Here’s a fun mindfulness game for kids of all ages to play outside. Younger children will typically find this most exciting, but even adults will enjoy it once they get going.

Earthworms inspired me to play and write about this game! No, I’m not going cuckoo… :-)

We counted rain worms with the first graders after it rained yesterday. Then we decided to see how it felt to be as “fast” as the worms and had the entire class move at their pace.

It was thrilling… we followed one earthworm inching along only to discover it was heading straight for another worm! The two worms actually met, and the kids assumed they were playing tag. Who knows, perhaps earth worms emerge from the ground to play tag when it rains?

Paying attention to wild life, whether slugs or earthworms, is both relaxing and a form of mindfulness practice. So I recommend going on a mindful safari by yourself or with your children.

The Mindful Safari is a fun outdoor activity for people of all ages. It’s simple and enjoyable to do. It is intended to improve awareness of your surroundings, sensory awareness as well as executive function skills.

This is how a Mindful Safari is done. There are no tickets required :-)

Mindfulness Games For Children: The Mindful Safari

Purpose: Sensory awareness, Focus, Calm, Relaxation

Best For: Ages 2+, groups or one-on-one

1. Tell your children that you are going on a safari and that their goal is to see as many butterflies, birds, bugs, creepy-crawlies, and other animals as possible. Anything that walks, crawls, swims, or flies is part of the safari.

2. Tell them that they will most likely need to use all of their senses to find the animals and that they must be quiet and careful so as not to scare the animals.

3. Go have a safari!

It will, of course, become noisy, but don’t worry about that. It’s good if the kids get excited :-)

You can change the game so that they each have to count at least 5 different animals, or you can make it a competition for older children. However, I recommend keeping it relaxing and taking your time so that the children can become immersed.

Okay! So get outside and take a mindful safari. If you see an earthworm, please check to see if it’s playing tag and let me know!

PS

Sign up for my upcoming NEW mindfulness GAMES book, which includes tens of mindful games. It’s going to be a fun book and it will empower you to teach mindfulness and executive function skills through movement, art, dance, music, nature, food, crafts and all of your amazing senses.

Click here to sign up for a chance to be part of the launch team, review the book and get it for free.

With gratitude,

Chris Bergstrom

Chief Mindfulness Ninja @ Blissful Kids


Chris Bergstrom is a bestselling mindfulness author, a leader in the field of mindfulness, and the founder of BlissfulKids.com, a community of parents, educators, and therapists dedicated to children’s mindfulness and psychology, with over 15 years of experience facilitating meditation and psychological interventions to people of all ages.

Chris is a certified mindfulness facilitator, trained to teach mindfulness to students in K-12, and has received psychology and mindfulness training from UPenn, UCLA, UNC, Mindful Schools, and Mindfulness Without Borders.