Using children’s books about mindfulness can be a wonderful way to weave topics of mindfulness into your school day. Have you being wanting to use mindfulness in the classroom, but you’re just not sure where to start? Well, these books are the perfect thing. Picture books are highly engaging, and they are a great way to introduce unfamiliar topics to young students.
Looking for the best children’s books about mindfulness? Read on for my top picks!
Click to jump to…
- Choosing Children’s Books About Mindfulness
- Children’s Books About Breathing
- Children’s Books About Mindful Bodies
- Children’s Books About Being Present
- Children’s Books About Positive Affirmations
- Children’s Books About Meditation
- Mindfulness In The Classroom
Choosing Children’s Books About Mindfulness
Mindfulness is such an important tool for students to use. There are so many benefits to mindfulness in the classroom, but there just aren’t that many resources available yet that are made just for students. (That’s why I created these Mindfulness Lessons!)
The good news is, there are more and more children’s books about social emotional learning available these days. But it can be hard to know which ones are the best for your students…
How should you go about choosing children’s books about mindfulness? Here are a few tips:
- Look for books that have clear strategies that students can practice themselves. Giving children explicit examples of mindfulness that they can use in their own lives is so helpful!
- Look for characters that your students can relate to. It’s so important to expose children to characters that are like themselves (but also important to expose them to characters that are different – we need a mix of windows and mirrors!)
- Choose books that have full class exercises you can do together! These are great for brain breaks and transitions between lessons, and create an easy way to squeeze some mindfulness activities into the school day.
- Find books that you could weave into your academic subjects. So often, we can create a writing response or some comprehension work around any read aloud. That makes it so much easier to include social emotional learning lessons as a natural part of the school day – perfect!
But guess what?
I’ve already done the hard work and searched for children’s books about mindfulness that are perfect for the classroom! Read on to see my top choices…
Children’s Books About Breathing
Breath is a key component of mindfulness, and it can help students in so many ways. Breathing helps us regulate our emotions, reduce stress, and calm our bodies. These next children’s books about mindfulness focus on ways students can use their breathing to help get grounded.
My Magic Breath
A great book for helping students visualize calm breathing and using it in difficult situations.
Alphabreaths
A fun book of ABCs with different breathing exercises that are simple and easy for kids to try.
Breathing Makes It Better
This book walks students through the process of identifying challenging situations and using their breath to help them.
Children’s Books About Mindful Bodies
Children are active, physical beings. But many students are still learning how to regulate and control their bodies. These next children’s books about mindfulness help students calm their bodies and control their movements. These contain some great mindfulness exercises for students to use in the classroom!
Mindful Movements
This book contains ten easy mindfulness activities that are great for brain breaks and for practicing moving mindfully with your body.
Peaceful Piggy Yoga
This is a sweet book talking about yoga, the benefits of practicing mindfulness and yoga, as well as some basic yoga poses that children can learn and practice.
Breathe Like A Bear
This book contains 30 mindfulness exercises for kids – some breathing and some movement – to practice with your students. Great for pulling out and trying one or two between lessons or right after recess!
Children’s Books About Being Present
With our fast-paced lives and the constant presence of technology, it’s hard for all of us to remember to be present and appreciate the present moment. Teaching mindfulness for kids can help students learn to be present, a skill they can take with them as they grow up. These next children’s books about mindfulness help students be present and aware of what’s happening around them.
I Am Peace
This mindfulness book examines what it means to go through life with mindfulness, being present in each moment.
What Does It Mean To Be Present?
A great introduction to the concept of being present in each moment.
Charlotte and the Quiet Place
This mindfulness children’s book examines the importance of being able to find calm and get grounded in the midst of our busy world.
Children’s Books About Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are gaining more and more popularity as a tool for helping self esteem in children. A big pieces of mindfulness for kids is helping them identify negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. This set of children’s books about mindfulness provides positive self affirmations that students can use to help them create a more positive self perception.
My Magical Words
This mindfulness book explains how we can talk to ourselves and what affirmations are. It gives many examples of positive affirmations.
It’s Great To Be Me!
A great book full of self affirmations for students to repeat and practice.
Mind Bubbles
An easy-to-understand mindfulness children’s book that shows how our thoughts come and go, and how we can practice noticing them.
Children’s Books About Meditation
Wait… can you do meditation with students? Absolutely! Meditation doesn’t have to be a woo-woo or spiritual exercise. It’s really just a practice of focusing your mind on something. You can do a meditation as a quick mindfulness activity during the school day. Some simple meditations might be asking your students to picture a certain object in their mind, or having them think of a special memory that makes them happy.
These next children’s books about mindfulness are great for introducing your students to meditation and explaining some of the benefits.
Leo Learns To Meditate
Leo is a very relatable character who doesn’t understand the value of meditation. He learns how and why it can be helpful.
Meditate With Me
This sweet book walks through the steps to get your body and mind ready for meditation.
Imaginations
A collection of relaxation stories that are fun to use as quick classroom mindfulness activities with your students.
Mindfulness In The Classroom
I hope these mindfulness children’s books have given you some mindfulness classroom ideas to try out with your students. Just remember you can start small – any mindfulness activities you can start out with will be helpful! Once you get started, it will become more and more easy and natural to have mindfulness in the classroom.
If you want more activity ideas, check out How To Use Mindfulness In the Classroom: A Complete Guide.
Which mindfulness children's book are you going to try out first? Let me know in the comments! xoxo Laura
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