20 Kids Meditation Exercises To Reduce Stress

Kids meditation helps reduce stress and improve sleep, and with this collection of guided meditation exercises, you can easily help your child practice kids meditation. When you do, you’ll be part of a large and growing group of caring parents who are seeing the  of improvements in children’s behavior, temperament, and mental health – as well as increased focus, better impulse control, and even being more respectful and empathetic to peers.

So what is it about kids meditation that makes it so relevant today? The answer is stress. Today’s children live in a world with more social pressure, a greater number of technological challenges & distractions, and get less physical exercise than ever before. After all, children struggle with all of the same challenges & pressures of the modern world that adults do – such as online bullying and negative media influences – but they lack the emotional coping mechanisms that adults have developed over a period of years.

Kids meditation can help relieve stress, and provides valuable tools to overcome negative thought patterns, enhance self-confidence, and simply help children to slow down and relax effectively enough to focus. When this happens, children are able to begin treating themselves and others with respect, while forming positive habits that will last a lifetime.

Kids Meditation Relieves Stress

Once upon a time, being “stressed out” was only something that adults struggled with. Having a job, bills, raising children, and dealing with the struggles of adulthood left being tired & overcome with pressures. In today’s fast-paced digital world, however, children are struggling with the effects of stress as much as adults are. Oftentimes kids are exposed to bullying, having trouble keeping up in school, feeling pressured to stay popular on social media, and worried about getting good grades for admission into college.

Many of children’s stressors appear to adults like the same issues they struggled with as a child – and in a sense, they are, but in another sense, today’s kids are dealing with more pressures, at a faster pace, and arriving earlier in life. Kids struggles may not seem important to adults, but for them it may feel like it is the end of the world. This makes it very important for parents to help children develop effective tools for dealing with stressors.

Kids meditation is one of several tools that has been demonstrated to to be effective in relieving both the onset and severity of stress-related anxiety. The question isn’t so much about whether meditation can help, but how to best implement it – as meditation techniques should suit the child’s age.

Some advocates recommend introducing children to basic meditation exercises as young as age three, but many children have difficulty focusing as this age, so kids meditation meditation exercises should be undertaken patiently, when your child is comfortable & not preoccupied with other activities – but also not too tired to pay attention. Bedtime may be a good time, but only on those days that your child still has enough energy to meditate for a few minutes.

Types Of Meditation Exercises

There are many different kids meditation techniques, but essentially all of the different types of meditatio techniques fall into two basic categories: mindfulness and mind-focused meditation.

Mindfulness meditation is the practice of clearing your mind, increasing your focus, and transcending the boundaries of your mind. Traditional Buddhist meditation is an example of this technique, which is often used for self-improvement and increasing your inner awareness of and connection with yourself.

In contrast, mind-focused meditation is about using the mind for self-improvement and increasing your inner awareness of yourself. Creative visualization, guided imagery and breathing exercises are all examples of mind-focused meditation – and this type of meditation is well suited for children because they allow the child to quiet the mind by actively focusing their attention, not through attempting to transcend to a higher state.

As parents, engaging children in meditation techniques can be a powerful tool to help them deal with stress, and encouraging them to begin even a brief daily session of kids meditation can begin to build within them not only resiliency to life’s emotional challenges, but also the basis for spiritual growth & awakening over time. As kids continue to meditate, their practice will enable them to make meditation a regular part of their everyday life.

20 Kids Meditation Exercises

By the age of three, children are able to pay attention to the elements of a story, which assists with introducing them to guided meditation. Try having your preschooler lie down in a comfortable resting position, and then guide them gently with your voice to think about how each part of their body feels, from their head down to their toes. You can then ask them to focus on a favorite toy, or think about their breathing. Once they have become more calm, you can try one of these 20 meditation exercises below:

1. Balloon Meditation – Kids can bottle up worry and stress. This beautiful and gentle practice will allow them to access their mind and their imagination to help reduce stress and worry before they go off to sleep at night. What we think about and how we feel when we go to sleep can dictate how we feel when we rise in the morning.
2. Follow the Leader – This meditation technique is for children who are more than 5 years old. Ask your children to visualize their best friend, with whom they share all their exploits and secrets with. Ask them who leads and who follows. That is who usually takes the decisions in the group and who usually they look up to like their elder sibling will be the leader and they will be the follower.
3. Focusing on the Colors You See – This simple though effective mindfulness script is an exercise that can be practiced by kids of all ages. By inviting children to pay greater attention to the colors they see, we enhance their ability to mindfully observe the world around them. This is a simple mindfulness script for kids that can be explored as an introductory practice.
4. Inner Land – Build Healthy Boundaries – Mindfulness visualization scripts are great tools for introducing children to meditation. To illustrate, this script explores the idea of creating healthy boundaries and nourishing oneself through a garden visualization. This may be more beneficial for older children, though it can be practiced with younger kids too.
5. Mindful of Your Food and Eating – Another important topic we can mindfully explore with our children is food. This script, for example, encourages heightened awareness of one’s experience during a simple bite. Since we don’t often eat in this slow and mindful way, this practice is a powerful application of mindfulness that will spark some interesting conversations around the table.
6. Visualizing Your Peaceful and Beautiful Place – This is a longer meditation that is ideal for those with a slightly greater attention span than most. To facilitate focus, it can also be listened to while lying down. In any case, this meditation draws listeners into a quiet place within. As a result, it is a powerful practice for reminding kids that peace lives within them.
7. Short Body Scan – This mindfulness body scan script is a great exercise to reconnect children with their physical being. By heightening awareness in this way, we promote a deepening of self-awareness, inner peace, and calmness.
8. Sleepy Train – This meditation script for kids takes listeners on a beautiful visual journey to promote deep relaxation. For children that struggle with stress or anxiety, this script might help to encourage a settling of the mind before sleep. Read it aloud with a calm and quiet tone to soothe your little ones before bed.
9. Peaceful Butterfly – A nighttime relaxation routine for your child is ideal after an active day. This guided butterfly meditation calms little bodies and minds. They’ll fall asleep easily and sleep soundly.
   
10. Bubble Blower Magic – Guided meditation scripts – like this bubble blower guided meditation for stress- are wonderful for introducing the power of relaxation and imagery into your child’s life. Starting as young as age three, you can read a guided meditation adventure to your child before bed. In doing so, you will help your child begin to use the mental tools readily available to each one of us.
    
11. Visualizing the New Year – A new year brings a fresh start. It’s also the ideal time to use a guided meditation script for the new year to help your child set their intentions for the future.
12. Inner Kingdom – Children love the use of the vivid guided meditation and imagery for fun and stress relief. Simply read the following meditation script in a calm relaxed voice to your child before bed or anytime for relaxation.
13. Pausing to Understand Anger – Children benefit from the use of guided meditation for relaxation and stress relief. You can guide your child to processing through their anger in a healthy way. When you help a child learn how to both feel and release anger at an early age, they’ll develop the lifelong tools for handling emotions positively.
14. Loving Your Body – Encourage a positive body image for your child with this guided meditation script. Babies are born loving their bodies. Unfortunately, our culture’s influence can make us think we’re never good enough. But you can help instill a lifelong body image relationship in your child by setting a good example at home and by giving them helpful messages like this one.
    
15. Beach Relaxation – Our minds are so creative and powerful that we can transport ourselves to any place we desire, just by imagining it. Even when we can’t go to the ocean, we can still bring warmth within through our guided imagery meditation.
    
16. Lakeside Meditation – In this guided relaxation meditation script, we will help your child release worry, sadness, and stress.
    
17. Happy Heart – Helping your child cultivate happiness and gratitude is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Not only does it set him or her up for a more content life, it can physically be a good thing for the heart!
    
18. You Are Loved – This nighttime meditation takes your child on a journey to recognize how very much they are loved. Use this script right before bed, while your child is relaxing. Speak the words gently, and use expression in your voice. Relax yourself a bit before reading to create the perfect atmosphere of calm and serenity. 
19. The Calm Kitty – Whether you’re looking to help ease your child’s worries or emotions or could benefit from a calming guided meditation yourself, here is a script to help bring a little peace into your child’s life.
20. Spring Renewal – Children love the use of the vivid guided meditation imagery for fun and stress relief. Simply read the words to your child in a relaxed manner as they settle into bed or at nap time. With Spring right around the corner, we’re focusing on this season’s sense of renewal and personal improvement.

Again, most of these meditations can be introduced to your child at bedtime, at least if they have the energy to undertake them. Don’t force your child to meditate, but rather explain to them how focus, peace & quiet can help them in life, and even consider doing a meditation exercise yourself to provide them with an example to follow.

Why Kids Meditation Matters

The exercises above are simple and easy techniques to introduce children to the practice of meditation, which is something that is more important in today’s world than ever. Children today are repeatedly exposed to violent & dramatic media, peer pressure, social media, and busy school deadlines, all which lead to mental stress.

By introducing kids meditation as a practice to help keep children balanced, they’re learning a valuable tool to help them escape from a never-ending stream of conflict, drama, and emotional pressure to a place of still and quiet. Inside themselves they are able to find peace, develop a healthy & balanced sense of themselves, and reflect on life as they learn to reduce anxiety.

Kids meditation helps improve self-esteem, and gives kids tools to detach from the need to follow negative peer pressures. As they learn to experience detachment, they can distance themselves from the chaos of daily life and embrace a personal space for relaxation. This will help them experience positive feelings as they learn how to reflect on their daily successes without the anxiety that often clouds our personal narrative.

Practicing focused concentration is great for stress reduction, but also helps children develop better concentration, find emotional balance, and helps them learn how to think before simply reacting to stimuli. Without meditation, children may be a a bundle of nervous energy – but with it, kids have a valuable tool for releasing stress. As responsible parents, meditation is incredibly valuable as a tool we can provide for our children to help them realize their full potential in life.