Mindfully Activating Our Senses
A mindfulness card game designed for children that focuses on activating the five senses to be present and fully immersed in the moment.
My goal in creating a project for my Capstone was to find a practical and playful way to bring mindfulness into children’s lives through their senses. Through activating and exploring our senses, our attention is immediately brought to the present moment and increases our awareness of the experience.
The main reason for creating this mindful game directed towards children is that I wish I had learned this tool of slowing down and embracing the present moment sooner in my own life. Children are highly active, imaginative, and creative beings, which is why I wanted to tailor to their abilities and create a fun, interactive game for them to enjoy.
The objective of this card game is to create peaceful, mindful moments with children (ages 3 to 7) guided by parents or caregivers. The game is comprised of 20 total wooden cards, including illustrations of the body parts we use our senses for — hearing, seeing, listening, touching, and tasting, along with fifteen activities designed to activate our senses, an instruction booklet, and one die. The activities include an exploration of textures, scratch and sniff components for an exploration of smells, vibrant illustrations of nature for an exploration of sight and color, illustrations of food that serve as a counting game, and illustrations of animals for the purpose of asking the child what noises the different animals make. There is a mindful component included in the game if the number 6 is rolled, that entails a moment of deep breaths.
The practice of mindfulness was introduced to me at a time I was going through a transitionary period in my life. I knew this was a skill that I could not only deepen over time, but that I really wanted to embody in order to be present with the people in my life, rather than living in the past or becoming anxious over what the future held.
During this transitory period in my life, I decided to do an immersive yoga teacher training in Bali, Indonesia. This 28-day training included waking up at 5am every morning, practicing 5 hours of silence through breakfast, followed by a 90-minute yoga flow, and a 2-hour lesson from the teacher on topics such as breath work, meditation, and anatomy. The multiple hours of silence each morning allowed me to become aware of what was happening around me as well as what I was experiencing internally; without acting on any thoughts that arose or reacting to any external stimuli, and instead just observing them.
The benefits I encountered from sitting in silence every day during those 28 days was a huge sense of self-acceptance and overall a calmer sense of being. When I was practicing mindfulness, I kept thinking, why did nobody ever teach me this skill sooner?
The beauty of mindfulness is that it can be interwoven in everyday movements. It is not something one needs to carve out time to practice, but rather, we can simply do this while we are speaking with others, as we are waking up in the morning, making food throughout the day, and continuing on as we navigate our lives. So I thought, why not teach and practice this skill with little ones early on in their lives in a fun, engaging way?
Now more than ever is an important time to be teaching mindfulness to children; it has been a year of slowing down, being indoors more, and in the case of parents with children, potentially facing more stressful circumstances. With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have first-hand seen the amount of time parents have spent juggling necessities such as working from home and taking care of their little ones, all while trying to not let time just pass them by.
For children and adults alike, the practice of mindfulness can help manage and channel emotions in a healthy way. That is why I decided this deck of cards can be used in the homes of these families who may be struggling to find the time in their day to slow down.
Parents/caregivers have the opportunity to engage in this game and the practice of mindfulness with their little ones, all while benefiting from the practice of slowing down themselves. It is a time to momentarily put away the screens, the devices, the external noises, and sit and play. When I had the opportunity to play this game with my brother and his wife and their two little ones who moved from New York City as the pandemic was rising to Stowe, Vermont, the 6 was rolled, and the adults said, “thank you for this, we really needed those deep breaths.”
And now, I invite you to take a few deep breaths.
