BookBairn: Mindfulness

Showing posts with label Mindfulness. Show all posts

You might remember that at the start of the year I wrote a blog post about my Most Anticipated Picture Books of 2020. And I've had the opportunity to read six of the original ten on the list. What I find interesting is that occasionally when I do those lists I am super excited to read the books and then I don't ever actually get a copy or when I do they disappoint. So I thought it would be interesting to look back on the ones that I got and see if they lived up to my expectations.

Let's start with My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLachlan and Francesca Sanna.

One of the things I have become interested in is supporting children to develop their mindfulness and become more in tune with their feelings and emotions. After having children, my "me time" has become very precious so I want to use it wisely and have begun to take a small amount of time during each day to sit and do nothing, to be mindful, to stop and be aware of how I am feeling. Not meditating in any sort of structured sense or using any sort of app or programme but just literally stopping for a few moments a day to do nothing. And I think it's really helping me to be calm. And helping me to take time to understand how I'm feeling and why I might be feeling certain ways. I think as parents (or just simply as humans) we juggle lots of things in our heads and our hearts so it's good to take some time out from that!

And, as I say, doing this has made me more conscious of how I can help my children and my future classes to learn about being mindful. When I read the introductory pages to this new picture book this phrase really struck a chord with me:

"We don't know how mindfulness might change the trajectory of development in children who start practicing it at a young age but the potential is immense."

Wow! The potential is immense. We know from studies that mindfulness techniques are greatly beneficial for youth and adults but what we are yet to discover is how incredible it could be for little ones.

So we are adding to our collection of Mindfulness and Meditation books, with this beautiful title Golden Sparkles: An Introduction to Mindfulness by Catarina R. Peterson and Mateya Arkova. Written in flowing rhyming prose, this book will help prepare children for a journey to discovering their own mindfulness in a way that they can understand. I love the simple analogy of having golden sparkles inside yourself that will help to tune in to how you are feeling. The lyrical story floats along, sharing with children the ways in which they can feel their golden sparkles whilst also celebrating their uniqueness. It shares how children can find their sparkles when they are feeling happy or sad with a simple breath. It helps them feel in control of how they navigate their world.

The illustrations are subtly soft and share children tuning in to their golden sparkles and practicing mindfulness. They show children of all different ages, colours and backgrounds enjoying the benefits of mindfulness in all different places. With a dreamlike quality, alongside the lilting text when read aloud softly, the illustrations transport you to a world of calm and peace.

The book also has accompanying mindfulness activity suggestions that grown ups and children are encouraged to do together, making the golden sparkles of the story really leap off the page and into your hearts too. But ultimately this book is a beautiful introduction into not being afraid to listen to the feelings inside. And that's an immensely powerful message we can give to our children.

This book is aimed at children aged 5-10 but BookBairn, at only 3, loves listening to the story and enjoys the illustrations so, although she might not quite be able to participate in the activities, she is still absorbing a calm and happy storytime and some of the message will undoubtedly seep through. It's also a lovely calming bedtime story!

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Now take five minutes for yourself to find your golden sparkles.

Mummy and BookBairn xx

Pin for Later.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to us by the author for review and this blog post was sponsored by the author. You can find the author's webpage here: http://www.catpeterson.co.uk/

I have been thinking a lot about creating calm and mindfulness in BookBairn and The Wee Page Turner and of course we have come across lots of books to support developing this mindset.

The Wee Page Turner mastering a handstand.

Before I share those books with you I just wanted to give a special thanks to Sarah from Warm Hearts Yoga who has helped to nurture and support both my bairns since they were babies. BookBairn started baby yoga at Warm Hearts Yoga (our local baby yoga class) when she was around three months old and we went once a week until The Wee Page Turner was born when we switched to a monthly class which she still loves. The Wee Page Turner started at a similar age and has now progressed on to yoga tots. Both my children and myself love this yoga group, Sarah tailors and adapts the class as she picks up on the needs of babies and mums and they both come home and practise their yoga moves (downward dog has always been a favourite). They both giggled with delight at the parachute rainbow at the end and have learned to lie calmly for the meditation part at the end. But the classes have also shown me some lovely ways to play and sing with my babies at home, which is hard as a new mum when you don't really know what to do. And some of the songs are still favourites and we sing them daily. If you live locally you should check out Warm Hearts Yoga for babies to school aged children, and if you don't you should look and see if there's a baby or kids yoga class near you.

Baby BookBairn was super bendy!

Pure joy.

Mastering Downward Dog.

Now on to some books...

I Am Yoga by Susan Verde and Peter H Reynolds

This is a lovely calming story, well more of a meditation in the form of a book than a story to be honest. It begins "When I feel small in a world so big ... I close my eyes and make room in my mind, in my heart, to create and imagine." It reminds your child to calm their body, quiet their mind, slow their breath. And it beautifully lists a series of positive affirmations for you little one: they sparkle like the stars, feel love, are playful, light up the night. All accompanied by a soothing illustration of a child in a yoga pose. This is a lovely book to read together at the end of a busy day. Or perhaps as the day begins to remind little ones of all those lovely affirmations. A beautiful empowering and calming book to help your little ones be more mindful of their own strengths and create calmness.

Yoga Babies by Fearne Cotton and Sheena Dempsey

Firstly, the charm of this book is in the illustrations! They are truly adorable. There are all sorts of different babies, toddlers and children in the scenes - from all shapes, sizes and colours, it's hard to think that your child wouldn't see themselves somewhere in this book and that makes it pretty magical. The colour palette used is soft but bright, soothing and enriching and the illustrations are full of delightful little details. The story is a lovely rhyme sharing the benefits and fun that you can have doing yoga and reads aloud very nicely. BookBairn enjoys reading this one as she recognises that the children are doing yoga "like me mummy!". This is a great little book that will encourage an enjoyment of yoga and makes a great bedtime story!

I think this is the family most like us (except for the fact that the baby
looks like he is happily asleep on his mother's back - this would never happen.
He only ever sleeps in his cot. And occasionally the car.)

Mind Hug by Emily Arber and Vanessa Lovegrove

This is a wonderful story that will start your child on an adventure into mindfulness, exploring self-soothing, emotional regulation and empathy for others. It tells the story of Jack, a little boy whose body and mind are constantly on the go. His mind is sometimes a loud buzzing mess of questions, worries, adventures and he finds it all a bit crowded and overwhelming. He's about to meltdown, temper tantrum, whatever phrase you prefer - he isn't coping. His dad shows him how to take deep breaths and, as you read, your child can join in too.The book shows Jack returning to a state of calm, and enjoying his world a little more. He then passes on the skill of this mind hug to his friends. This is a lovely story that will help children see the benefits of mindfulness as well as begin to practise some of the skills. The illustrations use colour to perfection - changing as Jack's mood changes. This one is a little longer and aimed at BookBairn's age and above, I'd say she is just at the right stage to start this book but your child will need to be practised at sitting for a slightly longer story to really benefit from this one. It has a great guide for parents on the first page helping you to understand mindfulness and how to effectively use the story. This is a great book to start with to help your child explore mindfulness and support the development of positive mental health tools at an early age.

The Children's Meditations In My Heart by Gitte Winter Graugaard

"All children - no matter what age - delight in hearing about their parents' love for them." This book is designed to share this love through short stories for sharing together in a series of meditations. I’ll be honest I thought this book would be a bit too whimsical to actually put into practice but with a few attempts BookBairn has mastered the staying still, being quiet and becoming calm. She is used to doing this at the end of her yoga sessions so that has probably helped and as much as she is a busy child she has quite a good attention span and focus for her age. This book has four stories - we have only done the first couple on repeat at the moment as I think that’s probably the easiest way to begin and they are lovely! Filling your child’s heart with love is surely the most important role of a parent and this is a wonderful way to do that together. (The book also claims to help at bedtime “working miracles” but we don’t have any issues with bedtime so I haven’t used it then. But the way it calms her wee busy body and mind I wouldn’t be surprised!) The first story guides your child into filling their heart with love and the latter stories will help them learn to send and receive love and the second is about sending and sharing love. BookBairn certainly loves to hear how much she is loved and often tells us how much she loves us too which is so heartwarming and fulfilling. The final two stories, which we are yet to explore, share the idea with you child that you love them and constantly hold them in your thoughts and heart even when you are not together and the final story is about creating empathy for people around the world that we do not know but can share your hearts with too. This style of reading is new to BookBairn as she usually read picture books but she has also loves audiobooks so is getting better at hearing stories read aloud without a visual to follow along. This book is a great guide into meditation with your child, but a word of caution would be to remember that it is a skill that your child won't learn overnight, it will take practise. But it's worth it as it creates a magical journey to take together. Check out the bottom of the blog for how to win a copy of your own.

Kaya's Heart Song by Diwa Tharan Sanders and Nerina Canzi

This is such a vibrant and joyful story about a little girl, Kaya, who is searching for her heart song. When she sees her mother meditating and hears her happy humming song, Kaya asks her mother if she is singing. Her mother tells her that it's her heart song and if you can find your heart song then anything is possible, setting Kaya off on a journey of self-discovery and self-belief. Deep in the jungle Kaya calms her mind and quietens her body and she soon hears the rhythm of her heart and discovers along with it a magical elephant carousel on which she and her friends can play. She then shows her friends how to find heart songs of their very own. A whimsical tale that is breathtakingly illustrated this is a lovely story that will create a lovely sense of calm as you read.

ABC Mindful Me by Christiane Engel

We had been looking for a lovely ABC book and this one is just wonderful! It pairs each letter of the alphabet with a word that teaches children about mindfulness principles like compassion, empathy, gratitude and kindness. The illustrations are bright and playful and the rhyming phrases on each page make it lovely to read aloud too! I particularly like the illustrations that match each word - they have been very carefully considered. For example, joy is depicted as a child running with a kite trailing behind and the accompanying text says to find joy in the little things all around you. This is something children are so much better at doing than us grown ups and I loved this timely reminder to stop and enjoy. With lots of connections to nature in the illustrations you will want to take this book outdoors (when Spring finally arrives) and appreciate the natural world around you - something that is strongly connected to mindfulness and positive health and wellbeing for children. There are so many things you can talk about with this book but I love that it has taken an ABC format and turned it into something so much more meaningful, powerful and enjoyable.

Giveaway - Children's Meditations in My Heart

***We have two copies of this brilliant book to giveaway. If you would like to win a copy of Children's Meditations in my Heart please check out our social media where a winner will be chosen from our Twitter and Instagram entries. UK residents only please. Competition closes 31.3.18.***

I hope you have found in this collection of books something that will help you create a calm and mindful story for you and your little readers.

Happy and mindful reading,

Mummy and BookBairn xx

DISCLAIMER: Most of these books were sent to us from the publishers for review (Yoga Babies we borrowed from the library). Our words and opinions are, as always, our own.