Getting Started

Learn more about why mindfulness is important for kids and get tips on how to use the Smiling Mind Kids Care Packs. You'll find some helpful tools to build your own wellbeing too.

How to recognise anxiety in children

Symptoms of anxiety in children vary and can include:

Seeming confused

Distracted and preoccupied

Appearing withdrawn

Becoming more clingy than usual

Like adults, children’s ‘freeze, flight or fight’ stress response is activated when they sense danger. Children have a tendency to respond by ‘freezing’ due to their age and inexperience with the world at large. This can lead to numbing their feelings and a turning inward.

How our Care Packs can help

The care packs are designed to support children:

Develop greater awareness of their emotions

Reduce emotional reactivity and anxiety

Promote emotional regulation skills, pro-social behaviour and wellbeing

How to use the Smiling Mind Care Packs

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There are three Smiling Mind Care Packs, each designed to support children during this turbulent time:

Recognising and Managing Emotions
Looking after Worry & Anxiety
Focusing on the positives

Each pack is a downloadable pdf containing:

Topic introductions – to give you a clear understanding of the topic and how the meditations and activities can support the mental health of your child
Smiling Mind mindfulness meditations – to listen to together. These can be accessed from your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Printable activities designed to be both fun and to support conversations with your child. Each set of activities includes questions to help you kickstart important conversations.

Simply download the pdf for your child or children’s age group, choose a topic and get ready to play the meditation and complete an activity together.

Meditations come from the Smiling Mind app which is 100% free to download and play. Activities can be printed and only need coloured pens, pencils and paper.

How to Use the Smiling Mind App

Smiling Mind is a unique tool developed by psychologists and educators to support the development of mindfulness practices for every age group.

Meditations can be played for kids to do on their own, and you can participate together.

DOWNLOAD THE APP TO GET STARTED!

Only on desktop? We have a webapp too!

Looking After Yourself – Self Care Resources

While our care packs focus on children, it’s also important for parents, carers and teachers to take care of themselves. Being at our best means we can better support the people that we care for, while also thriving in our own lives. With a little bit of self-care, you’ll be more able to meet challenges that inevitably arise and provide children with what they need to grow and thrive.

Download