50 Meditation Activities for Kids

Meditation activities help kids learn mindfulness practices through fun and age-appropriate methods. Meditation activities simplify the complexities of mindfulness-based stress reduction practices to simple instructions that can be taught to children at home, in school, or through self-guided applications like Good Luck Yogi.

10 Types of Meditation Activities for Kids

Meditation activities teach children how to breathe, relax, and raise their mindfulness. Meditation activities include apps, books, games, music, and many other instructional mediums. A child’s learning style can help parents choose the activities that are conducive to mastering social emotional learning skills that meditation offers.

1. Use Meditation Apps

A meditation app designed for kids provides age-specific guided meditations along with complimentary media to assist with learning mindfulness practices including sleep stories, nature sounds, and education. 

Mobile apps for educating children about meditation help build good habits by including gamification such as delivering positive feedback from earning rewards, making meditation a daily practice by keeping their streaks active, and animated imagery to support children’s imagination and natural curiosity to explore.

Mobile Apps for Kids that Teach Meditation

Here are a few applications that can be downloaded on Apple and Google Play app stores:

1. Good Luck Yogi - mobile app built by a former monk and behavioral therapist for kids

2. Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame  - learn about mindfulness and emotions with Sesame Street characters 

3. Calm - a popular platform for age-specific guided meditations and nature sounds

4. HeadSpace - built by a former buddhist monk and one of the first mainstream apps for adults

5. Moshi - a sleep story application that incorporates mindfulness practices into the bedtime routine

2. Read Meditation Books

Meditation books explain the fundamentals of breathing and mindfulness in a safe, familiar, and audio-visual method that is guided by parents and teachers, or self-guided by children at requisite reading levels.

Books can assist learning about meditation because they provide less distractions than mobile apps, create opportunities for dialogue between children and adults, and be completed at one’s own pace.

Soft and hardcover children’s books that teach meditation, explain concepts like stress and anxiety, and present information through relatable characters and situations make concrete the use cases and benefits of meditation.

Children’s Books that Teach Meditation

Here are a few children’s books about meditation and mindfulness that can be purchased online:

1. Good Luck Yogi and The Earth Adventures by JC Das and Anchal Chand - $19.99

2. Puppy Mind by Andrew Nance and Jim Durk (Illustrator) - $18.95

3. Calming Dinosaur Bedtime Meditation Stories for Kids by Autumn Gray and Sara Gardner (Illustrator) - $6.99

4. Listening to My Body by Gabi Garcia and Ying Hui Tan (Illustrator) - $17.99

5. Breathe Like a Bear by Kira Willey and Anni Betts (Illustrator) - $19.39

3. Watch Meditation Videos

Meditation videos are instructional tools for teaching meditation to children that typically feature an instructor or a series of animations paired with music and instructions to meditate together.

Watching meditation videos are great activities for active learners, beginners, and children that spend a lot of time using technology like tablets and smartphones because it encourages healthy regulation of screentime. 

Kid-friendly Videos that Teach Meditation

Here are a few YouTube videos about meditation and mindfulness that can be watched for free online:

1. The Body Scan Meditation by Cosmic Kids Yoga - guided meditation with a real teacher

2. Your Secret Treehouse by New Horizon - narrated sleep story (16min) with an animated image

3. Sleep Relaxation Animal Stories by Happy Minds - this 2-hour collection of sleep stories has 2.5M views

4. Heartbeat by The Partnership in Education - guided mindfulness exercise to calm your emotions

5. Stillwater by Apple TV - a mindful moment of listening featuring nature sounds and animation

4. Practice with Meditation Timers

A meditation timer is an application specific for setting regular intervals for mindful breathing and meditation. Meditation timers are sometimes accompanied by bells and bowls to signal transitions into and out of meditation.

Timers are helpful tools for kids because they offer a structured amount of time to meditate, and listening intently to the sound of meditation bowls for as long as you can is a fun way to slow your breathing and sharpen your attention.

Whether using an app-based timer, or finding mindful moments for 1-minute meditations throughout the day, there are abundant opportunities to add a small amount of mindful breathing into your daily activities.

Meditation Timers that Can be Used by Kids

Here are a few meditation timers and free methods that can be used to practice breathing for intervals of time:

1. Good Luck Yogi - choose the number of breaths or minutes you want to breathe with GLY

2. Insight Timer - a popular and free mobile app with lots of timers and sounds to support meditation

3. Tibetan Sound Bowl - use a sound bowl and clothed mallet to create your own meditation timer at home 

4. Breathing Buddy - practice breathing with a friend by taking turns counting down from 10, 30, or 60s

5. Phone Alarm - the simplest way to meditate with a timer is often the most accessible method like your phone 

5. Listen to Meditation Music

Listening to music, singing along to mindful songs, and playing instruments are examples of activities that can be done by children to encourage mindfulness and meditation.

Singalong songs like TBD, calming mantras, and meditative instruments like drones, harmoniums, and meditation bowls encourage mindful play and relaxation.

Meditation Songs for Kids

Here are a few meditation songs from kid-friendly musicians that support mindfulness:

1. Joy, Peace, and Love by Good Luck Yogi - acoustic song written by Jake Emlyn and Sam La Vie

2. Deep Breath by Gracie’s Corner - sung by kids using modern beats and harmonies teaches breathing

3. Be Mindful by Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel - learn about feeling joy and peace with mindfulness

4. Calm Body Calm Mind by Netflix Jr. Jams - upbeat song and animated lyric video available on YouTube

5. The Breathing Song by Narwhals and Waterfalls - vocalist teaches breathing styles with an acoustic guitar

6. Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating is the practice of incorporating mindfulness practices throughout the daily process of eating food. Mindful eating activities such as cleaning food, cooking as a family, and tasting flavors can help children connect the food that fuels their body with the sources and preparation techniques to make it possible.

Mindful Eating Techniques for Kids

Here are a few mindful eating tips to make mealtime an opportunity to reinforce mindful actions:

1. Grocery Shopping - going to farms, farmer’s markets, and grocery stores helps connect food to it’s source

2. Cleaning - transforming vegetables covered in dirt to a delicious meal is a meditation in itself

3. Preparing - peeling, chopping, and combining ingredients requires focus and attention to detail

4. Cooking - working with adults to cook food encourages patience, a prerequisite for meditation

5. Tasting - our sense of smell enriches the food tasting experience, so don’t forget to breathe while you eat 

7. Play Meditation Games

Meditation games and mindful play provide an interactive and stimulating experience for children to learn about meditation with a small or large group of peers and adults.

Meditation Games for Kids

Here are five meditation games that can be played by kids at home or school:

1. Balancing Games - determine who can hold tree pose the longest or balance a ball on a wobbly surface

2. Simon Says - see who can listen closely and follow directions like an expert

3. Coloring - patiently draw within the lines of geometric shapes, complex patterns, and calming imagery

4. Animal Breaths - breath loud like a lion, breathe fast like a bee, and breath slow like hibernating bear

5. Breath Power - use your breath to blow up balloons, blow bubbles, or see who can blow out the most candles

8. Prompt Growth with Mindfulness Cards

Mindfulness cards are pre-made collections of activities, prompts, and practices that families can use to incorporate meditation throughout the day. Mindfulness cards are fun because they offer lots of variety, create opportunities to learn from one another, and remove a lot of preparation from adults and teachers instructing kids about meditation.

Mindfulness Cards for Kids

Here are a different packs of mindfulness activity cards that can be purchased online:

1. Mindful Kids Cards by Little Renegades - 40 cards designed and created for kids 3 years and older

2. Imagine Meditation Cards for Kids - award winning cards for kids to learn at home, school, or therapy

3. Mindfulness Cards by Uncommon Goods - bestseller on Amazon with over 50 prompts 

4. Mindful Messages Cards - a deck of 52 cards offering positive affirmations to encourage mindfulness

5. Dessie Yoga Mindfulness Cards - 60 beautifully illustrated mindfulness cards to elevate self awareness

9. Learn Meditation in Nature

Nature is an amazing mindfulness teacher. Nature teaches us lessons like patience, rhythm, and beauty in the design of plants, animals, and the world around us. Nature is a perfect environment for using meditation practices and sharpening mindfulness skills in parks, forests, beaches, mountains, and anywhere we choose to travel outside!

Outdoor Activities to Improve Mindfulness

Here are five activities kids and families can do outside to support mindful play and meditation:

1. Smelling Flowers - inhaling and exhaling the fragrance of flowers helps us slow down and relax

2. Watching Clouds - breathing in and out while watching clouds move across the sky is a great summer activity

3. Feeling the Sun - scanning the body with closed eyes to feel the sun’s warmth is relaxing

4. Laying in the Grass - feeling the sensations of grass and wind on the skin is a calming, physical meditation

5. Observing Insects - paying close attention to small bugs can encourage children to slow down and wonder

10. Add Meditations to Exercise Routines

Exercise keeps the physical body healthy, and some exercise activities also help keep the mind healthy by integrating breathing and mindfulness strategies into different types of exercises.

While breathing and oxygenating the body is a central component of physical exercise, some exercise activities are more conducive to using mindful breathing during the exercise process.

Exercise Activities that Support Mindfulness

Here are four exercises that children can perform to support mindful breathing and meditation:

1. Walking - finding a rhythm of steps and breaths aligns the mind, body, and breath

2. Stretching - breathing in and out each time a muscle group stretches sends attention to the body

3. Balancing - focusing one's attention on balance (e.g. tree pose), encourages calm, slow breathing

4. Swimming - floating in water on the back requires children to relax, breathe slowly, and calm the mind

5. Weight Training - attending to the breath is a good challenge when expanding and contracting core muscles 

Meditation and mindfulness can be added to many engaging activities for kids and families. As children grow, explore, and learn, use these simple opportunities to reinforce the connection between a child’s mind, body, and breath.