Self Compassion Logo

How to Help Good Things Stick: A Playful Mindfulness Activity for Kids

by | Nov 9, 2025 | Parenting, Resilience, Self-Compassion | 0 comments

Hello friends!

I teach playful mindfulness and self-compassion lessons in schools, and today I’m inviting you into a few K5-4th grade classrooms to see how I help kids open to goodness and take in good things.

Do you ever have those days when you’re fixated on what is wrong and have a hard time taking in what’s right? Ummm…me too friends. And this is NOT our fault. Every human brain is hardwired for survival, which means that we focus and ruminate on negative things to try to avoid bad things.

And the good things? Well, they tend to quite literally slip away. Psychologists call this the negativity bias. Rick Hanson says that our brains are like velcro for the negative and teflon for the positive. But we don’t have to stay stuck in the negative. There are things we can do to help.

In my work with kids, we call this growing the “Sunny” habit. Sunny is one of five resilience animals (I know…it’s not really an animal!) that build resilience and well-being.

Sunny - one of five resilience animals/characters.

I like to remind kids that even on cloudy days, the sun is still there. It’s just hiding behind a cloud.

Recently in some of my K5-4th grade classrooms we focused on the Sunny habit as we embarked on our first adventure in Volume 2 of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids. After a playful comic on savoring, we made our way to our first activity: Glitter Glue. (You can peek at the workbook page below.)

Activity 1.1 Glitter Glue

I used a few simple props to make it come alive as a whole-group lesson. Here’s what you’ll need if you’d like to try it with kids at home, school, or wherever you interact with kids: a construction paper person cut out, masking tape, three white strips of paper, glue (glitter glue makes it extra fun).

Preparation for the activity 1.1 from the book: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids, Volume 2.

(Note: You can see a short video of me teaching this lesson in the paid subscriber edition of this week’s newsletter.)

Here are the steps:

  1. I held up my cut out person and told kids, “This is You.” Then, I explained that every day some good things and not-so-good things happen to all of us. (This helps kids normalize ups and downs.)

  2. Next, I asked kids to share three good things from their day—little things like having breakfast or playing outside—and I wrote each good thing on a slip of paper.

  3. Then, I asked kids to tell me three not-so-good things from their day, and I wrote each negative thing on a piece of masking tape.

  4. I held up my “You” cut out and alternated placing the positive pieces of paper and not-so-good pieces of tape on the person as I narrated. The “negative” tape stuck and the good paper strips slipped off and fluttered to the floor. *The kids’ reactions to this part are so much fun!*

  5. I asked kids what they noticed. Kids shared that the difficult things stuck, and the good things fell down. “Yes,” I responded. “This is like our brain.”

  6. I got out my bottle of glitter glue and glued the strips of positive things onto “You.” Because we need to apply a little “glitter glue” to good things in life to help them stick!

Activity 1.1 classroom output.

Afterward, we did a few more activities that help good things land—including noticing our five senses and taking “cookie breaths.” When something good happens, taking deep breaths and attuning to our senses can help the good moments stand out and stick in our minds.

I also reminded the kids that good things don’t cover up or push away bad things. They are both a part of life!

I hope this playful lesson helps you to intentionally notice and soak in good things, too. Remember, the negativity bias isn’t your fault, AND there are things you can do to help the good things be salient in your mind!

Wishing light, love, and good things,

Jamie Lynn

Finding the Spark Together: How Kids Turned Learning Into a Quest

by | Oct 28, 2025 | Parenting, Self-Compassion | 0 comments

Hello friends,

This week’s story is the final chapter in my child-centered, play-based creation series. While these stories might seem to be about how I co-created the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids, they’re really about something deeper: learning to listen to children about how they love to learn.

Again and again, the kids showed me that when we listen with curiosity instead of control, learning becomes joyful for all of us. And in this last story, their sense of fun took our project in a direction I never could have planned.

Originally, the workbook was one big book with 168 pages of lessons, comics, and quizzes. I tested it with lots of kids, and they enjoyed it. There were smiles, engagement, and the occasional thumbs up. But not two thumbs-up.

Something was still missing.

The lessons were engaging, but the spark—that sense of pure joy and connection—wasn’t quite there. So I invited the kids to start teaching each other. I believed that the kids would discover what was missing as they taught other kids. And they sure did!

The Quest was born

A child named Lailah, who was doing the workbook, came up with the quest idea. She thought we could travel through lands instead of chapters on a magical adventure. Brilliant! But a quest for what?

I thought that we could go on a quest to help the Feelings Animals learn resilience habits. This sounded like a very worthy cause to me, so I proposed it to kids. But the kids looked at me and, almost in unison, said, “Boo! Two thumbs down!” (Yes, they literally booed the idea.)

Then Lailah had another idea: “What if Doodles the dolphin is turning ten and has never had a birthday party!? We could go on sixteen adventures to gather ingredients for a magical cake for Doodles’ surprise party!”

And that was it! The purpose of the quest and the whole adventure was born: to gather birthday cake ingredients for Doodles’ surprise party. I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical at first. Would children, including third-grade boys, really buy into this idea? Yep. They did. Doodles’ surprise party turned out to be really motivating and deeply engaging for kids. We had to break the book into two volumes to fit all the quest elements, and at the end of Volume 1, kids (even those third grade boys) would ask me when they could start Volume 2.

“Why?” I’d ask with curiosity.

“To get to Doodles’ surprise birthday party!”

Suddenly the workbook wasn’t just a set of lessons—it was an adventure. We created a big map showing sixteen lands that “you” (the reader) would travel through alongside the Feelings Habit Animals.

The map, of course, was initially created by kids. Look at all the delightful details in the kids’ draft!

The Quest Map

Each land became an adventure filled with comics, talking animals, real kids sharing, and playful activities. At the end of every adventure, kids earned another ingredient for the surprise cake—and a reason to celebrate what they were learning together.

Lets Celebrate the Rocking at Resilience.

Play had opened the door again, the secret door that leads to joy, engagement, and genuine learning.

And speaking of celebration, this past week marked the first birthday of Volume 1! Next week we’ll have our own celebration. I can’t wait!

With warmth and gratitude,
Jamie Lynn

P.S. I just got a dragon costume for some playful videos that I’ll be creating for Volume 2. Play can be our secret door, too, friends!

Jamie-Lynn in dragon costume ready to create some playful videos for kids.

🌱 This blog series starts here: The Day Kids Made Me Write a Quiz — the origin story behind the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids.

When Children Taught Me How to See: Why Pictures Teach What Words Cannot

by | Oct 21, 2025 | Parenting, Self-Compassion | 0 comments

Hello friends,

I loved hearing reflections on last week’s story from those of you who saw your own kids or clients in Sam. A few of you asked how to support “Chameleon” kids (and teens) who hide feelings without realizing it.

For me, helping “Chameleon” kids with feelings begins with practicing the three steps of self-compassion with their current feelings habits. I start by helping them notice that they may have hidden feelings—the chameleon habit. Then I help them understand that other kids sometimes have hidden feelings, too. (This is why my workbooks are full of real children who share their own feelings habits.) And finally I invite them to be curious about what self-kindness looks like given that they have hidden feelings. This may look different for different kids and always invites kids to meet themselves where they are. Paradoxically, self-acceptance becomes fertile ground for change.

And now, on to the beautiful lessons that children taught me about how they learn. (You’ll see some of their drawings at the bottom—they still make me smile.)

When I first started imagining the comics for the workbook, I thought all I needed to do was take the words the kids and I had already written and paste them into speech bubbles with characters talking to each other. Simple enough.

So I made sample comics myself, each one from the same vantage point and distance. I was focused on getting the message across.

Maya took one look and said, “No, no, NOO! That’s not how comics work.”

She explained that what draws kids in isn’t the message, it’s the images and movement—the shifts in perspective, the small details that make you look twice. Then she showed me what she meant, and suddenly, the same comic came alive. The angle changed, the scene had a backdrop, and there, somewhere hidden in every scene, she had added a tiny ant.

I worried the ant might distract kids’ attention away from my words, but Maya shook her head. “Mom, that’s what makes them pay attention to your words!”

And she was right. That little ant, who the kids later named Anty, became a playful part of every comic. Kids started looking for Anty on each page, laughing when they found her, and engaging with each comic.

It was the lesson kids taught me again and again: Play is the secret door.

I had been trying to explain self-compassion with words, but the kids were showing me something deeper. They learn through pictures, not paragraphs… through imagination, not instruction. The illustrations didn’t just support the message, they were the message.

In a world where so many images are generated by AI, these comics were born from something deeply human: #2 pencils, real insight, and creative kids teaching me how to see.

Last week I shared how the kids and I developed the dialogue for the comic about Sam’s hidden feelings (the one where Sam insists, “Parties are dumb!” and Curi stays present and curious). Below you can see how Maya’s sketch helped to bring the comic to life. The text might be a little hard to read in these drafts, but that’s okay. What matters most are the perspective changes, the expressions, and the little visual details that bring the story to life.

a comic draft by kids.

Once we had Maya’s sketch, Ambika (another child from the kids’ team) created colored digital images for me to share with kids in classrooms.

First digital images of comics.

Teaching students using the comics in Milwaukee Public Schools was a much bigger testing ground. Once the comics were thoroughly tested and loved by a diverse range of kids, it was time to choose the illustrator who could capture the same playful spirit.

The kids were in charge. We went to an event at MIAD and surveyed the artwork of many artists. We took pictures of their favorites and requested comic samples from their top three. In the end, there was a clear winner, Lexi Warshall, who later became the primary illustrator for the two-volume series. I’m going to be honest, the person the kids chose wasn’t my favorite, but that didn’t matter. What mattered is that Lexi’s whimsical illustration style delighted kids and made them happy to begin the adventures in the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids.

Lexi Warshall's illustrations for Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids.

When we listen to how kids learn, we grown-ups begin to understand what really matters: attuning to how our kids experience the world (which in this context means imagery and play).

With love and humility,
Jamie Lynn 💛

P.S. I put my heart and soul into listening to kids and creating what they needed to playfully learn the resource of mindful self-compassion. Thank you for helping me share this creation with the world.

🐾Read next: Finding the Spark Together — The surprising moment when kids turned learning into a joyful quest.

When Kids Told Me the Comics Sounded Too “Teachy”: Co-Creating Real Voices in the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids

by | Oct 14, 2025 | Parenting, Self-Compassion | 0 comments

Hello friends,

If you read last week’s story, you know how the Feelings Habit Animals were born: from six kids in my living room who insisted, “We need a quiz. That would make it fun.”

They were right, of course. But after we created the quiz, the kids had a new request:
“We need comics.”

At first, I wasn’t sure how to make it work (I’m not really a comics person). Every time I tried, it came out too “teachy.” I’d read a line aloud and one of the kids would grin and say, “No kid would ever say that.”

I’d laugh and reply, “Okay then, what would they say?”

Sometimes we’d go back and forth, rewriting the same line until it felt real. I wanted the message to come through. They wanted the characters to sound like actual kids.

So I started pairing kids according to their Feelings Habit Animals — Bears, Deer-Beavers, and Chameleons — because we wanted the stories to resonate with what real kids feel inside.

If James (our Bear) was going to come alive, he needed a Bear’s voice — big emotions, quick flare-ups, and a soft heart underneath. If Anita (our Deer-Beaver mix) was going to feel real, she needed kids who knew what it was like to overthink or worry about being “bad.” And if Sam (our Chameleon) was going to hide feelings in a way that felt authentic, I needed the insight of kids who knew that habit firsthand.

Comic characters: James, Anita, Sam, Anty and Curi.

When we worked on Adventure 6, the “Chameleon” kids helped me shape one of the most honest scenes in Volume 1:

Sam wasn’t invited to a friend’s birthday party and sat building with Legos while insisting,

“I don’t care that I wasn’t invited. Parties are dumb! I’d rather be here playing Legos.”

Curi, the curious chick who shows up in every comic, peeked out from a Lego tower and said,

“Are you resisting sadness? It’s okay to be sad, you know.”

Sam answered quickly,

“What? Me? Sad? Nope.”

Then Curi just stayed close, quietly curious, and asked,

“What are you making?”

That small moment with a chick, a Lego city, and a kid not ready to talk about feelings became a powerful lesson on how to honor and work with resistance.

The kids taught me something else, too. I used to think Chameleons hid their feelings on purpose. But through these conversations, I realized something deeper: for Chameleons, the feelings hide themselves. It isn’t avoidance, it’s unconscious protection.

Understanding the chameleon habit changed not only how I saw Sam, but also real kids I work with every day (and grown-ups like my husband!).

And that’s when I saw it again: Play is the secret door.

Through comics, kids didn’t feel lectured. They saw themselves. They laughed at James, felt for Anita, and recognized Sam’s quiet sadness. Resistance melted and compassion grew.

This is why the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids looks the way it does. Every page was shaped by kids, and by the habits they were learning to hold with kindness.

Next time, I’ll share how kids drew their own comics first…and even helped choose the illustrator who brought the final characters to life. I’m also hoping to share some of the early comic versions with you.

With love and courage,
Jamie Lynn

P.S. In our family, we sometimes tease each other about our feelings habits. But it doesn’t always land well if someone’s upset (like the other day when I called Maya a Bear-ver while she was obsessing and exploding over a lost item). I’ve learned that the best time to joke is when everyone’s calm… and, honestly, a good rule of thumb is that it’s best when we joke about our own habits.💛

Thank you for being a part of our community. Your presence really matters.

🐾Read next: When Children Taught Me How to See — How a few wise kids (and one tiny ant) taught me that pictures can teach what words cannot.

The Day Kids Made Me Write a Quiz: Origins of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids

by | Oct 7, 2025 | Parenting, Self-Compassion | 0 comments

Hello friends,

The creation of my workbooks for kids began with a deep desire for all children, not just the ones in my classes, to experience the life-changing power of self-compassion… more self-love, more confidence, and the courage to do hard things.

I thought I knew what kids would need. I had years of teaching experience, piles of research, and a whole lot of heart.

But the truth is… the kids knew better.

In those early days, six kids (three pairs of siblings) gathered in my living room. We tested activities, told stories, and played with ideas.

And from the very beginning they pushed me: “We need a quiz. That would make it fun.”

So, we made a quiz. And out of that quiz came the Feelings Habit Animals: Bear, Beaver, Chameleon, Deer (and later, Dragon). Each one shows a different way kids relate to their feelings: sticky, big, hidden, or shame-filled.

The Feelings Habit Animals

Suddenly, kids weren’t just “doing mindfulness.” They were spotting themselves in animals. Laughing. Pointing. Saying things like:
“I’m such a Bear when I get mad!”
“I think I’m a Beaver… my mind never stops.”

The resistance melted.

That’s when I learned one of the biggest truths about teaching kids these skills:
👉 Play is the secret door.

Kids don’t want another lesson. They want a game, a story, a character to identify with. And when we open that door through play, the lessons of mindfulness and self-compassion flow in naturally… helping kids build inner kindness and resilience that last a lifetime.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share more behind-the-scenes stories of how kids shaped what became the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids — from demanding comics, to designing characters, to dreaming up a magical quest.

It gives me goosebumps every time I remember: this workbook wasn’t written for kids. It was written with them.

With love, joy and PLAY,
Jamie Lynn 💛

P.S. Which one is your child? Take the Feelings Habit Animal Quiz here. And if you’d like to dive deeper, explore Volume 1 of the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids here.

P.P.S. Can you guess what my kids are? We’re all a mix in this house… but Maya leans Bear, and Anjali leans Beaver. And even though I always test a bear, I have strong tones of Deer!

Jamie-Lynn holding bear and deer her feelings habit animals.

🐾Read next: When Kids Told Me the Comics Sounded Too “Teachy” — Discover how kids helped shape the voices and stories that made self-compassion come alive.