• Activity: Design a Music Playlist - Pick a preferred emotion (happy, calm, etc.) and create a list of songs that inspire you to feel that emotion. Perhaps create your very own COVID-19 playlist..:)...You could even write or create your own COV19 Inspired Tunes to Help Others...

• Worksheets:

• Thoughts, Feelings, Actions,

• Anger Warning Signs

• PDF: Wheel of Emotions

• Create Your own Comic of Your COVID-19 Experience

• Keep a Daily Journal About Your Experience

• Planet Fitness - has a daily workout on Facebook Live at 7:00 pm. If you can’t tune in and participate at 7:00 pm, go back and view it later.

• CorePower Yoga On Demand - If you are not a member, they are giving you full unlimited access to all online classes. They will also be streaming live classes for you each day at 8am, 1pm and 6pm MT.

• Cosmic Kids Yoga - Cosmic Kids is an incredible kid-friendly approach to yoga

• Believe in YOU- series designed to educate students and staff about the incredible power of believing in yourself, despite the challenges and trials that life may present.

• STRONG by Zumba (On YouTube) combines bodyweight, cardio, muscle conditioning and plyometric training synced to music. Several at-home workout options are available on YouTube with no equipment needed. Options include 7-minute, 20-minute and 30-minute classes.

• Les Mills-This workout class creator is offering free classes on their streaming platform, LES MILLS on Demand until the coronavirus outbreak is over. The site has 95 video classes for Body Combat, Body Pump, Barre, cardio training, mindfulness and more.

• Stretch and Grow of the Rockies is a kids health and wellness enrichment company that teaches children age-appropriate fitness and yoga routines.Jillian Sterner is the CEO and has started uploading daily “Brain Breaks” on YouTube that include a 10-minute video of yoga poses, breathing techniques, and exercises.

• Fitness Blender offers hundreds of free workout videos ranging in difficulty, length, and body focus.

• Down Dog maintains five fitness and yoga apps that offer yoga practices or at-home workouts: Down Dog, Yoga for Beginners, HIIT, Barre and 7 Minute Workout. Down Dog is making the apps free until April 1. Students and K-12 teachers have free access until July 1.

• YMCA 360 is an "on-demand" healthy living network. The YouTube channel offers several 15-minute workout routines.

• Mindfulness for Teens--http://mindfulnessforteens.com/

• Mindful Activities--https://shifts.coach/mindfulness/activities-for-teens/

• Go Zen--https://gozen.com/category/teens/

• Coping Tools for Anxiety--https://copingskillsforkids.com/calming-anxiety

• 
  

• How to Protect Your Own Mental Health-https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/how-teenagers-can-protect-their-mental-health-during-coronavirus-covid-19

• Social Distancing--https://www.apa.org/practice/programs/dmhi/research-information/social-distancing

5 Mindfulness Exercises and Activities for Teens

1. Mindful Eating

In this exercise, your teen will learn how to eat mindfully. The example used is an orange, but it can be almost anything.

Here’s what to do:

1. Start by holding your orange and rolling it in your hand, noticing how it feels.

2. Hold the orange close to your nose and take a sniff. Think about what it smells like.

3. Pay attention to what it looks like and what it feels like.

4. Peel your orange mindfully, and stay present.

5. Taste the orange, noting the flavor, the texture, the juiciness, etc.

2. Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing is another simple exercise your teen can try. He or she will focus on breathing, but refrain from forcing themselves to breathe in a certain way.

Have your teen follow these steps:

1. Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes.

2. Breathe normally and notice how it feels; pay attention as the air goes in and out of your lungs.

3. Notice how your breath moves your body; does your chest and/or your belly rise and fall as you breathe?

4. Sit for a few minutes, paying attention to your breathing, and become as relaxed as you can be.

5. If your mind starts to wander from the task at hand, gently guide it back to your breath.

3. Mindful Walking

Mindful walks are great ways to practice and maintain mindfulness in your everyday life, and your teenager will likely feel the same.

Guide them through these four easy steps:

1. Pick up one foot and take a slow-motion step forward. Notice what you have to do to stay balanced.

2. Walk in slow motion, one step at a time. Pay attention to how your arms, legs, and feet move as you walk.

3. Breathe in and out in time with your steps. Stay relaxed but keep your attention focused on your breath and your steps, working in tandem.

4. If your mind starts to wander, bring it gently back to your slow-motion walking.

4. Mindful Word

This exercise instructs you to choose a word that connects back to mindfulness and use it as an anchor to keep you present, calm, and collected. Teenagers should find it easy to follow and helpful in maintaining their mindfulness.

Here are the steps:

1. Think of a word that seems calm or soothing to you, like “peace”, “love”, “sunlight”, or “calm.”

2. Think the word to yourself, saying it silently in your own mind. Say it again as you breathe, once when you breathe in and once when you breathe out. Stay focused on the word.

3. If/when your mind begins to wander, gently bring it back to your word.

4. Challenge yourself to do this for one minute. If that seems too easy, try five minutes!

5. Mindful Driving

This is a great exercise for teenagers because it will not only help them become more mindful, it can also encourage them to be better and safer drivers.

Here’s how it works:

1. Take a moment before you start the car to cultivate greater awareness. Think about how it feels to sit in the driver’s seat right now.

2. Take one slow, deep breath as you settle into your seat. Make sure you are comfortable and you can easily reach the pedals. Adjust your seat if necessary.

3. Fasten your seat belt and say to yourself, “I plan to pay attention while I’m driving. I plan to drive safely and well.”

4. Shift your attention to the mirrors, checking to make sure they are in the right position and adjusting them if they are not.

5. Take another slow, deep breath and start the car. Expand your awareness to the area directly around the car, looking for people, other cars, or anything else that could be an obstacle.

6. As you drive, pay attention to any of the many situations that require you to slow down or speed up. Keep your attention focused on your driving and the situations around you.

7. If you feel distracted or find your mind wandering, remind yourself that you are driving and refocus on the task at hand.

Click here to see these five exercises explained in detail.

1. Body Scan Script

This script walks you through a classic mindfulness meditation called the “body scan.” As you might guess, it involves doing a mental scan of your body to note any areas where you are holding on to tension or storing your stress.

You will start with cultivating awareness through your breath, then you will move to your head, face, neck, and shoulders. Next, you will move down to your arms and hands, and continue until you reach your feet. As you go, you will notice how your body feels in each area.

At the end, ask yourself this reflection question: “What information do you receive when checking in with your body?”

You can find this script here.

2. Two Minutes of Mindful Breathing

This quick script will help you use your breath to boost your awareness and cultivate greater mindfulness.

You will start with a full breath in and a long breath out, then counting through your breath, and finally observing the way your body feels as you breathe—how your chest rises and falls, how it feels to take air in through your nose, etc.

To make this exercise even more impactful, you can follow the instructions at the end to make it a journaling experience; the prompts are:

1. What I want from this 28-day challenge is…

2. Some obstacles to me practicing every day could be…

Click here to read through this script.

3. Mindfulness of Anger

This script is a useful one for anyone struggling with anger. As such, it’s a great choice for children who are having behavioral problems or lashing out, although you may need to tweak it a bit to make it relevant and appropriate for children.

The script will walk you through bringing yourself to greater awareness, being present in your body, breathing mindfully, finding your anger, and allowing yourself to express it, let go of it, or both.

To read the whole script, click here.

4. Self-Compassion

If you want to help your child build their self-compassion, this script is a great place to start. It is a version of the popular “loving-kindness” variety of meditation that is particularly focused on cultivating compassion for the self.

It opens with the usual mindfulness meditation practices: improving awareness, becoming present, checking in with your body, and breathing mindfully.

Next, it guides you through identifying a mistake, a failure, or a part of your personality that you don’t feel great about. It shows you how to accept the emotions that come with it and allow them to simply be, without fighting them.

Finally, this script will walk you through giving yourself a break and offering yourself love and understanding. Towards the end, you will repeat some phrases or mantras to help you appreciate yourself, including “May I be safe. May I be peaceful. May I be kind to myself. May I accept myself as I am.”

You can find this script here, and access more scripts and other mindfulness exercises here.

1. Mindful or Unmindful

This worksheet is easy to use and provides children with some ideas for ways that they can act more mindfully.

The only instructions are to read the actions and decide which are mindful and which are not. The actions include:

• Leaving your jacket on the floor when you come in from outside.

• Keeping your voice quiet when other people are reading.

• Helping someone that is hurt or scared.

• Crossing the street without looking.

• Letting someone finish talking before answering.

• Practicing a new skill like sports or music until you feel your body improving.

As an added bonus, the worksheet can also be used for coloring, offering children an opportunity to practice even more mindfulness.

Click here to see the worksheet, or here to download it.

2. The Present Moment

This worksheet opens with a definition of what it means to be present or mindful: “The word ‘present’ can mean a gift, and it also describes what is happening right now, in the moment.”

Next, there are instructions on how to complete the rest of the worksheet: “Sit quietly and pay attention to what is going on right now using your five senses. Reflect on what you experience below.”

There are five sections to fill out based on the five senses:

• Right now I see…

• Right now I hear…

• Right now I am touching…

• Right now I smell…

• Right now I feel…

This is a great way for children to work on becoming more present, a vital practice for encouraging mindfulness.

Click here to see the worksheet from Education.com.

3. Mindful Listening

This worksheet guides children through listening “like an owl,” and becoming more aware of the sounds around them.

Here are the instructions: “Listen like an owl to become more aware of the sounds around you. An owl can hear sounds that are close up and far away, and can also be silent when needed. Go on a ‘sound hunt’ as an owl. What do you hear close up? What do you hear far away? Write and draw your observations.”

The worksheet is a simple one, with lots of space for noting the sounds your child hears and drawing what they hear.

You can find this worksheet here.

4. Mindful Movement

Another worksheet from Education.com, this one will walk your child through moving mindfully.

Although children may have a hard time pairing mindfulness with movement, especially when they are first learning about mindfulness, the two are certainly not mutually exclusive. The worksheet helps your child learn about moving mindfully by instructing them to act like a deer this time.

The instructions are as follows: “Sometimes when we want to be mindful we are still. We can also be mindful when we move. Practice walking like a deer. Move slowly and deliberately, with purpose, and pay attention to where you are going. Practice pausing in stillness, as though you are camouflaged.”

Next, your child will answer a few questions about their mindful movement practice:

1. What does it feel like to walk like a deer?

2. What does it feel like to be still/camouflaged like a deer?

3. Describe a time when you can walk mindfully.

4. Describe a time when you can use stillness or camouflage.

If your child enjoys the first page, they can also turn to the second page for more mindful movement. On this page, they choose another animal to practice moving and remaining still, then they have the opportunity to draw themselves walking as this animal.

You can find this worksheet here.

Mindfulness music is exactly what it sounds like—it’s music that is intended to help you relax, meditate, stay mindful, and stay calm and cool-headed.

There are tons of mindfulness music videos out there that you can use with your children. Here are just a few examples:

• Relax Music for Children – Meditation, Quiet Time, Inner Peace, Sleep Deep, Nap Time from Mindful Kids (https://youtu.be/vH1icLURgbY)

• Relax Music for Children – Stress Relief, Study Music, Sleep Music, Meditation Music from Mindful Kids (https://youtu.be/qFZKK7K52uQ)

• Morning Relaxing Music for Children – Childhood Memories (Hayfield) from OCB Relax Music (https://youtu.be/U_gtzGSNcCI)

To find more, simply search for “mindfulness music for kids” on Google or YouTube.

• KidsHealth has age-appropriate resources for mental and physical health.

• MindYeti has several engaging free mindfulness meditations.

• Watch these videos (in English or Spanish) on Screen time, Independance, Responsibility, and Communication and discuss your child’s thoughts on these topics.

• Keep a drawing/writing journal about how you are feeling while at home.

• Use Coping Strategy Activity to outline Healthy Vs. Unhealthy Coping Strategies

• My Bio Poem is an outline that can be used to describe yourself and your feelings.

• Smiling Mind App is a free app that has various guided meditation options which can help eliminate your negative thoughts and focus on positivity. This app is evidence based and has various curriculum that could be used in classrooms. (This requires a device that uses Apple or Android) .

• Create gratitude jar and add statements to the jar at the end of the day.

• Goal Exploration Activity supports student outline goals in different areas.

Identity and Diversity Lesson: This lesson provides an opportunity for students to learn more about Gen Z, reflect on their identities in order to create self-portraits/ quotes that represent themselves and reflect on images, quotes by a wide diversity of this generation.

https://socalfieldtrips.com/101-virtual-field-trips-for-students/

https://dochub.com/mistybonta/Wqlqm9Y/coping-skills-for-teens-workbook-pdf?dt=26jb5yC_s8WY6nfgSSbn

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