Focusing and Calming Games for Children: Mindfulness Strategies and Activities to Help Children to Relax, Concentrate and Take Control

by Deborah M. Plummer

Having the ability to focus, relax and concentrate is key to enabling children and young people to achieve emotional well-being, and is also important for a child's development of skills and abilities.


This book uses a model of 'mindfulness play' to help children to achieve well-being, an approach designed by the author which encourages children to build awareness of their inner and outer worlds. Part One covers the theoretical and practical background, setting out how to facilitate play using the mindfulness play model, including consideration of the emotional environment. Part Two includes a wealth of games and activities, from 'Body focus' and 'Fidget flop' to 'Musical drawings' and 'Pass a smile'. The activities are suitable for use with groups and individual children aged 5–12, and can be adapted for children with specific attention and concentration difficulties, such as ADHD, and for older children.


This is an ideal resource for teachers, counsellors, social workers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, youth workers, parents, and carers.

154 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2012

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, but it was more designed for preschool/group purposes and a little hard to adapt for one-on-one use at home.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the inclusion of the expansion questions to get students thinking about what they felt and why or the difficulties of the game rather than just playing and being done. This taps into their metacognition in reflection while also having fun!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students loved playing the games suggested in this book.