Mindfulness Strategies for Young Learners

In our loud and busy world, where information comes to us from every direction, how can educators empower young learners to make intentional choices, respond to challenges, and self-regulate? Asking myself this big question led me to personal inquiry and ultimately led me to enroll in a mind and brain education course. My key takeaway was that mindfulness practices are research-backed, impact students’ well-being, support self-regulation, and enhance teaching and learning. Mindfulness, contrary to my initial belief, goes beyond meditation and is a secular and inclusive practice, anchored in mental, sensorial, and emotional awareness.

This knowledge set me on a mission: What kind of mindfulness practices could fit into any curriculum and context and still foster joy through play-based learning experiences? With my preschool and kindergarten students (ages 4 to 6) in mind, I started planning and applying some simple but mighty strategies.

Engaging in Self-Checks for Body and Mind Awareness

To kick off, my students explored words and body language to describe their feelings. We played “Feelings Statue”—dancing to music before freezing in a pose to demonstrate the feeling that was said when the music stopped. A leader was chosen for each round, and they could pick the feeling of their choice. Photography was another fun activity, as students posed as angry, sad, frustrated, happy, etc., to build an anchor chart for our display board. We also enjoyed the read-aloud of Listening to My Body, by Gabi Garcia, illustrated by Ying Hui Tan. This book reinforces the fact that all feelings matter and can be noticed by paying attention to our bodies.

Once my students had developed the language to describe their feelings, I shifted their focus to self-checks with guiding questions such as What is my body telling me? How am I feeling now? How do I know? The story Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda, by Lauren Alderfer, illustrated by Kerry Lee MacLean, talks about “monkey mind”—how sometimes our mind is so full of distractions that we end up missing out on the beauty of the present moment.

After reading it, we collaboratively decided on what a mind full of distractions versus a mindful mind looks, feels, and sounds like. Then, we agreed to return to the mindful one when our monkey mind took us away. Eric Carle’s book Calm With the Very Hungry Caterpillar, served as another invitation for students to reflect on feelings and come back to the present moment. 

Using mindfulness through storytelling supported my students’ language development with new vocabulary and sentence structure, and also helped them to contextualize mindfulness through engaging characters and plots.

Building a Toolbox of Self-Regulation Strategies

The books on reflection led my students to wonder about the feelings they wanted to keep and those they wanted to discard—but, most important, how they could do it. That was when I introduced the big word “self-regulation” and the question How can we self-regulate? Together, we developed a list of strategies to choose from, including running laps around the playground, reading a book, pushing the wall, coloring, using five-finger breathing, and taking a mindful walk, to name a few. The book Breathe Like a Bear, by Kira Willey, illustrated by Anni Betts, was a valuable resource that my students kept referring back to, offering 30 mindful moments, one chapter and breath at a time.

Mindful toys, however, proved to be their top choice. It all started with a stuffed monkey and an inconsolably crying 4-year-old student in the classroom. After trying everything to comfort them, I grabbed the little monkey and said, “Why don’t we try hugging the Mindful Monkey?” From the next day on, each student had one mindful stuffed toy they had brought from home and kept in the classroom for emergencies, which illustrates how the sense of touch can be a powerful anchor.

Soon, my students started making choices to self-regulate, and, most important, they explained why they were doing it. The beauty is that while some students chose to be quieter and more relaxed, others preferred intense action, which honors the diverse ways we can be mindful and grounded.

Practicing Heartfulness

As part of our daily routine, we held a gratitude moment circle, where students volunteered to share what they were grateful for. In addition, I modeled writing thank-you cards and apology notes, which my students immediately picked up. This writing activity encourages them to develop healthy relationships and apply phonics, writing skills, and creativity in the illustrations that go with their words.

Another heartfulness highlight was my adapted Loving-Kindness Meditation. The whole class sat in a circle with their eyes closed and were guided to think of someone they loved, someone challenging, and themselves, repeating this:

May you/I be happy,

may you/I feel calm,

may all go well with you/me.

The impact was evident: Nurturing the awareness and demonstration of thoughts and feelings led to a greater sense of community in the classroom and fostered students’ genuine and spontaneous kindness to themselves and others.

Create a Self-Regulation Corner

The last project of the academic year was developed for our student-led conferences, when my students chose to show their parents the different ways and strategies they learned for how to be mindful. The self-regulation corner included their favorite books, mindful and sensorial toys, a flowerpot for mindful sketching, and a soothing view to our garden for mindful breathing and looking.

Mindfulness Supercharges Learning

Including these strategies throughout the year was a game-changer in my classroom. Moving away from self-control to self-management of feelings was grounding for my students and supported their attention and focus. Engaging in mindfulness as part of our daily classroom routines built a sense of community because students felt safe to talk about how they felt and empowered to do something about it.

The positive impact on my students was a turning point in my career as an educator, as it strengthened my focus on holistic learning and development. Ultimately, I witnessed how emotional safety leads to brainpower, as a happy, focused, safe, and calm brain is a brain that is ready to learn.