A mindfulness exercise for children

I am always big on doing mindfulness activities with my son, he has such a huge imagination and is highly active everything is fast paced with him that even though I love that about him its also nice to slow down I found this really great mindfulness exercise for kids and thought I  would share it here as it may help others aswell.

Ask the child to select an object to draw

Tell the child to draw a picture of their chosen object. Remind them that the activity is not focused on their ability to draw.

Then have the child spend time looking at the actual object paying attention to the smaller and smaller details.

The child should draw the object again.

Compare the drawings and ask the child to identify the details missing from the first drawing that they remembered in the second.

The second drawing will be more accurate and life like.

Ask the child what it was like to spend time really looking at the object that might otherwise have been something they never to the time to notice.

(David Fontana and Ingrid Slack - teaching meditation to children)