At Magination Press Family, you’ll find a wealth of books to help you practice mindfulness with children and teenagers. Explore the collection below for helpful titles that offer practical, kid-friendly mindfulness activities and exercises.
A World of Pausabilities: An Exercise in Mindfulness
Sometimes we just need to pause — to stop, breathe, and take a moment for ourselves. To be mindful. Told in rhyming verse and beautifully illustrated, A World of Pausabilities is an inviting introduction to mindfulness. Readers will learn how to apply mindfulness to simple, everyday moments, and how days are filled with endless possibilities to take a pause. Includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers that further discusses mindfulness and ways to introduce pauses into your child's life.
Bounce Back: How to Be A Resilient Kid
When a bouncing ball hits the ground, it bounces back. That's what resilience means — the ability to bounce back from tough times. Some people seem to automatically bounce back. But the truth is that resilience is not something you are born with or not — it can be learned. Bounce Back will help you find your bounce using cool quizzes, lots of advice, and practical strategies that build up resiliency skills. Being motivated to learn resiliency skills is a great first step toward acquiring them!
Breathe
Breathe is a conversation between a boy and his mother at bedtime. But this conversation can happen at any time, in any place. This introduction to mindfulness presents a collection of illustrated exercises to help little ones become aware of their breath and their body. Includes a Note to Parents & Caregivers that describes the exercises and their effects in more detail.
Bee Still: An Invitation to Meditation
Bentley is a lovable, calm honeybee. He lives in a hive in a tall oak tree. One day, the queen told the bees to get busy. This sent them scrambling into a tizzy. But not Bentley. He chose to be patient and wait. He decided to look for a place to meditate. Bee Still is a child-friendly introduction to meditation. Includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers with more ideas for introducing meditation into your child's life.
Dream It! A Playbook to Spark Your Awesomeness
Do you want to live the biggest, brightest, best life possible? Do you want to do things never done before? Do you want your life to mean something and make a difference? Do you want to feel and be awesome? If so, this book is for you! Dream It! is full of activities, games, and brainstorming questions to help you discover your passions, create unique-to-you dreams, and ultimately open the door to a life full of possibilities! With this playbook as your guide, not even the sky's the limit.
Grow Grateful
My name is Kiko. I'm a happy camper! I can grow grateful, too. Let me show you how. Grow Grateful is based in part on an idea called “theory of mind,” the ability to take the perspective of others into account. Most children begin to recognize around age 4-5 that everyone has their own thoughts, feelings, and perspective. Once our capacity to think about these things emerges, we have the ability to feel and express gratitude. Note to Parents by authors.
Grow Happy
My name is Kiko. I'm a gardener. I grow happy. Let me show you how. Kiko shows the reader how she grows happiness: by making good choices, taking care of her body and mind, paying attention to her feelings, problem solving, and spending time with family and friends. Kids will learn that they can play a pivotal role in creating their own happiness, just like Kiko. A Note to Parents and Other Caregivers provides more strategies for helping children learn how to grow happiness.
Imagine a Rainbow: A Child’s Guide for Soothing Pain
When a child is in pain, imagining scenes that are soothing or uplifting may help reduce the discomfort. Imagine a Rainbow is a beautiful tool for introducing children to the idea of using their imaginations to cope with pain, whether by itself or as part of a more comprehensive pain management plan. The book also includes an extensive Note to Parents that explains the techniques of imagery and deep breathing, and how to help children use them.
King Calm: Mindful Gorilla in the City
Marvin isn't like other gorillas. He doesn't stomp his feet and he never ever pounds his chest with a thump thump roar. Marvin is mindful. He's focused. He's calm…and he's about to teach his grandpa to be a king of calm, too! Includes a Reader's Note loaded with information about living mindfully and ways to become more calm, focused, and tuned in to the Great Big World around you.
Mind Over Basketball: Coach Yourself to Handle Stress
Tuck is stressed out and having a hard time feeling confident and dealing with his upsets. Then Walton shows up and coaches Tuck on how to manage his anxiety and self-doubt. Soon Tuck is feeling in control of his life and focusing his energy on what he loves most… basketball! Using a positive, interactive, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction approach, this book combines a high-interest chapter book and informative coaching guides with skills-training exercises.
Relaxations: Big Tools for Little Warriors
Imagine that your mind is a huge movie screen. It is blank, and you can play whatever movie you'd like. Do you want to be a piece of spaghetti? Or a butterfly? Or perhaps a shooting star that travels through space? Silence, please. The movie will now begin.
Silence
What can you hear when you are completely silent? Is that the wind blowing? Birds chirping? Sun shining? World whirling? Maybe a car engine or faraway plane? Maybe kids laughing or playing tag? Be still. Listen. Focus on the now. What do you hear? By paying attention to what is otherwise lost in our noisy world, you can develop your imagination and curiosity and learn a lot more about yourself.
Stickley Sticks to It!: A Frog’s Guide to Getting Things Done
Stickley the frog has the gift of "stick-to-it-ness." His sticky toes help him stick to windows, ceilings, and even under plates! Stickley's toes aren't the only way he sticks to things. His attitude helps him stick with projects — no matter how frustrating or hard they may be — so he can reach his goals. Learn how Stickley makes a plan, sticks to it, and gets things done! Includes a Note to Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers with more strategies for boosting stick-to-it-ness in kids.
Take the Time: Mindfulness for Kids
With gentle rhythms and soothing imagery, Take the Time guides kids toward self-awareness and mindfulness. And when any old day feels topsy-turvy, mindfulness tools may help your child calm down and feel better.
The Hugging Tree: A Story of Resilience
The Hugging Tree is the story of a little tree growing all alone on a cliff. Sustained by the compassion of one little boy, the tree grows until it can hold and shelter others. The Hugging Tree calls to mind the potential in all of us: to thrive, despite times of struggle and difficulty, to dream and grow, just where we are. A Note to Parents and Caregivers by Elizabeth McCallum, PhD, provides more information about resilience, and guidelines for building resilience in children.
Visiting Feelings
Visiting Feelings encourages children to treat their feelings like guests — welcome them in, get to know them, and perhaps learn why they are visiting. Through this purposeful and mindful exploration, Visiting Feelings harnesses a young child's innate capacity to fully experience the present moment and invites children to sense, explore, and befriend all of their feelings with acceptance and equanimity. A Note to Parents provides more information about emotional awareness and mindfulness.
Grow Kind
Kiko grows and cultivates her garden, harvesting and sharing the fruits and veggies with her friends, neighbors, and family. This delightful tale serves as a metaphor of nurturing relationships and community, while sharing kindness with others. Grow Kind is a gentle narrative based on positive psychology and choice theory, essentially about cultivating kindness.
Sophie’s Shell
Sophie was always ponders big questions, like Why is the sky blue? Why are raindrops wet? What are stars made of? But when Sophie starts school, there's a wobbly feeling in her tummy and she can't help popping back into her shell. She is left with one big question: Why am I so shy? When Sophie meets Stanley, she realizes that she's not the only one who feels shy. Can she gain the confidence to help a new friend? A heart warming tale about a sensitive snail who overcomes her shyness with a little help from her new friends.
Layla’s Luck
Layla is a ladybug with a lucky charm for every occasion: lucky socks for running, a lucky pencil for tests, and a lucky watering can for her flowers. When Layla enters a baking event, she is counting on her good luck to help her bake a delicious cake. But is luck the only ingredient that matters? A clever tale of a ladybug who learns that success comes from her own smarts, skill, and hard work — not lucky charms and chance.
Doug’s Dung
Doug has trouble lifting heavy balls of dung. He just doesn’t feel as strong as the other dung beetles. When Doug feels down that he isn’t tough enough, a passing butterfly helps him see things in a different light and he realizes that strength comes in many forms. An uplifting story of a determined dung beetle who finds his unique strength in creating beautiful things inspired by nature, flowers, friends, and the garden.
Lucy’s Light
Lucy is a lightning bug and the most talented flyer in the squad. There's just one problem: she doesn't light up! When it's time to learn night flying, Lucy is anxious. She tries everything to get her light to shine but nothing works. Lucy is about to give up when her friends are captured by a nasty toad and his gang, who hatched a plan to brighten up their bog. Does Lucy have what it takes to save her friends? Or is she just an "ordinary" bug after all? A sweet story which shines a light on inner confidence, self-acceptance, and courage. Lucy learns that doing a good deed will always make you shine bright!
A Box of Butterflies
"I love that story," said Ruby. "Did you love it too?" "Robot is just a machine. Robot cannot feel love." Robot paused for a moment and said, " What does love feel like?"
Hector’s Favorite Place
Hector loves his cozy, snuggly, safe home. It's his favorite place to be. Hector loves his home so much that he doesn't often go out, and soon, it starts to affect his friendships. Can Hector find the courage to break out of his comfort zone? Included is a Note to Parents, Caregivers, and Professionals by Julia Martin Burch, PhD, that discusses helping children overcome their worries and break out of their comfort zone.