School can be a tense and nerve-wracking place for kids to deal with on a daily basis. From exams and challenging subjects to hormones and social situations, there are many scenarios that can bring about stress and anxiety. These emotions are not useful in a classroom environment and do not help with student learning, exploration, and creativity.
There are many strategies, daily routines, and mindfulness practices we can implement in our class to remediate the negative emotions and difficulties of school life. Here are 25 suggestions we recommend you try in your classroom to reduce social anxiety, restlessness, and improve your students' learning experience.
1. Silent Space
Sometimes our students need a moment to reset and recharge from the chaos of the school day. Designate a corner of your classroom as a silent space where someone can go and sit. Provide some headphones and a music device with calming music or nature sounds they can wear to escape for a moment.
Learn more: Teach Thought
2. Daily Journal
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Ask your students to keep a daily journal of their mental and physical sensations guided by a prompt you can write on the whiteboard. Set aside time before each lesson for them to reflect on how they are feeling, release tension, and gain clarity so they can learn with careful attention.
Learn more: Journal Buddies
3. Mindful Breathing
Here is a simple exercise you can incorporate into your students' daily practice that has been proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety and increase awareness of emotions. A simple prompt you can use is to tell your students to close their eyes, breath slowly and deeply, and try to focus on how they are feeling with each exhale.
Learn more: PLS Classes
4. Walking Meditations
This mindful practice is best done outside the classroom in an area big enough for students to have space to themselves. Guide the moving meditation by first having students take some deep breaths with their eyes closed, then slowly walk forward noticing their body sensations and how the world feels around them.
Learn more: Parade
5. Sound Meditation
One way to bring your students together is to incorporate a collective experience into your mindfulness exercises. Use a bell, chimes, a singing bowl, or even an audio recording of a steady calming noise, to silence their minds and bring a focused awareness.
Learn more: Medium
6. Mindful Jar
Creating a mindful jar can be a mindfulness exercise in itself. Ask your students to bring a mason jar to class and small items of different colors and meanings they find important and relevant. Have them place their items inside their jars, then you can add water and glycerine to make the objects move and float around.
Learn more: Teacher Academy
7. Mindful Eating
Behavior research and therapy have shown giving your full attention to the act of eating can improve your quality of life by increasing your satisfaction with your meal. Encourage your students to bring their favorite food to class, have them smell it, observe it, close their eyes and taste it, get immersed in the experience of eating.
Learn more: Mindful Schools
8. Classroom Seating Arrangements
The classroom layout is a huge factor in students' concentration skills and interpersonal relationships. When students can see one another, they feel less judgment and fear of speaking up. If we can all see one another, we should be able to notice when a classmate is struggling or going through a difficult moment and be there to support them.
Learn more: SAFSMS
9. Check-In Circle
This acceptance-based group therapy can be a weekly or daily routine, where you take a few moments to check in with your students, allowing them to share their thoughts and feelings with the class. Students need to feel like their emotions matter and they are not alone.
Learn more: Greater Good of Education
10. Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is a core mindfulness practice we should all be using in our coaching sessions and in daily life. Being thankful plays a huge part in building mindfulness bottom-up. Start off by reminding your students of the things they have that many others don't, and give them space to share what they are grateful for.
Learn more: Alfred
11. 6-Minute Breathing Meditation
There are many different breathing methods out there for you to try with your students. You can have them stand up, sit up straight, lay down, or even walk around to fully take in the experience of breathing. 5-10 minutes is all you need to find calm in the awareness of breathing in the current moment.
Learn more: Teach Starter
12. Mindfulness-based Therapy
There are many factors that influence the effectiveness of mindfulness exercises. It is important to emphasize to your students that their experiences and emotions are valid and encourage them to pay attention to their mental and bodily sensations so they can better understand themselves and others.
Learn more: Very Well Mind
13. Meditations for Anger
When we feel more connected with ourselves and those around us, we are less likely to act and react in anger. Gaining an awareness of sensations with no judgment is a huge step in the process of emotion regulation and mindfulness. Encourage your students to share when they feel angry and teach them to see their anger with sensations like breathing and release.
Learn more: 12 Weeks to Wow
14. Pinwheel Breathing
What can I say, amidst our busy lives one of the best activities for agile brains is breathing. Another form of mindfulness practice is focused breathing induction using a visual tool for student engagement. Using a pinwheel for breathwork is a great physical activity to do with your kids for mindfulness-based therapy.
Learn more: Your Therapy Source
15. Brain Breaks
Students' attention spans are shortening due to social media and sensory overload. To help with concentrated attention in the classroom, as well as attention restoration to help them survive the rest of the day, there are prompts and games you can play to reset your students' brains before going back to the lesson.
Learn more: 52 Brain Breaks For Students That You Should Definitely Try
16. Yoga in the Classroom
Stretching or basic yoga is a great practice for stability along with other mindfulness exercises. Students with chronic pain or anxiety disorders can have a hard time sitting all day in the classroom. Set aside 10 minutes for some simple stretching every day.
Learn more: Yoga Journal
17. Affirmation Stones Craft
Find your favorite positive affirmations and write a list on the board in your classroom for inspiration. Go outside with your students and have each one find a stone. Have them clean it and paint it with their favorite affirmation to leave on their desk or take home for encouragement.
Learn more: Kumarah Yoga
18. Mindfulness Apps for the Classroom
There are a variety of applications out there that are free to download and use in your classroom. They have guided meditations, visualizations, focused breathing exercises, and more! Check out a list of 16 we recommend in the link.
Learn more: Teach Thought
19. Superhero Pose
Many students struggle with social anxiety along with performance and test anxiety. A cute and effective exercise to release some tension is to ask your students to stand up and do a "power pose". This is their superhero pose that makes them feel strong and invincible. Ask them to do this before every test or whenever they seem stressed.
Learn more: Move This World
20. Collaborative Coloring
Stress and anxiety can be triggered in the classroom when students feel isolated or misunderstood. Finding ways to get them to collaborate and work together will give them more chances to make connections and feel heard and seen. Get a big sheet of paper and have the whole class work together to create a work of art.
Learn more: IEG Consulting
21. Reconnecting With the Senses
Whether it is rising blood pressure regarding exams, or other internal and external sensations, we can take moments to experience the subtle body sensations we perceive with our senses. Take a few minutes with your students to look around the room/outside the window and name things you smell, touch, taste, hear, and see.
Learn more: Education First
22. Stillness Challenge
This one is great for concentration practice and can help improve students' awareness of body sensations and emotions without judgment. Turn the lights low and ask your students to sit as still and silent as possible. They can sit on the ground or at their desks and close their eyes to feel all the sensations without judgment.
Learn more: Happier Human
23. Naming of Emotions
When our students are going through uncertain times and experiencing painful emotions it can help to give them a name. When we can be mindful of our feelings, they have less power over us and we can start the process of overcoming them in a healthy and productive way.
Learn more: Childhood 101
24. Movement and Breath
Ask your students to stand up and move around for one minute. Do some jumping jacks or another activity to increase their heart rate. Then ask them to stop and put their hand on their chest. Encourage them to focus on breathing and be mindful of how their body feels.
Learn more: Waterford
25. Mindfulness Octopus Craft
This face-changing octopus is a neat little tool to help students express the emotions they are feeling when they may be too shy or young to express them with words. They are able to shift the cup around to show the different emotions the octopus is expressing to mirror their own.
Learn more: Easy Peasy and Fun
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