Today I want to help you bring a little more calm into the classroom. To do that I will tell you exactly how to introduce mindfulness in kindergarten.
In addition to being an Ontario Certified and Nova Scotia Certified teacher and a Kindergarten Specialist, did you know I am also a certified children's yoga teacher? I am! I took a certification program with a friend of mine back in 2019 to learn more about how to teach breathing, mindfulness and postures to our littles because I was finding so much success with the yoga inspired lessons I had already been trying in my class.
And now I am sharing that knowledge with you!
When introducing mindfulness to your littles you want to keep the experiences short, sweet and positive. My motto with mindfulness in k is always, “quit while you're ahead”.
What I mean by that is we don't want to keep the exercises going to the point where our students get antsy and start to break their focus. We want to end them while everyone (or at least the vast majority) are succeeding and on task. That way we end on a positive with everyone remembering the expectations, and the feeling of calm associated with this time of day.
Slowly, you will be able to extend the time frame, but in the beginning your mindfulness sessions could be as short as 5 minutes long. Their stamina and understanding of the expectations will build, and before you know it you'll be sitting in meditative silence with your 30 kinders for 15 minutes of bliss and your admin will walk in and be amazed and join in and you'll feel like an absolute magician.
^Based on a true story.
We can't just jump into that 15-minute silent circle (obviously). Here's the order I find most successful with kinders- you might stick with one for a day, a week or even a month before trying the next thing on the list. There's no right or wrong time commitment here. Today's episode will walk you through these steps:
>>> Breathing
>>> Mindful Moments
>>> Guided Meditation
>>> Asanas (yoga postures
There are no rules on how long you should be spending on each step and I promise the slow burn is totally worth it when your solid mindfulness practice is in place!
>> LINK TO THE LION FREEBIE
NEED MORE INFO ON STARTING UP A MINDFULNESS PRACTICE?
I AM HERE TO HELP! Chat with me on instagram @aplayfulpurpose or send me an email mariah@aplayfulpurpose.com