Planting a "Heart Garden" : Mindful Kids written by Whitney Stewart and Illustrated by Mina Braun (Barefoot Books Publishing)
Guide children (and yourself) through a short guided visualization.
Throughout the activity, every few sentences, remind children to take a deep breath "take a deep breath...breathe in through your nose and fill up your belly...breath out through your nose and let it all out"
Remember to breathe deeply along with children.
1. Invite children to lay down and to close their eyes if they'd like.
2. Encourage children to find a comfortable position for their own bodies. Trust that children know
what's most comfortable for their bodies.
3. Ring bell/rainstick/calming sound to begin.
4. You can gently remind children to "save their words" until the activity is done and that you want
to hear their words after the bell and when they open their eyes. (A lot of children will be
excited to share during visualization and will need gentle reminders to keep it in their hearts
until it's sharing time.)
5. After visualization, ring bell/ rainstick/ calming sound and invite children to sit up and to open
their eyes.
6. After visualization ask children what they imagined:
"What word did you plant in your heart?"
"What did your word grow into?"
7. You might want to share what you imagined too.
To purchase the full deck of Mindful Kids Cards please see the Barefoot Books Website
Extension Opportunity:
Invite children to draw or paint their heart garden. (You can help children write the words
that go along with their work)
Collaboration Opportunity:
If you'd like to share, please email a photo of your child's heart garden expression to
ourchildrenscentercommunity@gmail.com to be put together in a world community heart
garden and shared around the globe! ♥
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