Edunista

Learning should be fun and add color to kids' understanding of the world! We strive for this with eve

We're a mother-daughter team devoted to sustainable teaching through organization, technology & ideas to help teachers succeed both in & out of the classroom!

05/04/2022

Happy Star Wars Day! So many kids are over all of Jupiter's moons at the thought of celebrating today so why not meet them where they are! Help them practice slowing down, breathing deep, and improving their ability to focus with a bit of Star Wars fun! Find a quiet moment to just sit and practice a little visualizing meditation for as long as feels right for your kids. Listen or read this Visualize This: Spaceship exercise and have fun! Save this reel for later so you and your kids can enjoy it again and again! May the 4th be with you!

01/27/2022

While most of what we create are mindfulness tools for kids, they can absolutely be used for anyone at any age!

Mindfulness is a powerful practice that can help everyone.

The trick is finding the right mindfulness activities for each person.

We create so many different mindfulness activities because we know how important it is to keep things fun and fresh and that not everyone likes the same things!

We thought we'd share a mindfulness activity for adults today but like we said if you want to try it with your kids, have at it!

Today's exercise is a grounding exercise: 5-4-3-2-1 Touchdown.

It's super easy and can be used whenever you're feeling stressed, frazzled, or just need to center yourself so you can focus.

Steps:
* Stop what you're doing and take slow, deep breaths in and out.
* 5: Acknowledge five things that you can see around you. For example, right now I can see a mug, a pen, a fireplace, a tree outside my window, a potted plant.
* 4: Acknowledge four things that you can touch around you. For example, right now I can touch the chair I'm sitting on, the keys on my computer, my hair, and the rug beneath my feel.
* 3: Acknowledge three things you can hear around you. For example, right now I can hear a bird chirping outside, a car driving by, and classical piano music coming from my phone.
* 2: Acknowledge two things around you that you can smell. For example, right now I can smell lavender essential oil coming from my diffuser and citrus in my hand lotion.
* 1: Acknowledge one thing around you that you can taste. For example, right now I can taste bergamot in my earl grey tea.
* Take one more slow, deep breath before returning to your regularly scheduled programming :)

Hint: You can move around to complete 2 and 1 if you need to.

So, what are 5 things you can see right now?

12/30/2021

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are fantastic opportunities to reflect on our lives and dream and plan for our future!

Swipe to check out these 3 mindfulness activities for kids to help you ring in the new year!

Each activity has a FREE resource to help - click the link in our bio to check them out!

12/28/2021

Can’t believe our Mindful Advent Calendar is all done!

We will put together all of the Christmas themed mindfulness activities for kids in an Instagram Guide to make it easier to access all of the activities in the future!

What was your favorite Mindful Advent Calendar activity?

12/24/2021

I can't believe it! We made it! It's our last mindfulness activity for the Mindful Advent Calendar!

Let us know in the comments below what holiday or month you'd like us to create mindfulness activities for next!

A mantra is a wonderful and powerful tool for the mind! It is made up of repeating a saying again and again either out loud or silently in your mind.

Research shows that mantra-based practices can be incredibly powerful! They can help you to feel relaxed, happy, and confident!

They work best when practiced regularly. You might want to have your kids keep the same mantra for several weeks or months before switching to a different one.

Steps:
* Have your kids sit or lie down with a calm body.
* Have them say the mantra "I feel loved and connected" silently in their mind once when they inhale and once when they exhale.
* Ask your kids to work on quieting their minds, gently focusing on the mantra.
* Repeat for 3 - 5 minutes. Or more if you have time!
* You can also have them repeat it a specific number of times - for example, many find that repeating a mantra 9, 11, or 108 times really helps!

12/23/2021

We LOVE guided meditations!

They are a fantastic way to get started meditating! So pick out your favorite Christmas guided meditation for kids or click on the link in our bio to check out one of our favs and let's get started!

Steps:
* Have your kids find a comfortable spot to sit or lay down.
* Click play on a guided Christmas meditation.
* Have your kids close their eyes and follow along as they clear their mind and take slow, deep breaths!

It's as easy as that! Well, the clearing the mind part might not be that easy but it will definitely get easier with practice!

So, click the link in our bio to get started!

Can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!!

12/22/2021

Mindful coloring is a terrific way to practice slowing down kids' thoughts and focusing on just one thing, coloring.

Mindful coloring strengthens kids' ability to be truly present.

Steps:
* Have your kids sit or lie down with calm bodies.
* Ask your kids to select their coloring supplies.
* Have your kids take a few minutes to take slow deep breaths while they color.
* As they color, encourage them to focus all of their attention on their coloring. For example, they might think to themselves "I am picking up a blue crayon and I will use it to color in the water in this picture."

Click the link in our bio to grab these adorable, FREE mindful coloring pages!

12/21/2021

A mantra is a wonderful and powerful tool for the mind! It is made up of repeating a saying again and again either out loud or silently in your mind.

Research shows that mantra-based practices can be incredibly powerful! They can help you to feel relaxed, happy, and confident!

They work best when practiced regularly. You might want to have your kids keep the same mantra for several weeks or months before switching to a different one.

Steps:
* Have your kids sit or lie down with a calm body.
* Have them say the mantra "Kindness is key" silently in their mind once when they inhale and once when they exhale.
* Ask your kids to work on quieting their minds, gently focusing on the mantra.
* Repeat for 3 - 5 minutes. Or more if you have time!
* You can also have them repeat it a specific number of times - for example, many find that repeating a mantra 9, 11, or 108 times really helps!

12/20/2021

Winter Break can be such a wonderful time but it can also be really stressful!

The Mindful Thoughts Journal: Winter Break is a fantastic way to help support your kids while they are on Winter Break.

Parents and teachers love how this two-week mindfulness journal for kids looks a lot like a coloring book while it helps kids process their thoughts and feelings! This journal focuses on the social-emotional learning topic of problem-solving.

Click the link in our bio to download this FREE mindfulness journal to get started! Then have your kids spend anywhere from a few minutes to ... well as long as they'd like working their way through the journal each day!

12/20/2021

Have your kids write gratitudes on strips of paper (approximately 1 x 8.5 inches long) then staple/glue/tape them together to create a long paper chain.

Each kid can build their own chain or you can work together as a group/class/grade/school/family to see just how many things you have to be grateful for!

This is a great activity to remind us just how much we have to show gratitude for this holiday season!

Another variation of this activity is to have your kids write their gratitudes on a piece of paper that then becomes a cube. Click on the link in our bio to learn how to fold them into cubes.

Each gratitude cube can be stacked to build a Tower/Castle/Great Wall of Gratitude!

There are so many fun things you can build with your gratitudes!

Kids will have so much fun expressing gratitude and constructing!

It’s a fun way to combine mindfulness with a little STEM/STEAM!

12/18/2021

Spacial games, like tangrams, are great for helping to redirect kids' attention, de-stress, and process their emotions!

Tangrams are great for helping to develop problem-solving and logical thinking skills!

Steps:
1. Pick a puzzle card and place it either multi-colored side up or black side up for a bigger challenge.
2. Move the tangram pieces around to create the same shape as is on the puzzle card. They can check their work on the multi-colored side if using the more challenging blacked-out image.
3. Work for 5 minutes or until they feel calm and ready to focus.

Setup: Click the link in our bio to download the Christmas tangram file. Print and cut out the tangram set and puzzle cards of your choosing. One of the tangram sets is larger and easier to manipulate. The other is smaller making it easy to carry with you and matches the size of the puzzle cards.

Tip: The puzzle cards are designed to print back to back offering choice in the level of difficulty. Laminate the tangram pieces and the puzzle cards to help them last longer and store them together in a small baggie, envelope, or container.