Craft ideas for inspiring mindfulness in preschoolers can be an excellent way to help these young children learn how to better focus, tune into their emotions, and practice mindfulness. In preschool classrooms, mindfulness activities can provide a much-needed break from the regular classroom routine and create an opportunity for students to relax and recenter themselves. Craft projects are a great way to help foster mindfulness because they allow children to take their time and express themselves creatively.
Craft ideas for mindfulness can include sensory projects like creating a calming lavender pouch or making suncatchers with tissue paper and glue. These types of craft activities provide preschoolers with an opportunity to focus on the activity at hand, use their fine motor skills, and explore their creativity. Additionally, mindfulness crafts can also include activities related to nature. For example, preschoolers can collect leaves from the playground and press them in a craft book or create a mural with natural materials found outside like sticks and stones.
Ultimately, mindfulness crafts for preschoolers are an excellent way for children to learn mindfulness skills while having fun and engaging in creative projects.
20 craft ideas for inspiring mindfulness in preschoolers can include:
1. Creating a mindfulness jar filled with glitter and water, which will move and sparkle as the child shakes it. Here’s a YouTube link to demonstrate how you can teach the children about mindfulness using the jar.
2. Making a wind chime out of natural materials like sticks, stones, and shells. Place the chime outside on a day where the wind will cause the chimes to gently sound, as the child sit and listen to the chimes, noticing their thoughts and emotions) how the experience makes them feel.
3. Creating a calming lavender pouch with lavender flowers, fabric scraps, and an essential oil spray bottle sprayed onto the fabric before sewing it shut. Use the lavender pouch as a rest time meditation by having the children place it across their foreheads.
4. Decorating a mindfulness mandala using colored paper and glue for an engaging art project that can also be used to practice mindfulness skills. Once it’s finished ask the child to sit and focus on their breathing as they look at the mandala. After 2 minutes ask them to chat about how they feel and what thoughts popped up for them.
5. Designing suncatchers using tissue paper and glue to make colorful decorations for windows or other areas around the classroom can become a great cue within the environment to ask the children to take a moment and ‘notice the rooms temperature and how it makes them feel (both on their skin (sensations) and inside their bodies (thoughts, emotions. moods). If you make a poster and repeat the task within all four seasons, the children may be able to contemplate how different seasons may affect how they feel (emotions and sensations) and think.
6. Planting a vegetable garden in the classroom and having students take care of it together. Use the time in the garden to practice 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (5 things you can see; 4 things you can feel; 3 things you can hear; 2 things you can smell; 1 thing you can taste/ or 1 thing you love about the day). Complete a ‘mindful drawing’ of the garden, asking the children to focus on completing the drawing by remembering to return to the breath when a thought other than a thought about the garden drawing pops up.
7. Creating mindfulness stones out of clay (or pebbles) and paint them with a special symbol (a word or heart or shape) which can then be used as reminders to breathe and practice mindfulness during stressful times.
8. Making mindfulness collages with pictures, words, and phrases that remind preschoolers to focus on the present moment.
9. Go outside on a cloudy day for a cloud meditation. Ask the children to notice what they can see in the clouds. Explain to the children that they are really seeing what’s in their mind and the clouds are acting like a picture book to show them what’s inside of them mind. After the meditation create a circle chat for the children to share what they saw. Follow up with a journalling session to recall the experience with coloured pencils or paint.
10. Creating mindfulness books using paper, glue, crayons or markers so that preschoolers can express themselves visually through art projects.
11. Cutting shapes out of colorful paper to make mindfulness cards that can be laminated and hung up in the classroom, for example, ‘Being present’; ‘Belonging to our Kindy’; ‘Becoming good friends’; Being Grateful; Belonging to the earth; Becoming good stewards’. Signs like these can lead to wonderful term projects and beautiful short meditation sessions.
12. Conducting mindfulness exercises such as mindful breathing, mindful eating and mindfulness walking. Add craft by following up the exercise by creating a picture college of their experiences using cut outs from magazines.
13. Making mindfulness necklaces out of colorful beads to remind preschoolers to pause, take a deep breath, and practice mindfulness throughout the day. For example, a necklace with 3 nice big painted beads can remind the child to take 3 nice big breaths when they notice they are feeling upset. You can practice what that might look like as a group. Practice daily, and label the exercise, for example, ‘the big calm practice’, so the children recall the technique easily.
14. Explore mindfulness through yoga, tai chi or Flow Form sessions either in the classroom or outside on the grass.
15. Creating mindfulness trees using paper, glue, and markers so that each child can hang up their own leaf containing something that reminds them of mindfulness (like a phrase, word or picture).
16. Collecting natural materials from outside like leaves and sticks for art projects like a mural or mandala. Have the children work in small groups to encourage social and emotional intelligence. Begin with a loving kindness mediation based of being kind to others, end with a gratitude meditation focused on being thankful for others, spending time together, creative learning, and natural materials provided by mother nature for creating beautful art.
17. Give each child a large craft book to create a mindfulness journal to be used after each session. Provide cut and paste material, paint, pencils, crayons, markers, etc. for creating a variety of different journals experiences (exploring the various media).
18. Making mindfulness hats out of construction paper and decorations like glitter, feathers, and fabric scraps. Wear the ‘mindfulness hats’ as a way of making a 2 minute breathing exercise a very special experience, and help the children stay focused.
19. Create a mindfulness poster with pencils, or crayons to decorate the classroom and help the children recall mindfulness meditations they have practiced in previous sessions. List each new exercise on the poster.
20. Creating mindfulness bracelets using colorful beads or string to remind preschoolers to pause and practice mindfulness throughout the day. For example, use 5 to 10 beads for each bracelet and ring a bell throughout the day, asking the children to hold one of the beads as they return to their breathing for 2 to 5 breaths.
Mindfulness crafts are an excellent way for preschoolers to engage with mindfulness while having fun with creative projects that foster self-expression and exploration of their imaginations! Not only do these craft ideas inspire relaxation and creativity in children, but they also provide them with useful mindfulness tools that can be used to manage emotions and de-stress in times of need. The possibilities for mindfulness crafts are endless, so get creative and have fun!
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