The School Counselors Zone
Mindfulness Resources and Other Home Activities
I hope and trust that you all are doing well, and know that we miss seeing all of your faces so much!! Since we can't see your beautiful faces, Mrs. Newton and I have decided to put out weekly a activity on Monday's centered on mindfulness. Mindfulness Mondays, will included strategies, activities, and things we can do at home to keep us engaged and moving, so we don't become bored and restless. If we were in school right now, you guys know that Ms. Brown would be asking you to tell me what Zone is bored and what zone is restless, and I know you guys would tell me blue and yellow, right!!!
Fun Mindfulness Activities
There is a lot going on in the world right now with this corona virus causing us to be on lock down. As a result, we can’t go anywhere and we’re just stuck in the house, which has its own ups and downs. This may cause some of you to feel worried because you don’t want to get sick, happy because you get to stay at home, but also at times frustrated and annoyed with your siblings and family. Well boys and girls, this is when mindfulness comes in handy. Mindfulness, simply means you’re taking time to stop and pay attention to what is going on inside of you, like how your body feels, your feelings, and thoughts, and surroundings, and then focusing on them, which helps with calming down. Doing mindfulness activities at home can help you remain calm, it gives you a reset, and can help you gain focus when you’re working on your school work, plus it can be fun! Below are some activities for you to try out with your parents’ permission of course.
Mindfulness with Mind Yeti
Mind Yeti is a great resource for mindfulness, and has a plethora of videos to help kids calm down, gain focus, and reset,
Mandala Coloring Pages
A mandala is a circle or geometric figure that can be seen everywhere,. Think of a mandala as the space you are living in. For example, where ever you are sitting or standing reading right now is part of a mandala. Items in your home like your tv, your bed, the clock, as well as nature (flowers, plants, trees) are all part of mandalas. With that being said, mandala drawings can consist of many shapes and designs. Click on the button below to go to supercoloring.com. Supercoloring.com have plenty of mandalas to choose from and you can download coloring pages for free, or you can color the mandala while on your devise.
Joy Jar
Create a joy jar with your family at home. Think about places, people, and things you would like to do once everything goes back to normal. Each week, or day, depending on how you and your family choose to do your jar, add something to the jar. Once everything goes back to normal, each day, week, or month, pull from the jar and you and your family will do what was written down!! If you choose to do a joy jar I would love to see how you guys decorated it and let me know all about it once we return to school!!
Yoga
Yoga is a great way to get center, calms you down, all while moving your body. Click on the video for a fun yoga routine.
Sensory Glitter Balls
These are super fun and easy to make. Sensory glitter balls can be used as a way to help us calm down and gain focus. Try making a bottle, and once you are done, shake it up, and notice how when you shake it, the glitter just goes every where. While shaking the bottle, I want you to think about how you feel when you're frustrated, mad, annoyed, worried, or stressed, you can't focus or think clearly. So, you see the glitter bottle when shaken is how we feel when we begin to lose control and find our selves in the yellow and red zone. However, once the bottle is still, you will see the glitter eventually starts to fall and settle. This is what happens when when we're calm and in the green zone, we're focused and ready to go.
Click the link for step by step instructions on how to a make glitter bottles.
https://www.kendallrayburn.com/2016/04/sensory-glitter-bottles/
Yoga
Yoga is a great way to get center, calms you down, all while moving your body. Click on the video for a fun yoga routine.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
This is a quick way we can reset to get ourselves focus, calm, and ready to go.
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Breathing Activity Cards
Breathing exercises are quick exercises you can do to help you gain focus, calm down, or just simply get into a relaxed state. Below is a link to the rest of the breathing cards.
Dancing
Extra Fun
While dancing isn't necessarily mindfulness, I included this video because its a fun dance routine you can do when boredom strikes you and it gets you moving.
Important Message: Wash Your Hands and Sing With ME!!!!!
Boys and girls, it is really important that we wash our hands! Washing our hands will help keep us safe from germs and getting sick. So remember to always wash your hands before putting your hands near your face. Mrs. Newton, has a fun way for us to wash our hands, lets all sing.
Wash Your Hands And Sing With Me Old Town Road!!!!!
Start singing the verse of Old Town Road. (Sing the Verse Twice)
Wash your hands add soap
Scrub the front and the back of your hands
Scrub in-between your fingers
Wash in a circular motion around your thumb
Wash your nails
Rinse your hand to wash of the soap
Dry your hands.
The verse of Old Town Road last 30 seconds. You need to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds.