The activities on this page are divided into The Mindful Minute videos, Practices, and Games. Click on a menu heading to open the drop down list of activities.
Mindful Breathing Introduce belly breathing. Sit up straight and place hands on one's belly, so that each breath raises and lowers one's hands. What is the advantage of such breathing? By practicing belly breathing on purpose, our body learns to breathe that way most of the time, and it is a much more natural and calming way to get oxygen. In order to practice add time every day. If one can do it for 10 seconds, one can do it for 20, right? Some monks have been said to meditate in the same position for years...but we'll settle for a few minutes.
Breath of Joy:
1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and parallel, knees slightly bent.
2. Inhale one-third of your lung capacity and swing your arms up in front of your body, bringing them parallel to each other at shoulder level, with palms facing the ceiling.
3. Continue inhaling to two-thirds capacity and stretch your arms out to the side like wings to shoulder level.
4. Inhale to full capacity and swing your arms parallel and over your head, palms facing each other.
5. Open your mouth and exhale completely with an audible ha, bending the knees more deeply as you sink into a standing squat and swing your arms down and back behind you like a diver.
Body Scan: Guide students through a scan of bodily sensation, beginning at the toes and rising all the way to the head. Can be done standing, seated, or lying down on one’s back.
Freeze Dance: The teacher plays a song and the students dance! When the song pauses, students must freeze. The teacher will scan the room (or screen) and call out anyone who is not frozen. A movement results in doing the designated exercise (5 burpees, 10 sit-ups, 20 jumping jacks, etc.).
Mindful Eating: Eat a raisin together (or cherry, or grape, or any small piece of food). Confirm that it is okay for students to eat something during session. Then go through the process of eating mindfully. Examine the food carefully. Turn it over in your fingers. Smell it. Now taste it, chew slowly, notice the texture on the tongue, the various flavors. Experience the act of swallowing. Discuss how eating intentionally and slowly informed one’s experience. How many sensations were involved? What else was noticed?
Hand Breathing: Put one hand out ahead of you as if opening up for a high five, fingers splayed. With the finger of another hand begin to trace up and down the fingers. As you trace up a finger inhale; when you get to the fingertip and go up and over hold the breath; and as you drop down the other side of the hand exhale. Trace the whole hand and go back if you’d like.
Indoor Cairn Building: Grab 10 objects (at least three have to be different kinds of objects). The first person to build a free-standing tower of these objects “wins.” Place them carefully and pay attention to your movements, for the leaning tower of mindfulness can easily come crashing down.
Gratitude List: Think of something you are thankful for, appreciative of, or jazzed about. Either commit them to memory or write them down. Spend a few moments of mindful reflection considering this thing, and as you breath see if you can feel the gratitude in your body.
Melting Like a Snowman: Imagine that you are a snowman on a freezing cold day. Make your muscles tight and tense like the frozen snow. Keep squeezing your muscles as tight as you can. You are frozen. Now, the morning sun rises and it begins to shine down on you. You start to feel its gentle heat on your head. Your head begins to soften and melt. It drips down your body slowly as you begin to relax. Soon, it shines on your shoulders and they soften as they too defrost in the wam light. Now, you feel the warmth of the sunbeams slowly melt your stomach and back. They slide down into a warm puddle at your feet. Finally, the light reaches your legs and feet and you begin to feel fully relaxed as they drip into the puddle. Your body has completely melted into a pool of water. You are free from any tension or worry. You are warm, calm, and at peace.
*Give students some time to stay in this relaxed state*
When you are ready, you may sit up slowly and open your eyes. It’s time to become a human again! You are ready for your day.
Listening Landscape: Have students begin with a piece of paper and something to draw with. Play sounds from a landscape, be it the city, jungle, ocean, or desert. Have students listen and attempt to draw what they hear. Give them a few minutes to create a landscape, and then share one another's varied images of the same sounds.
Make a Rainstorm: This game is played with the teacher as the leader, and with the students following, but after the first time playing it select a student to be the leader the next time:
1. First you silently rub your fingers together, and the students do the same.
2. Then you rub your two hands together, making a very soft sound, and the students follow.
3. Next you very softly clap your hands together while the students follow, it should still be quiet.
4. Then snap your fingers.
5. Now go back to clapping and clap a little louder than you were snapping.
6. Then a little louder.
7. Then clap loudly.
8. Then stomp your feet and clap, making a lot of noise.
9. Now do it in reverse until it is silent again.
*This game signifies a rainstorm starting soft, getting louder and louder until it is pouring, with lightning and thunder, and then the calm after the storm when it is quiet again.
Change Two Things: This game will challenge the students observational awareness and is a nice way to cool down and wrap-up. Everyone will spend 30 seconds studying each other (or the screen) very intently. When the teacher indicates time is up, everyone will turn around (or turn off video for 30 seconds) and change two things about their appearance that were visible before. When the teacher indicates time is up, everyone comes back and studies their peers. If someone notices something that has changed about someone, they can raise their hand and the teacher will call on them so they can share their observation.
One Minute Challenge: Everyone begins standing up. There is no talking or looking at a watch or clock or moving around. When the teacher will give a signal and start a timer. The goal for each person is to time exactly one minute in their head and sit down when they believe one minute has passed. The teacher will try and keep track of when people sit down, but mainly attempt to identify who is closest to one minute. At the end the teacher can let everyone know their times.
Statue: The teacher is the “museum guard”, and their job is observing all the statues in the museum to make sure they remain frozen. However when the guard looks away, the statues like to change positions. When the guard looks back, the statues must be frozen. A movement results in doing the designated exercise (5 burpees, 10 sit-ups, 20 jumping jacks, etc.).
The Mirror Game: Pair up and choose which partner is A and which is B. When the teacher calls upon A to lead, B attempts to mirror their movements. When the teacher calls upon B to lead, A attempts to mirror the movements of B. When the teacher says, “No lead,” neither A nor B tries to initiate movements, yet they must continue to mirror. See what unfolds! Then switch pairings.
Tear a Horse: Start with a blank piece of paper. Everyone closes their eyes and when the teacher says “start”, everyone tries to tear their piece of paper into the shape of a horse without looking. At the end share your horses!