10 Mindfulness Activities For Students To Find Rest Amidst Stress

Giving utmost priority to children’s social-emotional regulation[1] and academics is vital for their lifelong success. Hence, society must emphasize intentionality in teaching mindfulness to young learners so they can learn how to effectively manage and process their emotions and build healthy connections with other children. This is where mindfulness activities intervene.

Ultimately, to improve students’ cognitive abilities and social and emotional intelligence, you have to look at the situation from a holistic point of view and incorporate activities that help these children become mindful of themselves.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is about fully immersing yourself in the current moment without allowing your mind to wander into the past or the future. It’s a healthy way to embrace the present without thinking of anything or expressing disapproval of something.

Some people practice mindfulness and make it a part of their daily routine, while others embrace it as a way of life. You can try practicing mindful eating by truly savoring each bite, appreciating the food on your plate, and paying attention to your bodily sensations or how your body responds to them.

Mindfulness is about allowing yourself to be fully present and engaged in the act of eating. It makes you more attuned to the cues your body sends you regarding its responses and reactions.

Engaging in mindfulness helps lighten the load on the mind and allows you to focus on what matters. It is a pathway to discovering inner peace, finding joy in the simple moments, and nurturing a deep connection with ourselves and others.

Can Mindfulness Activities Help Students?

In today’s fast-paced world, students often struggle with attention deficits in the classroom due to the constant influx of digital distractions. Balancing academic pressures and managing stress and worries about the future can be overwhelming. However, embracing mindfulness brings numerous benefits to students.

Mindfulness equips students with the ability to resist digital temptations, stay focused on their studies, and reduce stress and anxiety. By cultivating present-moment awareness, they can absorb and retain information more effectively in the classroom.

Incorporating mindfulness for students into school curricula would help build a peaceful and productive school environment that produces well-rounded citizens of the country.

How Does Mindfulness Help Students In Class?

Many studies have been conducted to highlight the benefits of incorporating mindfulness into students’ education. This will encourage students to participate in activities that involve mindfulness to improve their performance in the classroom.

Mindfulness Reduces Stress And Anxiety

Mindfulness has a long history of successfully reducing stress and anxiety, specifically student stress. Practicing mindfulness will help students manage the pressures of school, which come from internal and external pressures.

Internally, self-criticism, self-doubt, and worries about the future contribute to anxiety. Externally, parental influence, workload, and peer pressure play a role. Mindfulness allows us to acknowledge and release these pressures.

Research shows that mindfulness exercises effectively reduce stress in students during exams. Furthermore, with lower stress levels, a student’s immune system won’t be weakened. Incorporating mindfulness brings transformative benefits to academic performance and health.

Mindfulness Improves Attention And Focus

Paying attention is a valuable resource that we have limitations on. Psychologists have discovered that mindfulness practices, such as guided meditation, can enhance our ability to allocate attention effectively.

Even beginners can benefit from just 10 minutes of meditation. If you find it challenging to maintain focus during lectures or study sessions, incorporating mindfulness practices can help.

Teachers can also introduce mindfulness training or a comprehensive curriculum to help students stay present in the classroom, maintain a positive mindset, and reduce disruptive behavior.

Mindfulness Improves Students’ Cognitive Performance

Mindfulness has a positive impact on cognitive performance, especially in time-sensitive tasks. A study has found that students who were provided with meditation breaks during tests achieved higher scores. This proves that mindfulness enhances learning effectiveness, attention, and memory among students.

Another study conducted with Taiwanese students explored the effects of a one-semester mindfulness meditation course. The study’s findings revealed significant improvements in the students’ overall performances, highlighting the benefits of incorporating mindfulness training into the students’ learning journeys.

Mindfulness Helps To Better Emotional And Social Intelligence

In the classroom environment, kids absorb crucial lessons about social interactions and emotional management. Interestingly, some students naturally exhibit early signs of empathy and social-emotional learning, while other kids may be more vulnerable to negative peer pressure or emotional manipulation.

Mindfulness has emerged as a proven method to nurture emotional intelligence (EI) in young students. Developing a strong EI foundation is closely related to an individual’s capacity for mindfulness. By introducing fundamental mindfulness practices, kids in school can enhance their social-emotional learning and that of others.

This heightened awareness equips them with valuable social skills to navigate challenges, improve emotional learning, and cultivate empathy toward others. Consequently, this will encourage kids in the classroom to be better at processing and handling their emotions in a calm, healthy way, which will teach the other children to do the same.

Mindfulness Helps Students Who Struggle With Perfectionism

Mindfulness and perfectionism cannot exist in the same moment of awareness because the essence of mindfulness lies in observing everything around us, including ourselves, without judgment or a busy mind.

By practicing mindfulness, students who are more likely to obsess over achieving perfect grades can discover the transformative power of taking risks and embracing mistakes. Changing their perspective on this will effectively help alleviate the emotional pressure they place on themselves.

Mindfulness Improves Memory Retention

Mindfulness has been scientifically proven to be beneficial for memory. Through active listening and heightened attention, you absorb information in a more structured and meaningful way. Engaging in mindful practices will help students remember what their professor said in the last class because they were fully present and engaged.

Another finding on this is that people who mindfully pay attention to relevant information are more capable of retaining new knowledge or information. For example, if a student was mindfully listening to their professor’s teachings in the classroom, he or she would be able to better retain and comprehend the next related topic to be discussed.

Teaching kids mindfulness means that a student can improve academic performance without having to spend extra hours studying new topics.

How To Bring Mindfulness To School

Researchers from the Boston Charter Research Collaborative—a partnership between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University (CEPR), MIT, and Transforming Education—conducted a study. They found that students who participated in school-based mindfulness training reaped the same benefits as those who reported mindful habits themselves.

After finding that these students performed better on their tests and had higher grades, educators and leaders of mindfulness-based education programs recommend that mindfulness be implemented in one’s school.

Foster Consistency And School-wide Engagement

A school must dedicate time for both staff and students to explore the theory and science behind mindfulness so they can learn about its concepts and grasp its significance. By incorporating regular opportunities for mindfulness practice, such as guided meditations, into the school day, you can cultivate a positive impact on the overall school culture.

This emphasis on acceptance, self-care, and empathy creates a consistent space for mindfulness, shaping a nurturing environment for all.

Allow The Teachers Dedicated Time To Embrace Mindfulness

To effectively support students, it’s crucial to provide teachers with dedicated time and support to embrace mindfulness. Many studies have shown the positive impact of mindfulness on teachers, enhancing their emotional well-being, deepening their understanding of students’ perspectives, and empowering them to be more effective in the classroom.

Encourage Students To Prioritize Mindfulness In Their Own Time

Nurturing students’ emotional awareness involves empowering them to identify opportunities to practice mindfulness and encouraging them to make time for it, whether in the classroom or at home. Schools must be able to provide students with the necessary space and time they require in the classroom to encourage and cultivate this practice.

By creating a supportive environment where students can embrace mindfulness as a valuable tool for their mental health and happiness, they will be able to prioritize mindfulness, ultimately developing the essential skills needed for self-care, self-awareness, and processing emotions.

10 Mindfulness Activities For Students

The goal is to teach learners of different ages to practice mindfulness exercises in their daily tasks. The activities for students can be tailored to the needs of the learners, who will undergo daily mindfulness training. Whether these are classroom ideas or home activities for the whole family, these young individuals will surely experience the benefits of mindfulness.

Mindfulness Activities For Elementary Students

Meditation and mindfulness activities at the elementary level need to meet these students’ high energy, underdeveloped brain structure, and attention. There are many mindfulness exercises you can teach elementary school kids in the classroom that they can also apply elsewhere.

Stillness Challenge

This challenge seems to be the antithesis of acquainting kids with mindfulness, but it is as effective as the other activities. To begin, give the little ones candy; they can do this while sitting or standing straight. This is an essential part of the exercise, as it allows them to continue paying attention to the present moment. If their thoughts drift away, ask the children to simply bring their focus back to the candy.

Have the children in the whole class close their eyes and allow them to be aware and mindful of the candy melting in their mouths. Instruct the children to note every feeling they feel using their five senses while nibbling the candy. By doing this exercise with kids in elementary school, you teach them to meditate and enhance their capacity to be still and focused.

Somehow similar to body scan meditation, this practice is a mindfulness exercise that also aims to systematically focus your attention on a certain body part to practice mindfulness. However, a body scan is a mindfulness exercise that requires you to focus on every body part and how your whole body feels.

Sound Challenge

The sound challenge is one of the activities for students that doesn’t require much energy and is perfect for kids learning self-confidence and developing mindfulness.

To start, ask your students to sit quietly and take a breath. Let them close their eyes and relax every part of their bodies. Using a tuning fork or a singing bowl, make a sound and let the kids listen carefully as the sound fades out as they keep their eyes closed. As the sound fades, tell the kids to bow their heads if they can no longer hear the sound.

These activities for students are perfect if you wish to teach mindfulness to kids with little to no ability to stay still. In this listening exercise, you teach kids mindfulness by letting them focus and be aware of what they hear or don’t hear using their auditory senses.

Mindfulness Activities For Middle School Students

Children in middle school are highly susceptible to peer influences, as it is a phase in their lives where they transition and slowly gain independence. There are a couple of fun mindfulness activities that will help them transition and become responsible elementary students who know how to handle their emotions and responses and practice mindfulness.

Mindful Cooking

As they begin their walk as independent individuals, mindful cooking is a fun way to help middle schoolers let go of any feeling that suggests they are limited. Give them the freedom to prepare and cook the food of their choice and demonstrate the things that seem hard for them.

In this exercise, you need to allow them to process everything they put in and recognize how the food changes throughout the process. Teach kids to de-stress by letting them process their emotions, like anger or frustration, and pour them out on their cooking. This will promote a sense of calm, relaxation, and gratitude in the kitchen.

Once they are done, let them taste what they made and feel the achievement of the effort they put in to create the dish. Cooking is not only for adults; it is also a great activity for kids to develop their senses of smell and taste and increase creativity. Cooking while having the freedom to create their dish and play with ingredients is a simple way to teach these kids mindfulness.

Mindful Dancing

This exercise helps students develop happiness and positivity. More than just a typical dance, kids must focus on the song’s rhythm and feel all their muscles contract as their body develops a memory of the rhythm.

Dancing is a great way to express feelings and emotions, but with mindful dancing, you teach these kids to be more in tune with their senses and bodies. Anyone can do this exercise in a classroom or home setting.

SMART Checklist

This simple practice helps students learn to become organized and motivated. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bounded. Begin this mindfulness practice by allowing the children to decide on their own and create a list of their tasks. Throughout the day, instruct them to tick off what they have accomplished. By doing so, the children encourage themselves to achieve more.

Mindfulness Activities For High School Students

The mental health of students in high school is equally as crucial as that of older and younger students. As high schoolers are in different age groups, they require a different approach when teaching mindfulness exercises to help deal with the stress and anxiety brought on by college applications and other academic and non-academic activities.

Safari Exercise

The safari exercise is one of many mindfulness games that are fun and practical to help students feel peace and develop a grateful perspective on things.

Start by helping your students remain quiet and calm in the classroom. You can ask students to take three deep breaths and incorporate them into some breathing practices, like square breathing. Instead of focusing on how their body feels in a body scan, the idea is to direct the students to focus on the things around them.

Facilitate the mindfulness activity by picking something that can be found in proximity, may it be a stuffed animal or ball, and asking students to examine that particular thing. Ask your students to observe the movements of natural things around them. The activities need to be engaging and require the exchange of thoughts between the moderator and the learners.

This exercise helps students relax, enhance their focus on the tiniest detail, feel grateful, and gain awareness of their surroundings everywhere, not just in the classroom.

Music Appreciation

Practicing mindfulness through music appreciation is perfect for musically inclined students but caters to those with different tastes as well. Music appreciation is also perfect for helping learners who feel overwhelmed cope with student stress and anxiety.

Like in any guided meditation, help children relax before hearing the sound or music, and ask students to sit in a quiet place. Breathing exercises also help kids focus and establish a calm state of mind. While playing calming music, guide students who have relevant questions, like how many instruments they can hear.

Mindful Tech Break With A Breathing Exercise

While there are mindfulness apps you can download, students in high school often spend most of their time in front of computers or sliding through their mobile smartphones. During a tech break, you encourage the students to take a few deep breaths and teach them to appreciate the world off of their screens. Mindful breathing will help these kids focus on the present moment.

Older children in this age group are constantly exposed to technologies that often cause learning disabilities and disruptions of their senses. Furthermore, these are sometimes linked to depression and other mental illnesses, which is why practicing mindful breathing exercises will significantly improve their wellness.

In such activities as this mindful breathing exercise, you teach the student to learn a new skill by replacing the hours of tech exposure with things that are productive for personal development.

Breathing Exercise

To practice mindful breathing, find a place to let the students sit quietly (you can also have the students lie down), let them close their eyes, and focus on how their breath feels for a few moments. Let them observe how the air flows in and out of their bodies and keep their attention focused on their breathing. Practice this for five minutes at a time, and then gradually increase the length of the sessions as you get used to it.

With mindful breathing, you will be trained to be more attentive. Additionally, breathing meditations also help regulate your nervous system. Imagine breathing the tension out of your body. Do this activity for around thirty minutes a day and incorporate it with other exercises that require their five senses to work, just like a mindful walk in nature that is completed outdoors, where you walk barefoot to gain an intense experience.

Another helpful tip is to use a pinwheel to practice deep breathing. Pinwheel breathing is also a great practice for mindfulness.

Mindfulness Activities For College Students

Aside from the difficulty of the lessons, college students face different emotions and stressors during life at the university, which is why these older students need mindful practices to relax, whether it’s a school day or not.

Mindful Candle Meditation

First, you need to provide candles for your students or ask them to bring a candle of their choice for this mindfulness practice. With lights dimmed and window curtains closed, encourage students to take a deep breath as they simply sit comfortably and light their candles in the classroom. Instruct them to relax their mind, emotions, and body as they mindfully observe the way the candlelight flickers and sways from side to side.

While observing the candlelight, instruct these college kids to take three slow, deep breaths as they allow their minds to slowly wander off. Do this mindfulness meditation practice for around five to ten minutes before starting your lecture to set your students’ focus.

Mindful candle study incorporated with a mindful breathing technique is one of the many activities for students at the collegiate level that help calm and relax students who are constantly challenged with deadlines and other mental and physical activities.

It also allows the older students to be in the present, have a sensory experience, gain self-awareness, and develop self-esteem, which is highly needed to succeed in their chosen path.

Mindful Intention Setting

Intention setting is considered one of the various quick mindfulness activities that require less effort. Start by allowing your students to be in a comfortable position. Allow them to breathe, and help them feel stillness and relaxation as they calm their feelings and emotions.

Ask your students to write down all their intentions for the lecture on a piece of paper. To help them engage their minds, instruct them to write ways for them to achieve the intentions written on the paper.

Beginning your lectures with this exercise will help every student have a positive attitude and motivation, become less stressed, and feel driven to learn new things in your class.

Conclusion

It has been confirmed through extensive scientific research that teaching mindfulness practices to young students helps them improve their mental health and positively impacts their attention span, self-control, social competence, emotions, self-regulation, and lives in general.

Mindfulness exercises are also proven to improve young minds in various facets of their well-being, such as cognitive, social, and psychological. Ultimately, these activities for students may vary in complexity and difficulty, but all of them have the same objective: helping the children learn to be in the current moment, achieve mindful focus, and manage stress levels brought on by external factors.