June 11, 2020
An essential aspect of living a more inspired life is taking time to practice mindfulness.
This can take on many forms from deep breathing techniques to yoga as a family.
Start by finding time at the start or end of each day to find your focus. Help your kids use these quiet moments for introspection, become more in touch and self-aware, focus on a goal for the day; while reflecting on how they are feeling.
We are all struggling with the stressors of everyday life and hectic pace at which we move through our week.
Parents should practice what they preach as it is important that children engage in daily reflections and understand the benefits of meditation as part of their overall well-being. To help you find meaning and your inner peace as a family, we recommend a fun and easy tool – a desktop zen garden.
What is a zen garden?
Designed to imitate the intimate essence of nature, they represent places where we can stimulate mediation and find our inner selves.
Usually composed of gravel, sand and rocks, some zen gardens also include small bushes and water. Each feature carries with it a specific symbolic meaning which makes each zen garden so unique.
Focus on being more present
Meditation in general is a great way to manage anxiety and stress – incorporating a mini zen garden can help improve these valuable coping skills.
By raking sand and arranging the stones, your child will immediately start to relax. These repetitive movements helps to focus on the present and allow you to escape your busy life and stress whenever you want.
Start your mini zen gardens for kids
Easy and fun to make, this is a great calming sensory activity for kids that you can customize with different colors and accessories to suit your space.
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Pick out your containers
Wooden boxes are an ideal natural option but shallow cardboard boxes work too. Consider something with a lid to make it more portable.
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Choose your sand colors
Fine grain sand shows patterns better but remember kids love to select brighter colours which can be found at your local craft store.
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Fill your containers
But don't fill them too much as you want to be able to make designs in your sand with a rake and not have any sand spill out.
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Choose your zen garden accessories
This is the fun part. Rocks, shells, air dry plants, crystals, and driftwood are common but you can choose to add any items your kids want (i.e. mini statues or small toys).
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Time for your rakes
Give your kids a chance to try out the different rakes (mini back scratchers or a wooden fork) and play around with drawing designs in their sand.
We would love to see how your zen garden turned out. Post photos of your mini zen garden on our social channels and feel free to write messages to us in the sand.
