Focusing and Calming Games for Children: Mindfulness Strategies and Activities to Help Children to Relax, Concentrate and Take Control

Having the ability to focus, relax and concentrate is key to enabling children and young people to achieve emotional well-being, and is also important for a child's development of skills and abilities.

This book uses a model of 'mindfulness play' to help children to achieve well-being, an approach designed by the author which encourages children to build awareness of their inner and outer worlds. Part One covers the theoretical and practical background, setting out how to facilitate play using the mindfulness play model, including consideration of the emotional environment. Part Two includes a wealth of games and activities, from 'Body focus' and 'Fidget flop' to 'Musical drawings' and 'Pass a smile'. The activities are suitable for use with groups and individual children aged 5-12, and can be adapted for children with specific attention and concentration difficulties, such as ADHD, and for older children.

This is an ideal resource for teachers, counsellors, social workers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, youth workers, parents, and carers.

Deborah M. Plummer has over 20 years’ experience of facilitating groups and working individually with both children and adults. Formerly a clinical lead therapist working within the NHS, she also has extensive experience as a senior lecturer in aspects of health psychology and counselling. She regularly runs workshops and short courses on the uses of imagery, games and story-telling in the promotion of well-being. Deborah is author of several titles, including Helping Children to Improve their Communication Skills, Helping Children to Cope with Change, Stress and Anxiety and Helping Children to Build Self-Esteem, 2nd edition, all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Deborah’s website can be found at www.deborahplummer.co.uk.