Mindfulness Activities and Teaching Resources

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Scroll down for:    

• Advice on Teaching Mindfulness
• Activities for Practicing Mindfulness, Compassion, Gratitude, and Social-Emotional Skills
• Links to Mindfulness Resources   
• Links to Resources on Compassion, Social-Emotional Learning, and related topics        

Advice on Teaching Mindfulness 

If you are new to teaching mindfulness and related practices: 

• You might want to start with Five Senses, Gratitude, or Noncompetitive Games. 
• If at all possible, please try any activities yourself before teaching them to other people. 
• Please don't push anyone beyond their comfort level, for example if they don't want to close their eyes during meditation or prefer not to share personal information with the group.   
• The interviews with experienced mindfulness teachers and teacher trainers give a lot of suggestions for teaching different ages of students in different contexts around the world.
• I strongly suggest reading at least one of the recommended mindfulness books, which will put the activities in context and help you prepare for the common challenges in teaching mindfulness and compassion, such as working with reluctant students or coping with strong emotions that might come up in meditation. (MindfulTeachers.org receives no financial benefit from books ordered through links on this site.)  
• You may want to read the following posts before choosing an activity for your class:   

• 7 Reasons Mindfulness Might Not "Work" for Everyone 
• 7 Ways to Teach Mindfulness Outside of a Mindfulness Program 
• Breathing Buddies and Vibratones: Mindfulness for Young Children
• Eight Principles of Teaching Mindfulness Meditation to Adolescents
• How Teachers Can Share Mindfulness with Their Students 

    

Practicing Mindfulness, Compassion, Gratitude, and Social-Emotional Skills

Present-Moment Awareness 

• Mindful or Mindless? analyzing characters in books and movies
• Time to Breathe: awareness of the present moment  

Body Awareness and Mindful Movement     

• Body Scan: awareness of the body
• Giant Strides: a seated walking practice  
• Trying on Different Shapes: mindfulness of mood and posture  

Relaxation           

• Pebble Meditation: a mindfulness activity to cultivate peace   
• Relaxed Abdominal Breath: stress reduction through mindful breathing   
• Tense and Let Go: yoga nidra relaxation practice

   

Emotions and Thoughts          

• Are You Happy? songs for reflection and discussion
• Emotion Improv: an exercise for developing mindfulness of feelings  
• Harnessing the Four Elements: a mindfulness activity for facing challenges  
• One-Word Labeling : thoughts, emotions, sensations, and urges  
• Restless Mind: typical strategies for denying stress

   

Five Senses            

• Counting Sounds: a mindful walking practice 
• Five Contemplative Art Practices
• Noticing the Five Senses: a daily mindfulness log
• Five Senses Snack: a mindful eating chart
• Rainbow Walk: a mindfulness activity to move the body and rest the mind
• Red, Orange, Yellow: a mindful driving practice  

  

Compassion, Kindness, and Service    

• Community Service Projects, Pre-K through College 
• I Wish You Peace: a simple lovingkindness meditation 
• The Sound of Compassion: songs for reflection and discussion  
• The Sound of Compassion 2: songs for reflection and discussion  
• Views on Compassion: videos for reflection and discussion  
• Views on Compassion 2: videos for reflection and discussion

Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion       

• Compassionate Image: a guided visualization practice  
• Great Children's Songs about Mindfulness, Self-Acceptance, and Gratitude
• Next Time I'll Do Better: recognizing and learning from mistakes  
• Personal Triggers: recognizing the causes of problematic behavior
• The Sound of Self-Acceptance: songs for reflection and discussion  
• Wise Elder Visualization: a practice for parents and teachers               

Effective Communication/Mindful Speech/Relational Mindfulness    

• Changing the Script : a mindful way to handle annoyance  
• Power Struggles: case studies in mindful communication  
• T.H.I.N.K. Before You Speak: case studies in mindful speech  
• T.H.I.N.K. Before You Speak 2: case studies in mindful speech      

Gratitude             

• The Sound of Gratitude: songs for reflection and discussion    
• The Sound of Gratitude 2: songs for reflection and discussion     

Noncompetitive Games and Group Activities           

• Human Camera: a mindfulness activity to engage the senses    
• Marble Roll: a noncompetitive game for teaching mindfulness     
• No Winners or Losers: noncompetitive games for kids      

   

Links to Resources on Mindfulness

  

Mindfulness for Children app

Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, developed by Dr. Ruth Baer   

  

Do’s and don’ts when teaching mindfulness, by Deborah Schoeberlein at Huffington Post      

  

Eight Tips for Teaching Mindfulness in High School by Patrick Cook-Deegan at  Greater Good     

Five Tips for Teaching Mindfulness to At-Risk Teens, by Karen Bluth at Greater Good

  

Guided Meditations for Teens from MindfulnessforTeens.com    

Guided Meditations in English and Spanish from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

  

How to teach mindfulness, by Emily Drabble at The Guardian     

How Teaching Mindfulness Benefits Learning, by Saga Briggs at informED

  

Mindfulness and children: 6 lessons for teaching the joy of the moment, by Bill Gerlach at The New Pursuit           

Mindfulness can make you popular: How to get your teen to meditate, at Mindful Hub 

  

Mindfulness Activities for Children from JoyfulMind.net     

  

Nine Awesome Mindfulness Videos on YouTube, from Mrs. Mindfulness   

  

Self-Guided MBSR Course: Free 8-week online course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction   

  

Teaching Mindfulness to Teens: 5 Ways to Get "Buy-In"  from Left Brain Buddha

  

Tips for teaching mindfulness to kids  by Meghan Cowan at The Greater Good     

  

Links to Resources on Compassion, Social-Emotional Learning, and related topics    

Bullybust.org has film clips about different types of bullying, with discussion questions and teaching guides.   Plus videos of ‘Upstanders’—bystanders who stand up for those who are bullied.

The Center for Adolescent Studies blog:  tips for working with resistant teens, setting appropriate boundaries, deciding when to disclose personal information, etc.     

Classroom Lessons on Social-Emotional Learning and sensitively teaching current and controversial issues, from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility.

  
The Coalition to Support Grieving Students: "The site covers a range of grief-related topics to provide training resources specially designed for school professionals."                     

Fables to Grow On, to promote social and emotional learning, as well as literacy skills    

Five Reasons We Can't Ignore Social-Emotional Learning by Sasha Briggs at InformED

  

Lesson Plans on civil rights, immigration, and discrimination from Teaching Tolerance    

Love Is Respect has resources on healthy relationships vs. dating abuse.

No Stigmas has a directory of mental health resources  and a peer support group.    

  

Online Yoga Resources for Every Body: This is a list I put together of the best advice on teaching yoga to those of us who don't fit the profile of a "typical" yoga student.  (For example, because of a larger body or a disability.)       

  

7 Tips for Positively Managing Student Behavior from Quill.com    

If you like this page, please share it using the social media buttons below. And if you know of additional resources that you'd like to see included on this page, please post a comment or contact me at mindfulteachers[at]gmail[dot]com. (I will only include links to resources related to mindfulness, compassion, and social-emotional learning. I don't accept sponsored/affiliate links.)