paper with one thing they are grateful for written on it, frame the picture, and send it home as a gift.

Create a gratitude collage or bulletin board, with pictures of things each student is grateful for.

Have each child write down something they are thankful for on strips of paper, and use the strips to create a gratitude chain, which can be hung around the classroom.

Hold a "Special Friends Day" before Thanksgiving, in which each student brings someone special to class. Each pair will write or draw something they are thankful for, which will be posted on a bulletin board.

Have the children create gratitude surprise sticky notes. Hand these sticky notes out to students and have them write down something they're grateful for in regards to someone else around the school, then encourage them to "deliver" the note to that person's locker, mailbox, or classroom door.

For many more classroom gratitude ideas, visit this website.

Gratitude Exercises for Children

The website www.blissfulkids.com also provides popular gratitude exercises that can help develop gratitude in children.

The top three gratitude exercises according to Chris Bergstrom and Blissful Kids are:

1. The Gratitude Journal. Provide your child with a journal and encourage them to write down five things they are grateful for each day. Bedtime is a great time to practice this exercise since children will have the whole day from which to choose what to write about.

2. The ABCs of Gratitude. Have your child sit comfortably and close their eyes. Tell them to list things they are grateful for, beginning with "A" and working all the way through the alphabet to "Z." Don't be surprised if this exercise gets a little silly-it's bound to get silly at some point, so just embrace it and enjoy the laughter with your child!

3. Bedtime Thank Yous. This can be incorporated into the gratitude journal or practiced as a standalone exercise. Help your child to think of happy things that happened to them during their day. They can simply say these things aloud, write them down in their journal, draw a picture of them, or simply think of them. This exercise can ensure that your child drifts off to sleep with a heart full of love and gratitude.

How to Develop Your Own Gratitude Ritual

Creating a gratitude ritual can be tough, just as starting any new habit can be difficult to stick with at first. Like most other practices, the more you do it, the easier it will get.

Try these tips to help you cultivate a fulfilling and impactful gratitude ritual (Rodrigues, 2017):

Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take several slow, deep breaths.

Think of something good that has happened to you recently.

Think of a person or animal you love.

Think of an occasion when you were honored or appreciated by others.

Think about your present situation and what is going on in your life.

The popular website www.tinybuddha.com also provides several useful suggestions on implementing and sticking to a gratitude ritual.

Their steps are as follows (Russell, 2016):

Commit to your practice. There will be days when you feel like doing anything other than finding reasons to be grateful, but pushing through these days will empower you and help you build the strength and resilience necessary to push through other challenges.

Begin your practice. Just do it! Sit down with a pen and paper or a computer and start simply, with a prompt like "I am grateful for..." You may need to sit and think for a while, but that's okay. If you give it time and put in the effort, it will come!

Write it down. Sometimes thinking about what you are grateful for will not be enough. Be sure to write down what you are grateful for. Writing can have a powerful impact that just thinking may not bring about.

Feel it. Allow yourself to fully experience gratitude. Let it come up from your heart and throughout your body. Savor the feeling.

Choose a set time of day. This can be extremely helpful when starting a practice. Some popular times to practice gratitude are first thing in the morning and last thing at night, but choose a time that works for you.

Practice present-moment gratitude. While you may be writing these things down at the beginning or end of the day, make sure to notice all of the things for which you are grateful as they pop up throughout your day. Allow yourself to be in the present and to fully appreciate each thing you are grateful for as it arises.

Share the gratitude. Find a gratitude partner to share your list of things you are grateful for with, to discuss your challenges and your successes with, and to motivate you when you are not feeling up to the task (and vice versa).

Don't stop when you start noticing results! Although counterintuitive, it can be tempting to stop any practice once you start seeing the benefits. Make sure you are committed to your practice, whether it feels beneficial in the current moment or not.

Allow yourself to be human. It's alright to miss a day once in a while, and it's alright to feel grumpy about having to follow through on your commitment when it's the last thing you want to do. We are human, and we will make mistakes. If you're having trouble coming up with anything, at least write something like "I am grateful I am writing my gratitude list."

The popular dating website eharmony also provides tips on how to cultivate gratitude, especially in the context of dating and relationships. They suggest four steps (Libby, 2016):

Breathing. Simply close your eyes and take a deep and intentional breath, repeating until you feel calm and grounded.

Awakening your awareness. Allow yourself to meditate on your truth in the present moment.

Recognize your blessings. Think about what you are experiencing with your five senses if you have trouble getting started.

Emotions flow. Allow your emotions to come and go, to rise and fall as they will. Focus your attention on enjoying the feeling of gratitude working its way through your mind and to your heart.

Finally, Chris Libby from www.livehappy.com provides four rituals that you can implement to build gratitude in your life.

These rituals are (Libby, 2016):

Amazing Grace. Reflect on what you are grateful for at the dinner table before you begin eating, whether alone or with your family.

Focus on the "Haves." Instead of thinking about what you are missing, think about what you have. Write down at least three things you are grateful for each night.

The Write Stuff. Write a letter to someone you are grateful to or for, and read the letter aloud to them if possible. you can find more instructions for this exercise earlier in this piece.

Thankful Awareness. Try something new and fulfilling, such as volunteering at a food bank or soup kitchen, or handing out toys at a children's hospital. Witnessing the trials and challenges of others can often be a spur for you to notice the good things in your own life.

Gratitude Apps That Help You Stick to It

Sometimes, even when we know all of the right steps and have all of the right tips, practicing regular gratitude can be difficult. This is where an app can help! Try one of the gratitude apps described below to help you keep a regular gratitude practice.

1. Gratitude Journal

This classic gratitude exercise is put into digital form, with a daily journal for you to fill with things you are grateful for. It includes space for writing down several things each day, ratings of your feelings, daily quotes, and up to three photos per journal entry.

This app is available through iTunes here.

2. Gratitude Garden App

This app not only allows you to recall and record the things you are grateful for each day, it also rewards you with points for journaling. You can build up a gratitude garden with these points, a pretty space that can bring you joy by reminding you of what is good in your life.

You can also receive gratitude cards, which contain suggestions for further actions that can increase gratitude and happiness.

This app is free, and you can download it on iTunes here.

3. Grateful: A Gratitude Journal

Grateful was developed to make expressing gratitude both easy and fun. By recording your blessings in Grateful, during those 'down' moments you can be reminded of all the things in your life that you have to be grateful for.

Available here from iTunes.

4. Happyfeed

This is a private gratitude journal app allowing you to record happy moments each day. As well as securely recording these moments as they happen, Happyfeed also writes fun, silly, and informative daily reminders.

The more you use this app, the more valuable it becomes.

Head here to get the app.

6 Podcasts Focused on Gratitude

Podcasts are a convenient way to hear from experts, and can also be a good use of time such as when on public transport. There are some available on the topic of gratitude. Here they are...

The Gratitude Podcast is by Georgian Benta. It is devoted to all things gratitude, with over 500, 000 downloads. It includes interviews with successful people and getting them to share fascinating stories about how gratitude has helped them get to where they are now.

Episode 18 of the 'Being Well' podcast sees Dr Hanson and Forrest discuss the 5th of 12 strengths to be examined in the series - gratitude. They look at the role of positive emotions generally and especially the value of "thankfulness".

This podcast, "Why Gratitude Works" is by Christine Carter and Rona Renner. In it, these experts discuss the science of gratitude and the reasons why consciously practicing gratitude can improve people's happiness so markedly.

Featuring acclaimed author and grounded theory researcher, Brene Brown, the topic of this podcast is "On gratitude, vulnerability, and courage". When gratitude and the power of appreciating the smallest moments were discussed, the podcast became emotional.

This relatively short podcast, featuring Lewis Howes from the School of Greatness, looks at developing an 'attitude of gratitude'. Howes shares both expertise and personal experience - such as almost losing his father in a car accident, and how he learned not to take things for granted.

This podcast is slightly different to the others discussed above. It looks at gratitude as a skill, and how to build this skill. There is a lot covered in the podcast. If you don't have the time, or the inclination, to listen to a podcast a summary of the points covered is available on the site which is accessible from the hyperlink provided.

A Take-Home Message

I hope you have found this piece useful. I'm grateful for you, as a reader, who took the time to process some of these ideas.

The "gratitude muscle" is like any other muscle, in that it must be flexed periodically to remain strong.

Return to this page whenever you need a reminder about why gratitude is important to practice, or suggestions on how to boost your own sense of gratitude. Visit the section on developing gratitude in children to encourage your own children, clients, or students to commit to a lifetime of gratitude and happiness.

Thank you for reading, and please be sure to find at least three things to be grateful for today.

Do you have a regular gratitude practice? Are there other gratitude exercises that work for you? Please let us know in the comments section below.

We love hearing from you!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free.

For further reading, we suggest:

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13 Most Popular Gratitude Exercises & Activities

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We share gratitude exercises for your private practice or for teaching others about the science of happiness. Worksheets included!

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Practise square breathing

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Staying relaxed

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Sing-a-long

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Climb aboard a pirate ship and go this way, that way, forwards, backwards over the raging seas!

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Outside Games

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Crayon Rubbing

Most adults have done a crayon rubbing or two as kids themselves. This makes a game out of an art activity and doesn't require too much effort on the part of parents.

Make the Crayon Rubbings

It's best to show kids how to make one before they begin their hunt. Peel the paper off of an old crayon, set a piece of paper on a leaf or something with an interesting texture, just for demonstration purposes, and rub the crayon over the paper until the texture or shape outline starts to show through.

Once the group knows how to make a crayon rubbing, ask the kids to run around the yard to make crayon rubbings of as many different types of leaves as they can in 25 mins.

Encourage them to look closely and find leaves of varying shapes, sizes, and even leaves that have special features (like tears, bug bite marks, etc.) To save your landscaping, tell them that the leaves must already be lying on the ground.

The child that comes back with the most crayon rubbings of different types of leaves is the winner.

To continue playing, kids can go back out to make as many crayon rubbings as they can of different tree trunks, rocks, or anything else with an interesting surface.

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Easy and Classic Outdoor Games That Kids (And Parents) Love

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Most adults have done a crayon rubbing or two as kids themselves. This makes a game out of an art activity and doesn't require too much effort on the part of parents. It's best to show kids how to make one before they begin their hunt.

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Enjoy playing inside

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Welcome to our Inventory of Indoor Play Ideas! Check them out and find a cure for Cabin Fever. There are a lot more on the blog that we are organizing and adding daily, so check back often. Perfect for that snowy/rainy/indoor day 🙂 Create Your Own Racetrack...with Wikki Stix Polar Bear Science Polar Bear Balance ...

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Easy Cooking

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Easy Cooking with Kids recipes

Discover some easy recipes to get cooking with your kids and have fun with food!

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Discover some easy recipes to get cooking with your kids and have fun with food! We collect information on how quizzes are used so we can make them even better. Find out more To enjoy the CBeebies website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on.

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Practise Breathing

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Mindful Activity of the Day #5: BALLOON BREATH

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Ideas for Helping Children Practise Mindfulness

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Ideas for Helping Children Practise Mindfulness

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Be Mindful

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Put simply, mindfulness is "to pay attention, on purpose, to the present moment" (Grossman, 2016).

The positive benefits of teaching mindfulness to children have been proven across a number of studies. Incorporating mindfulness into everyday classroom activity is becoming more and more common. A five or ten-minute daily mindfulness practice can see students reduce stress and anxiety, increase concentration and engagement, sleep better, improve social skills, and develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.

5-10 Minute Mindfulness Activities for Children

Here are 18 quick and effective mindfulness activities you can do with your class. These activities are also available as a printable teaching resource, Mindfulness Activity Task Cards.

If you have never practised mindfulness before you may like to:

Breath Awareness Activities

These are the first stop on your students' journey to mindfulness. Their breath is the one thing that willalways be with them.

Explicitly teaching mindful breathing is providing students with a skill that will be with them for life, in every situation they will ever encounter.

Is that not one of the most powerful lessons you can ever teach?

Students can stand or sit for this activity.

Ask students to put both hands on their belly.

Students should close their eyes, or look down to their hands.

Guide students in taking three slow deep breaths in and out to see if they can feel their hands being moved.

You may like to count "1, 2, 3" for each breath in and "1, 2, 3" for each breath out, pausing slightly at the end of each exhale.

Encourage students to think about how the breath feels, answering the following questions silently, in their mind.
- What is moving your hands? Is it the air filling your lungs?
- Can you feel the air moving in through your nose?
- Can you feel it moving out through your nose?
- Does the air feel a little colder on the way in and warmer on the way out?
- Can you hear your breath?
- What does it sound like?

If you'd prefer not to wing it, download and print our Mindful Breathing Guided Meditation Script.

#2 Pinwheel Breathing
(5 minutes)

Providing students with an object to focus on is a great way to encourage concentration during mindfulness lessons. Use pinwheels in conjunction with the mindful breathing exercise above, making the pinwheel spin with every exhale.

We have created a beautiful pinwheel template that combines mindfulness colouring with this simple craft activity.

#3 Belly Buddies
(10 minutes)

Ask students to bring in a small stuffed toy, or provide a class set of small, light-weight objects such as small bean bags or wooden blocks.

Students lay on their backs and place the toy or object on top of their belly buttons.

Take students through the guided breathing activity above, asking them to watch the object as it moves up and down with their breath.

#4 Shark Fin
(2 minutes)

Coined by former Mindful Schools co-founder Laurie Gossman and Mr Musumeci's Grade 5 class of the book "Master of Mindfulness: How to Be Your Own Superhero in Times of Stress" fame, the Shark Fin is a fantastic tool that you can use during any quick moment in your day. It will help to calm your class, or individual students, when their minds and bodies may be fighting against them.

Place the side of your hand on your forehead, with your palm facing out to the side.

Close your eyes.

Slide your hand down your face, in front of your nose.

Say "shhh" as you slide your hand down your face

If you are sitting down, you do the 5 Ss while you move your hand: Sit up straight, sit still, sit silently, soft breathing, shut eyes.

If you are standing do the same but you are standing straight, still, silently, using soft breathing and shut eyes while you move your hand down your face.

"Master of Mindfulness" (Grossman & Alvarez, 2016)
This activity is similar to the first mindful breathing activity, however it uses visualising colours as a means to increase focus and awareness. You may like to download our printable Breathing Colours Guided Meditation Script.

Ask students to think of a relaxing colour. It can be any colour they like, as long as it is one that makes them think of relaxation.

Ask students to think of a colour that represents stress, sadness or anger. Whichever of those emotions is most relevant or suitable for your class group to explore.

Students imagine breathing in the relaxing colour and visualise it filling their lungs.

Students then imagine breathing out the stress, sadness or anger colour.

Your spoken instructions may be along these lines:

Imagine you are surrounded by the relaxing colour. No longer is the air clear, it is the relaxing colour.

You can still make out shapes, but your world is now a different colour.

Imagine that as you breathe in, you breathe in this colour too.

See the colour filling up your lungs.

Imagine as you breathe out, that your breath is the colour of stress.

See the stress colour mix into the relaxing colour around you. Watch the stress colour slowly disappear.

Breath in your relaxing colour.

Breath out the stress colour.

#6 Breathing Hands
(2 minutes)

Spread one hand out like a star.

Use the index finger on your other hand to trace the outline of your star hand.

Take a deep breath in as you move to the top of your thumb.

Breathe out as you move down between your thumb and first finger.

Take another breath in as you move to the top of your first finger.

Breathe out as you move down between your first and second finger.

Repeat until you have taken five slow, deep breaths.

#7 Back-to-Back Breathing
(10 minutes)

Students work in pairs for this partnered breathing activity.

Sitting tall, with their back resting against their partner's back, begin the mindful breathing from activity #1.

Encourage students to notice their partner's breath.
- Is it shallow or deep?
- Fast or slow?
- Can they feel their partner's back moving as they breathe?

After a little while, students may find that their breath falls into sync with their partner.

Or it may not! These are all talking points for bringing awareness to the breath, in the present moment.

You could incorporate your Mindfulness Pinwheels into this activity too.

(Jennifer Cohen Harper, Little Flower Yoga)
This is a fantastic activity that students can "take home" with them. It can be particularly useful to do a body scan to help relax before sleep. Download our printable Body Scan Guided Meditation Script to use with your class.

Students lay on the floor, with their eyes closed if they are comfortable (or they may prefer tolook at the ceiling).

Encourage students to pay attention to their feet for 5 or 10 seconds.
Questions to ask during a body scan:
- How does this body part feel?
- Is it cold or warm?
- Does it feel tight or relaxed?
- Is all or part of that body part touching the floor?
- Or clothing?
- What does that feel like?

Move on to their toes, then ankles, then calves and knees. Continue body part by body part until you reach the head.

Question how each part of the body feels to bring students' awareness to their body in the moment.

If there is tightness or stress, imagine breathing the stress out of that part of the body with each exhale.

Practising Active Mindfulness

Mindful breathing is arguably the most important skill you can teach your students when it comes to mindfulness. However, being able to incorporate into everyday activities the calm and focused state of mind that the breathing activities practise can be viewed as a more tangible end-goal.

The following 'active' practices help to hone the skill of mindful action. Some students who struggle with the 'still' mindfulness activities may be more likely to feel successful during active practices.

#9 Mindful Eats
(5 minutes)

This is a great activity to bring attention to how mindlessly we sometimes eat! Whether sitting in front of the tv, chatting to friends at lunch, or scrolling through something on the internet or social media, we often "switch off" when eating because it is such a familiar action.

Mindful eating can combat over-eating, it helps bring our attention to the flavours and tastes of different foods and helps us to realise what effects different foods have on how our bodies feel.

Students need something small to eat for this activity. Often a square of chocolate is a fun "challenge", although you could provide a piece of fruit or any food item that you feel will work with your class. Be sure to take any allergies into consideration!

Begin this practice with three deep breaths, or the Shark Fin activity (#4 above).

Direct students to take small nibbles or bites of the food.

Bring awareness to the sensations of eating.
- What is the taste like? Is it sweet or savoury?
- What does the food feel like on your tongue?
- Do you need to crunch it between your teeth, or can you slowly dissolve it in your mouth?
- Try taking a slightly smaller or slightly larger bite.
- How does this change the way eating this food feels?
- Notice which muscles in your mouth, neck and body move as you swallow the food.
- Pause between each bite and notice any changing sensations in your mouth or body.

#10 Mindful Steps
(10 minutes)

This activity is best completed outdoors and if suitable, students may like to walk barefoot.

Give students a clear boundary for where they can walk during this activity.

Each student selects a small area where they can walk in a line for about 5 or 6 steps and back then back to where they started without getting into another person's way.

Begin this practice with three deep breaths, or the Shark Fin activity (#4 above).

Take 5 or 6 steps in one direction, turn slowly and then take 5 or 6 steps back to where you started.

While walking, students bring their awareness to their breath and their body.
- What does the ground feel like under your feet?
- Which part of your foot touches the ground first when you take a step?
- Does your body feel heavy or light today?
- Are you slouching when you walk?
- Or, is your back up quite straight?
- Try not to change the way you walk, but instead just notice how your body naturally moves.

#11 Mindful Sounds
(2 minutes)

For this mindfulness activity, you will need something that makes a bell sound. There are some great meditation apps that have recorded bell, meditation cymbal and singing bowl sounds, however, if you can have one of these small instruments in real life, the sound is much better!

Begin this practice with three deep breaths, or the Shark Fin activity (#4 above).

Give the following instructions before ringing the bell:
- When I ring the bell concentrate on the sound that you hear.
- Pay attention to whether you hear it louder in one ear than you do in the other.
- Keep your eyes closed until the sound is completely gone.
- If you notice your thoughts wandering, just bring your attention back to the sound of the bell.
- After you open your eyes, remain silent until you hear my voice again.

Students close their eyes, while the teacher rings the bell.

The activity is finished when the sound has completely dissipated.

#12 Spidey Senses
(5 minutes)

Karen Young from Hey Sigmund has a beautiful collection of mindfulness activities for kids on her blog. Spidey Senses is a fun way to frame this traditional mindfulness exercise. Our five senses poster and graphic organiser can be useful resources for teaching the senses to younger students.

Ask students to switch their senses up to a superpower level, just like Spiderman.

In this moment,
- What can they hear?
- What can they see?
- What can they taste?
- What can they smell?
- What can they feel?

Guide students as they stay in this Spidey state for 2-3 minutes.

#13 Gratitude Practice
(5-10 minutes)

Students use a notebook or a folder and paper to make a Gratitude Journal.

Practise gratitude journaling at a regular time each day, perhaps first thing in the morning, after lunch or just before the end of the day.

Take five minutes to think of something that you feel grateful for today. Here are some topics or ideas you can use to guide your students:
- Something that someone else did for you that day.
- A person in your life that you appreciate.
- An activity or hobby you are grateful to be able to do.
- A positive quality of someone that can sometimes be hard to get along with.
- A skill or ability you have.
- A part of your body you are grateful for and why.
- An item that you love.
- Something that made you laugh.
- What you have learned from something that was hard.

Another beautiful idea is for each student to put their day's thanks into their own Gratitude Jar, or to create a Gratitude Tree where each day's thanks is written onto a 'leaf'. This could either be on a notice-board or be hanging on a string from the limb of a real plant or tree branch. (Mayuri Gonzales, Little Flower Yoga)

#14 Glitter Bottle
(5 minutes)

Use this familiar sensory bottle concept as a mean to explicitly teach how mindfulness can help to calm us when we are feeling stressed, anxious, sad or angry.
Preparation

Fill a bottle or jar with water, leaving 2-3 cm of space at the top.

Add a generous amount of glitter glue to the bottle (or a combination of PVC glue and regular glitter).

Seal the bottle well!

You may like to make one large bottle to use as an example for whole-class instruction, or a set of bottles that can be used by individuals or for small group rotations.

Directions

Shake the bottle well to mix the glitter, water and glue.

Share the following words with your students:

"Imagine that the glitter is likeyour thoughts when youre stressed, mad or upset. See how they whirl around and make itreally hard to see clearly? Thats why its so easy to make silly decisions when youre upset because youre not thinking clearly. Dont worry this is normal and ithappens in all of us (yep, grown-ups too).

[ Now put the jar down in front of them.]

Now watch what happens when youre still for a couple of moments. Keep watching. See how the glitter starts to settle and the water clears? Yourmind works the same way. When youre calm for a little while, your thoughts start to settle and you start to see things much clearer."
(by Karen Young of Hey Sigmund)
#15 Mindful Safari
(10-30 minutes)

Another beautiful child-friendly reframing of a traditional mindfulness practice is to take your students on a Mindful Safari.

Instruct students to remain quiet, calm their thoughts and move slowly while on safari.

Ask students to turn their sense of sight, touch and sound onto high.

Search for beautiful natural objects to explore.
- What does it look like?
- What colour is it?
- What does it smell like?
- Can I touch it?
- What does it feel like?

Search for mini-beasts and other creatures that move.

When they find a creature, encourage students to watch the creature in silence for as long as they would like to.
- What does it look like?
- How does it move?
- What colours can you see on its body?

#16Sense Countdown
(5 minutes)

A great one for older students, this is an extension of the Spidey Senses activity that can be used to help calm a busy mind and bring our awareness to the present moment.

Think of:

5 things you can see

4 things you can touch

3 things you can hear

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

#17 Heartbeat
(5 minutes)

Our heartbeat is an amazing representation of our emotions. Like our breath, it is always with us. So, we can use our heartbeat to connect with the present moment in times of difficulty or stress.

You might like to begin this practice with three deep breaths, or the Shark Fin activity (#4 above).

Students place their fingers or hands over the part of their body where they can best feel their pulse.
- on the side of their neck, under their jaw
- inside their wrist
- or, over their heart

Ask students to close their eyes and notice how quickly or slowly their heart is beating.

Encourage them to think about their current state of emotion and consider if this might be connected to how quickly or slowly their heart is beating.

Direct students to stand and jump up and down on the spot ten times.

Students return to sitting and feel their heartbeat again, noticing any changes.

Students may like to close their eyes and focus on their heartbeat until it slows back down.

#18 Add a Touchy Feely Focus
(5 - 10 minutes)

Saving the best for last, Shakti Burke gives these great tips for helping wiggly kids begin to master mindfulness. Burke suggests:

Restless minds are magnetised by the sensation of touch: we cant think and feel at the same time. The stroking and feeling itself (when using a prop to help children focus) becomes the meditation, in place of the breath awareness focus.

You might like to begin your class journey towards mindfulness with some of these more tactile activities.
Provide students with a prop to hold, touch, balance or focus their eyes on during one of the above activities.

small soft toys

small bean bags or beany pillows

stress balls

pieces of furry fabric

There you go! 18 amazing activities to help teach mindfulness in your classroom. Mindfulness truly is a skill that will benefit your students as individuals, long after they leave your classroom for the final time.

Check out our beautifully illustrated Mindfulness Activity Task Cards that you can use to support mindfulness practice with your students.

Whole Class Daily Mindfulness Activity Tracker

Track your class' progress to superhero status with these beautiful Mindfulness Activity Tracker Charts can be used to note each day of whole-class practice.

The charts are available in three formats:

Each download comes with a page of illustrated markers that can be stuck onto the chart. The black and white downloads of these trackers are also fantastic for students to use for their personal mindfulness practice.

If you are new to mindfulness for children, take a look at our post "Why You Should Be Teaching Mindfulness to Improve Student Learning" for practical tips and tricks to begin your class mindfulness practice routine. You can also download our Mindfulness Information Sheet for Teachers with eight succinct and actionable tips.

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18 Amazing Mindfulness Activities for the Classroom

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Mindfulness is a superpower that your students can master with just five minutes practise a day. Check out this list of 18 quick and amazing mindfulness...

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Songs for Younger Children - Super Simple Songs

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Songs for Younger Children - Super Simple Songs

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Enjoy Songs

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Making learning fun and simple! With billions of views, Super Simple Songs is a trusted resource for parents and teachers around the world. Our library of nursery rhymes, original songs, and animated videos are perfect for children between the ages of 1 and 8.

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The New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a place for kids to come and learn about the New York Philharmonic and about the instruments, music, musicians, composers and conductors of symphony music.

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The whole family can share the joy of gardening. Entertain your children with a range of educational activities that have been developed, in collaboration with the RHS, for four- to seven-year olds.

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Become an Active School

Primary Schools

Would YOUR school like to become an Active School?

This short video explains the process and the supports that are available to primary schools.

Find Out More

Post Primary

A NEW ASF process for post primary schools has been developed (ASFPP).

Upcoming Events

Tweets & Thoughts

November 9, 2021, 12:28 pm

RT @HealthyFingal: Follow @HealthyFingal to stay up to date with everything health and well-being wise in Fingal. #HealthyFingal @Healthy...

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Would YOUR school like to become an Active School? This short video explains the process and the supports that are available to primary schools. Find Out More A NEW ASF process for post primary schools has been developed (ASFPP). November 9, 2021, 12:28 pm RT @HealthyFingal: Follow @HealthyFingal to stay up to date with everything health and well-being wise in Fingal.

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The PDST PE team are delighted to share with you a recording of our livewebinar where we introduced participants to the area of Physical Literacy and explored how we can develop physically literate children through the lens of fundamental movement skills. This 1 hour live webinar intended to empower participants to use the 'Move Well, Move Often' resource to support the teaching and learning of PE whilst embedding fundamental movement skills into the strands of the curriculum.

The second webinar recording below revisits physical literacy, and how the physically literate pupil can be developed through the lens of fundamental movement skills. Additionally, further practical tools and strategies from the 'Move Well, Move Often' resource are highlighted that embed the development of fundamental movement skills in the PE programme.

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The PDST PE team are delighted to share with you a recording of our livewebinar where we introduced participants to the area of Physical Literacy and explored how we can develop physically literate children through the lens of fundamental movement skills.

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< Back to UNICEF COVID-19 portal < Back to UNICEF Parenting COVID-19 guide for parents
The scale and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for adults to wrap their minds around, much less children. And for so many, the pandemic continues to disrupt their education, recreation, and time with friends, family and teachers.

In 2020, "My Hero is You: how kids can fight COVID-19!", a story developed for and by children around the world, offered a way for children and parents to together think about the questions the pandemic raises. Designed to be read by a parent, caregiver or teacher alongside a child or a small group of children, the story was shaped by more than 1,700 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from around the world who took the time to share how they are coping with the impact of COVID-19.

A year later, "My Hero is You 2021: how kids can hope with COVID-19!" draws on the daily realities of millions of children since their lives were affected by COVID-19. The story - aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years - sees the return of Ario, a fantasy creature who travels the world helping children to find hope in the future and joy in simple pleasures. Together with old and new friends, Ario addresses the fears, frustrations and concerns children are facing in the current phase of the pandemic and explores the various coping mechanisms that they can use when faced with difficult emotions like fear, grief, anger and sadness.

The new story drew from responses to a survey of more than 5,000 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from around the world who described the challenges they continue to face in the second year of the pandemic.

The 'My Hero is You' series is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.

Read the parts one and two below.

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Back to UNICEF COVID-19 portal < Back to UNICEF Parenting COVID-19 guide for parents The scale and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for adults to wrap their minds around, much less children. And for so many, the pandemic continues to disrupt their education, recreation, and time with friends, family and teachers.

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Practise a little cooking

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Get the kids into the kitchen and turn them into little chefs with our easy and fun cooking projects and simple meals. They’ll love tasting their handiwork.

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Keep Active

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Over the past few weeks, the CSP team has been working with a number of partner organisations to create and develop a resource to support people of all ages and abilities to keep active during this uncertain time. With this in mind, we are delighted to present to you our 'Keep Cork Active' booklet and online resource.

Both the website and booklet for the campaign are now live with over 200 resources for people to choose from. Examples of some activities included are a variety of home exercise workouts for all ages and abilities, sports skills and challenges for the young and not so young, as well as interactive games and activities for all the family. This is complemented by a Health & Wellbeing section for everyone which is largely guided by reliable public health recommendations and advice.

The details of all content can be accessed through the following links or directly through the relevant section highlighted below:

To download and view the Keep Cork Active Booklet - Click here

To visit the Keep Cork Active website - www.activecork.ie

We have also initiated a number of other steps to provide offline support to those with no access to the internet including a WellComm Active phone line and hard copies of certain exercise programmes which you will find more information on below.

As this is a difficult time for all of us, keeping active is going to play an important part in our daily routines. We hope that this resource can play some small part in helping all members of our communities to keep active at home. The team would very much appreciate if you can help create more awareness of the resource and booklet to ensure we can all keep active together while staying apart.

If you require any further information or support with same, please let a member of the team know through any of the links below and we will be more than happy to help where we can.

Thanks for your support with helping to Keep Cork Active.

Stay Safe,

Cork Sports Partnership Team

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Over the past few weeks, the CSP team has been working with a number of partner organisations to create and develop a resource to support people of all ages and abilities to keep active during this uncertain time. With this in mind, we are delighted to present to you our 'Keep Cork Active' booklet and online resource.

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Instantly access and explore the world of Just Dance.

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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?