Breathe Like a Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere (Mindfulness Moments for Kids)

Nine months ago our 3 kids moved in with us (now ages 4, 6, and 8) and we finalized the adoption a couple months ago. They have been through immense trauma and have made incredible progress, but we still sometimes struggle with helping them to calm down from anxiety, fear, anger, and manic episodes. We have tried so many techniques but this seems to be the one that consistently works and here is why I think that's the case:1. Each meditation is bite-sized. The brevity makes it seem more do-able to my kids even when they are extremely dysregulated.2. The illustrations are engaging, inviting, pleasant to look at, colorful.3. The imagery in each meditation makes it easy for kids to focus on their senses - for example, holding a candle or a cup of hot chocolate.4. There are enough meditations to choose from that the kids can easily find one they feel like doing in any given moment without it being the same thing every time.5. Even though I'm the one reading it to them and making them do it, it helps that the instructions are coming from a third party (the book) so that it's not just Boring Mom and Dad telling them what to do.We have mainly used this book in two ways. One is as a transition from our bedtime routine into getting in bed. We have them turn on their flashlights and sit in bed and we turn off the overhead light. Then we read one or two of the meditations for relaxing and we all do it together. After that we are able to turn off their flashlights and have them lay down for reading time. It sets the tone for bedtime and the kids really love it. The other way we have used the book is when one of the kids is really dysregulated. Our 8yo gets into manic episodes where she laughs hysterically, pushes her sisters, breaks every rule, etc and for the life of me I could not figure out a way to get her out of this mode. The other day when she was in one of these modes, I pulled her aside and had her do a few "be calm" meditations from the book with me and like magic she was a functioning child again. We also used it with our 6yo when she got into a spiraling tantrum where she just got herself into more and more and more trouble and couldn't stop. I told her she could earn back the privileges she had lost if she did a few meditations with me, and she just kept wanting to do more of them even after she had earned it back already. It really helped calm her and turn things around.I'm sure there are a ton of ways to use this that we haven't taken advantage of yet. But so far just in these two different use cases it's been extremely helpful.

Very nice book for a 4- 5-year-old

Bought the book after I took the children literacy development, it is an amazing tool, helping children to calm down and relax. Each meditation is using friendly with children, keeping them engaged.

I've been ordering a lot of children's books for my toddler son, and 25-30% of them have been really disappointing. Not this one. This book not only covers the topic of mindfulness, calm, presence, and meditation, but it does so with great storytelling and examples. Top that off with absolutely gorgeous, colorful illustrations, and we've got a book that even daddy is excited to read. They really hit it out of the cosmic park with this one. So very cool!

I have a three year old and we love this book. The author does a great job at making it kid friendly with the exercises and the artwork is beautiful. Highly recommend!

This book is good for kids.

Social-emotional learning is something I absolutely love to teach. This book provides a variety of different ways to "calm down" and take "deep breaths" without feeling like students are being asked to. Some of the girls that I work with catch on when I ask them to take deep breaths, so being able to visualize and just read a book has made it normal practice for them!There are so many techniques, the pictures are great and the characters fun.Great variety.

I had low expectations that my 4 year old would be interested in this book. I was pleasantly surprised when he actually did enjoy it. We started by sitting reading them and casually doing some of the exercises. He stayed engaged because of the beautiful illustrations and how wonderfully the book is written. Pretty soon we were really doing the breathing exercises and having fun. They are easy to remember how to do and very useful. Of course he is too young to think to do them on his own. When he is upset about something and I ask him if he wants to do them as of now he always says no BUT after I start doing them on my own he gladly joins and after a few minutes he's giggly and smiley again. I can actually say that it really does help but it depends on your approach as every child is different. I picked the ones I knew he'd enjoy first and kind of tweaked others of them.

This book is great I bought it for the Montessori school I work in. 🙃 I accidentally ordered this book again after I forgot thar I had ordered it before 😅. We will use both books 📚 one for the classroom upstairs and one for the classroom downstairs. Books look great. ✨️ and can't wait to use it for our little ones at school. Thanks amazon for refunding me the money and also for letting me keep the book as I don't need to return it.

This book is great to use for kids with anxiety. My I use many of these strategies with my own kids and the anxiety that the pandemic brought to them. The kids enjoyed the colourful pages and easy to follow directions. It is reasonably priced and very interactive for kids to help with their anxiety.

Bought this for my son. He is quite peaceful but has tantrums once in a while, like everyone else. We read it and did the exercises and he tries it when he gets upset. I love the practical examples of the hot chocolate or the candle.Great book!

Wow

I cannot tell you how impressed I am with these books. All the books have a moral lesson, bit like Aesop's Fables. Twelve books in the series and I bought them all. With the impending birth of my first Great Grandchild I wanted to leave a legacy, if you like. Beautifully illustrated and written, each book stresses the importance of the last 20 minutes in the day, when you read to your child before bed, snuggled together, breathing together, ensuring security and the feeling of great love and kindness in a spirit of mindfulness. The books engender kindness to ourselves and others.