Cultivating Contemplative Skills
Media reports of a mental health crisis among young people have appeared regularly in the last two years. Psychologists…
MorePosts tagged: Attention
Experiencing Gratitude
“Thanks, mom!” Every time one of my kids says those words, my heart does a happy dance. Not only am I pleased that…
MoreEngaging Kids’ Senses with My City Speaks
I have a birdsong app on my phone. When I tap the recording icon, it listens for birds and tells me their names and…
MoreStory Reenactments
As preschoolers, my children loved Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I would read the story and they would…
MoreWonder Wagons
A blue spruce tree in my yard has grown too big and I planned to trim it back. But when I approached it with my…
MoreWonder Walls
Asking “why?” is stereotypical behavior for two-year-olds. Parents and caregivers lament the seemingly incessant…
MoreAffirming Children
Saying something positive to a child seems easy. We tell kids, “you’re amazing!” and exclaim “That’s the best…
MoreSnow White Spirituality
From the time my kids were little, we have worked together to clean the house, take care of pets, and prepare dinner.…
MoreWondering with Wonder Walkers
Research suggests that curiosity is both an innate human trait and a learned skill. The desire to learn more about our…
MoreChoosing to Love with World of Wonder
Activism is often portrayed in the media as an angry response to injustice. But civil rights leader Valarie Kaur sees…
MoreA New Year’s Meditation
New Year’s Day is traditionally a time to look back on the past year and forward into the future. It’s an…
MoreExploring Diverse Holidays with The House Without Lights
Holiday lights are a staple of many winter traditions. Solstice candles, Hanukkah menorahs, colorful Christmas strings,…
MoreStories for Cooking Together
The winter holidays offer many opportunities for families to cook together. What might sometimes seem like drudgery -…
MoreHalloween Story Circles
“Oooh…the skeletons' bones clattered in the dark night as they rose from the graveyard and began to march. The…
MoreMemory Games
Almost everything we do with children involves things they need to remember. Spiritual stories have characters and…
MorePaying Close Attention to Kids
At my daughter’s sixth birthday party, she invited her friends to decorate pots and plant marigolds. I watched as one…
MorePracticing Kindness
Kindness is more than just a feeling. It’s a way of being in the world that requires paying close attention to other…
MoreHow Nature Journals Increase Kids’ Well-Being
Last week, I saw a young child watching a bumble bee move from flower to flower on a large bush. “Shhh,” she told…
MoreEncouraging Future-Mindedness
“I’m going to be a programmer when I grow up,” said my 10-year-old daughter. She had just checked out several…
MorePathways to Wonder & Awe
The first time I saw flying fish, I was overcome with amazement. They looked like silvery stars twinkling in the waves…
MoreHelping Kids Feel Important
“You never listen to me!” complained my nine-year-old. She was trying to tell me about the antics of some of the…
MoreJitter Stick Spirituality
My kids have always been pretty good about settling down to do their homework. But after a half hour or so, first one…
MoreChildren’s Resistance to Spirituality
Children, like adults, vary in their attraction to spirituality. Some revel in many different kinds of experiences,…
MorePassover Explorations
Looking through photos, I found several of my family celebrating Passover with friends who are Jewish. They would…
MoreKids, Ramadan & Food Insecurity
As the war between Israel and Palestine continues, many Palestinian parents struggle to feed their families. Violence…
MoreCreating Resource-Rich Spiritual Environments
A child’s environment has a huge effect on their lives and, consequently, on their spirituality. The things and…
MoreSpiritual Care with Seriously Ill Children
When a friend’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, everyone around them was shocked and dismayed. We wondered how…
MoreHelp Kids Be Relational Thermostats
“He made me feel bad!” wailed my son after telling me how a friend chose a different playmate at recess. “He…
MoreMore Gratitude, Please
My mother firmly believed that children should write thank you notes for any gifts we received. If we didn’t get them…
MoreValentine Spirituality
Every year, my kids’ school does a Valentine fundraiser. Parents and grandparents can purchase pink and red…
MoreThe Science of Gratitude
“Tank you” said my daughter’s two year old friend as I passed out cookies to everyone in our neighborhood…
MoreGuided Meditation: Food Insecurity
“Mom, I’m hungry, and there’s nothing to eat!” my 10 year old wailed while staring into a well-stocked…
MoreDreaming with Wonka
When my eldest was two, she asked if there would be “little meats” for Christmas. I was puzzled and tried…
MorePracticing Thanks-Giving
“Let’s go around the room and say something we’re thankful for,” says the teacher. “I’m thankful for apple…
MoreKindness Trees
“No, no, no!” said the preschool teacher as she rushed over to a child threatening to hit a playmate. “It’s not…
MoreEncouraging Creative Thinking
While hanging out with a babysitter one evening, my children decided to create their own tabletop game. They drew a…
MoreMovement Meditation: Awareness
Being aware of one’s surroundings can be an important safety practice. We teach children to pay attention when…
MoreExploring Every Little Kindness with Kids
Sometimes a story doesn’t need words to be powerful. That’s the case with Marta Bartolj’s Every Little Kindness,…
MoreConnecting with Nature through My Friend Earth
Learning about the seasons of the year is a common focus in many preschool and elementary programs. My Friend Earth,…
MoreLanguage that Builds Community
“This is a story for Amelia,“ announced the adult leading storytime. “It’s a story for Marcus, and a story for…
MoreRecording Lessons
When the pandemic shut down in-person gatherings, many of us pivoted to online programs. Some loved working with…
MoreShifting Bad Habits to Good Practices
When I was a child, I bit my nails. It was a reflexive action whenever I felt stressed or anxious. I don’t really…
MorePromoting Children’s Voices through ‘Grand Conversations’
One of my pet peeves with curricula for children’s programs is how teacher-directed most of the activities are. The…
MoreUsing Books as Spiritual Mirrors & Windows
As a preschooler, my daughter loved Don and Audrey Wood’s The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big…
MoreGuided Meditation on Friendship
For children, Valentine’s Day is more about friendship than romance. They’re generally eager to exchange valentine…
MoreHelping Children Appreciate Diversity
Cleaning out my daughter’s closet, I found a shadow box she constructed in 1st grade. She and a friend set out to…
MoreExploring People Are Wild with Children
“Do they bite?” asked Marcus* when we spotted a family of mule deer during a camping trip. Our group was excited…
MoreUsing Room Decorations to Support Spiritual Learning
The walls of my son’s pre-K classroom were covered with posters and children’s artwork. It was like walking into a…
MoreHoliday Lights Scavenger Hunt
I love holiday lights! Strings of colored bulbs wrapped around trees, icicle lights hanging from rooftops and fences, a…
MoreDeveloping Patience
“How many more days, mom? How many more?” Every December, my kids would be hyper-charged with excitement for the…
MoreWhy Kids Need Silence
As a parent, I used to be suspicious of silence. If I wasn’t hearing sounds from the next room, I would wonder what…
MoreExploring Just Help! with Kids
How can children learn to build a better world? According to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the answer is in…
MoreChildren, Community Science & Climate Change
Earlier this month, the Pacific Ocean made news because it is shrinking faster than scientists expected. One reason…
MoreExercising Attention
It’s the usual afterschool chaos in my house. Classic rock plays loudly and all three kids are gyrating in an…
MoreBeing Antiracist with Kids
As a white researcher and teacher, I know I am susceptible to implicit bias. Even though I am committed to antiracism,…
MoreExploring Lightyear with Children
As long time fans of Toy Story, my children were excited to learn Buzz’s backstory. They watched as Buzz and Alesha…
MoreModeling Gratitude
“Thank you.” Two simple words we teach children when they’re small and hope they will use often. Giving thanks…
MoreDaily Intentions
Setting small spiritual goals each day is one way that children can take responsibility for their own moral and ethical…
MoreSetting Spiritual Goals
A few years ago, I taught a child who struggled with managing his emotions in group settings. He was unhappy about his…
MoreUsing Story Circles to Build Empathy
Sorting through a box of old school papers, I found a story one of my children wrote in 2nd grade. Her teacher had…
MoreCreating a Mindfulness Space
Mindfulness practices help children to become more self-aware. When they spend time being present with themselves, they…
MoreEmpathy Maps
Getting to know the children with whom we work is essential. We learn their names and perhaps ask about their favorite…
MoreExplaining Gun Violence
Mass shootings have become commonplace in the U.S. No matter how a parent feels about gun control, the thought of…
MoreFocused Attention
Mindfulness is all the rage these days, and rightly so. When children take a few moments to focus their attention, they…
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