The Power of Curiosity
Hello Friends!
This week, I’m excited to share more about how to help kids (and ourselves) grow the resource of mindfulness. I get excited when I talk about how to best help children grow the resources of mindfulness and self-compassion. Why?
2 reasons:
- I know that Mindfulness and Self-Compassion helps kids (and grown-ups) A LOT with their mental health and overall well-being.
- I know how to help you make learning mindfulness and self-compassion FUN!
What could be more wonderful!?
Last month I shared about what mindfulness is, and how we can help kids practice Mindfulness (aka the “Spots” habit) more in daily life. Today I’d like to highlight a way that we can make mindfulness more fun for kids: invoke curiosity!
The Curiosity Exercise
Kids eagerly raise their hands, and I ask them if they feel curious. When they say, “Yes!” I invite them to notice what curiosity feels like in their body.
After a series of guesses, I open the box and out comes “Curi,” my curiosity chick. Curi the curious chick appears in all of the comics throughout my workbooks for kids, and accompanies the classes and kids through mindfulness and self-compassion lessons. Curi helps us be curious about our feelings, thoughts, and five senses.
Curiosity is the secret to teaching kids mindfulness. Without it, mindfulness feels like a chore, but with it, mindfulness feels interesting and even fun.
Playful ways to practice mindfulness—Find the ant!
You can look back at a couple of workbook comics I’ve shared here and here, and try to find the ant.
When kids are looking for ants, they are seeing on purpose (practicing mindfulness). But they don’t even realize it because curiosity drives their engagement.
Here’s a page from the Land of Mindfulness in Volume 1 of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids that helps kids become conscious of the power of curiosity.
Did you find all ten ants? Notice how easy it is to focus when you’re curious 🙂
I have two more playful mindfulness ideas to share, but I don’t want to make this newsletter too long, so I’ll save them for a future newsletter.
As a reminder, the playful comics and characters are also a part of my parent-child Mindfulness and Self-Compassion class. You can learn more about my parent-child class here.
I appreciate your curiosity and interest in helping kids (and yourself) grow the resources of mindfulness and self-compassion.
Wishing you curiosity and love,
Jamie Lynn
P.S. My daughters and their friend performed at an open mic night last week at a local inn. I feel prateful (proud and grateful) for my girls’ courage and talent!
P.P.S. On Sunday I shared some thoughts and pictures from our (imperfect) family vacation. My blog and short video for paid subscribers included imperfect vacation highlights as well as how embracing imperfection can help us all open to beauty.
Thank you for being on this journey with me.♥️