International Children’s Day 2021 | Mindfulness with Banjo Robinson!
Happy International Children’s Day 2021! Check out our mindfulness exercises and free printables for your little one, below. Practicing mindfulness from a young age is a super way to help nurture healthy and happy minds!
International Children’s Day is an annual holiday observed in many countries on June 1st. The date is significant as it marks the 96th anniversary of the world’s first ‘Conference for the Wellbeing of Children’ which took place in Switzerland in 1925.
To celebrate International Children’s Day, we are revisiting a blog that we made in collaboration with our friends at Mindflip, last year. We know that the last fifteen months have been a mixture of emotions for many children (adults and cats!). Habits formed while growing up will inform behaviours as kids navigate the transition from childhood to adolescence and on to adulthood. With mindfulness, we can nurture great habits in kids, such as practicing being peaceful, kind and accepting whilst also offering relief from anxiety and learning how to work with difficult emotions.
When we practice bringing awareness to the here and now, we are learning to live in the moment rather than allowing ourselves to ruminate about the future or past. Every time we practice this (kids and adults alike), we are giving our brain a great workout.
From all of us at Banjo HQ – Happy International Children’s Day!
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Free Printable Activity Sheets
Download our printable mindfulness activity sheets here. Enjoy them? Make sure to sign up to receive our kids newsletter! The Weekly Meow sends free printable activities straight to your inbox, every week.
Be a Cool Cat
Ask your kid to guess the top five qualities of a cat – if they struggle, give them a few clues: loving, curious, adventurous, friendly, stretchy are just some of them!
Then ask them to think about their inner cat qualities as they go about their day.
- Be caring – Always try to be loving towards yourself and others.
- Be curious – look around at the colours and patterns in your bedroom / think about the different foods you eat and where they come from.
- Be adventurous – next time you go for a walk, ask them to try and notice as many birds, bugs, creepy-crawlies and any other animals as they can. Anything that walks, crawls, swims, or flies will do the job – encourage them to use all their senses to detect their local wildlife!
- Be kind – try not to judge other kids, you never know what another person is thinking or feeling. Be the kid who makes others feel warm inside!
Stretch like Banjo!
Explain to the kids that stretching like Banjo can help them feel strong, brave, and happy. Here are some Banjo stretches to try:
The Super Cat:
Practice this pose by standing with the feet slightly wider than the hips, clenching the fists and reaching the arms out to the sky, stretching as tall as you can. Count slowly up to 10 and repeat 3 times.
The Stretchy Cat:
Kneel on all fours with your kids, so they can copy your movements. Place your hands on the floor below your shoulders and your knees below your hips. Slowly arch your back up, looking between your arms, towards your tummy – wait a few moments, then move your tummy down, making it ‘long’ and lift your head to look forward. Take it nice and easy as if you are a cat just waking up and having a little stretch. You can meow too! Repeat a few times and take care not to stretch too deeply.
MINDFLIP- mindfulness and breathwork coaching.
Visit their website here and follow @thisismindflip.
