Kids zen garden

DIY Zen Gardens for Kids

By ProjectswithKids

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These zen gardens for kids are so easy and fun to make! We used non-breakable containers and bright colors to make this project fun and kid-friendly. This is a great calming sensory activity for kids that you can customize with different colors and accessories.

They would also make great gifts! We love making handmade gifts for family and friends, check out our collection of awesome kid-made gifts for more ideas and inspiration.

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• Sand in any color
  
• Kid safe containers
  
• Items for your zen garden such as shells, rocks & crystals, driftwood, or other items of your choosing.
  
• Something to use as a rake. We used a mini back scratcher (which worked perfectly!), a wooden fork and made our own with wooden skewers (more on that below).
  
• Washi tape(optional)
  

1. Pick out your containers. We made sure to use containers that wouldn’t easily break. We chose a lid from a photo box, a photo scrapbooking container with a lid, which is great because you can close the lid and make it portable, and an old plastic plate that I used when my daughter was younger(a great way to use what you already have!).

If you choose to use a shallow cardboard box, you might want to tape around the bottom and sides to prevent the sand from leaking through. 

2. Choose your sand colors. My kids wanted to use bright colors and luckily our local craft store had some in stock. I was hoping to find some sand at the dollar store, but no such luck!

If you use sand that you collect from the beach make sure to pick out all the debris, rinse it in a fine mesh strainer and let it dry completely before pouring into your containers.  

3. Fill your containers, but don’t fill them too much. You want to be able to make designs in your sand with a rake and not have any sand spill out.

4. Choose your zen garden accessories. This is the fun part! We used rocks, crystals, and driftwood for our zen gardens. But you can choose to add any items your kids want. Mini statues or small toys, even air dry plants that are in more traditional zen gardens. Have fun placing your items in your containers.

5. Time for your rakes! The mini back scratcher and wooden fork worked great but I also wanted to make our own. We used mini bamboo skewers that are used for appetizers(and probably found at any grocery store) and wrapped them in washi tape. They turned out great and work really well!

6. Give your kids a chance to try out the different rakes and play around with drawing designs in their sand.

We love how our zen gardens for kids turned out! My daughter is currently using hers to draw pictures and write messages to me in the sand.

If you are looking for some more sensory activities take a look at our fun painting snow winter sensory activity!

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DIY Mindful Zen Garden Craft for Kids : Kumarah

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A mindful Zen garden for kids is a simple and fun craft that you can do with your kids at home or in a kids’ yoga class.

A Zen garden is an ancient meditation technique developed by Japanese monks to aid in mindfulness. They created large sand and rock gardens to rake for a calming and meditative practice.

Now, many people all over the world use smaller desktop Zen gardens to bring them a little peace and calm in their day.  The little Zen garden is a reminder to take mindful breaks, rest the eyes, and take a few deep breaths.

Combined with my Mindful Glitter Calm Down Jar at my desk, I feel more centered and mindful with my own mini Zen garden to help me focus throughout the day.

You can easily make a mindfulness Zen garden of your own to have at home, or for your kids to have in their workspace (especially with distance learning being all too common these days!).

I did this craft with my two little boys, ages 8 and 11. The younger is very artistic and was right on board with it, ready to god. His fairy rock garden on the beach is really quaint and adorable.

His older brother, usually reluctant to do anything other than be on his screens, was surprising really into it as well! He was ready to try it out immediately.

He listened to the directions, learned about how it helps with mindfulness, got started on his desert scene, and after about 20 minutes of constructing careful said, “This actually is really calming.”

YAY, mindfulness crafts for the win!

First of all,

First, it’s important that your child or students know a little bit about mindfulness and why it is important.

Mindfulness is the art and practice of paying close attention to one thing at a time. If you are eating, you should be focused on your food: the smell, the taste, the texture.

When you are walking, be mindful of your feet, your surroundings, the sounds you hear, and the sights you see.

During the day, we often get caught up in too many things, our tasks, our to-do lists, the meals we will eat later, and things that happened earlier that caused great emotion.  

Our minds become like a monkey, jumping from thought to thought, with no real presence in the current moment.

In order to still our minds and quiet our racing thoughts, it’s important to practice mindfulness. We take a deep breath, calm our bodies and find stillness, and focus our thoughts on one thing. Being mindful of the present moment helps us feel happier, be more productive, and feel calmer.

Here are some breathing techniques that can help you teach your kids about mindfulness.

And here are some fun mindfulness games you can play with kids at home, and even with your toddler!

There are lots of options for creating your own Zen garden from items you have at home. There are also quite a few pre-made kits that you can purchase.

Here is a nice simple pre-made Zen garden kit for kids.

Or you can get the materials to assemble one on your with kids. I think that is fun because you can include a mindful nature walk to gather the materials as well. Many of these are also available at your local craft store.

1. A flat, low edged container for the sand:
   • Shoebox lid
   • Photo box lid (slightly sturdier)
   • Tray or small box
   • Planter tray (heavier but works great)
2. Fine sand. You can use play sand, like for a sandbox, but it tends to be too coarse. I recommend this decorative sand in white instead. I also got it in blue and tan!
3. A small rake, fork, or even a pine branch to make raking designs
4. Rocks. Choose a good variety of sizes, colors, and shapes.

Optional additions to your Zen Garden

• Decorative branches
• Craft sticks to make a fence or DIY rake
• Glue if you plan to make a fence
• A small bowl for water
• Pebbles for dividing two areas of the container
• Sand stamps (These are SO cool, I highly recommend them)
• Bead figures or small toys (turtles, fairies, gnomes, pandas… these Yoga Sloths are adorable and perfect!)
• Fairy houses
• Moss for decorating one side of the garden
• A small dust brush and pan for cleaning stray sand

A cover for it while you are not using it. (Especially if it will be by a computer and you have pets or small children!). A microwave cover would work well, or a slightly larger box.

Once you have all the tools, it’s time to get the basics assembled.

Once you have your Zen garden supplies and you have it all assembled, make sure you explain the process and tactics for mindfully using this tool.

The purpose of the Zen garden is to meditate or focus on just one thing. You can choose an affirmation, or a mantra to whisper to yourself while you create your garden, or you can simply focus on your breath, or the movement of the sand while you rake.

1. Choose a mantra or an affirmation. Here is a list that I provide for my students.  Or you can choose a nice set of cards like these.
2. Start with the sand clear and flat. Gently shake it so it is level.
3. Chose your rocks or items that you would like to place in the garden.   
4. Mindfully and slowly take a deep breath as you carefully choose where to place each item. This is an important part to model with kids or students, to help them practice the focus and concentration aspect of the meditation.
5. Once all of your items are placed, choose a rake.  Rake the sand in nice slow, steady designs, breathing slowly to keep your hand steady.
6. As you approach the rocks and other items, notice what it feels like to go around, or make a different pattern. This is part of the mindfulness process as well.  How does it feel to encounter obstacles?
7. While raking, you can also quietly say your mantra to yourself, lifting your mind with a positive affirmation.
8. Once you’ve finished raking and making designs, it’s up to you to decide to save it, or replace the rocks and obstacles and smooth out the sand.  How does it feel to have your design be impermanent?

If you have younger kids or if you are planning to keep your Zen garden in a classroom, I recommend using a larger tray to set the garden in, just in case of spills. You can keep a small dustpan nearby to give them to option to clean up after as well.

Here are a few more examples of different Zen rock and fairy gardens you can set up with your kids or students! I hope you like them. 

Here is what I have so far, I’ll be adding more soon!

Glitter Calm Down Jar

Positive Affirmation Stones

Printable Kids Yoga Games

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Scientists figured out how to help a child transition to kindergarten - Gazeta.

Scientists have figured out how to help a child transition to kindergarten - Gazeta.Ru | News

July 23, 2022, 14:16

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Pediatricians from Pennsylvania State University found that children need to sleep for 10 hours in order to successfully adapt to kindergarten, and the daytime sleep break in the transition period was useless. The work was published in the journal Pediatrics .

To record the sleep and wakefulness of 220 children, the researchers used a watch that tracks movement over four periods of 7 days over a year. The authors began observations in July-August before the start of the school year in kindergarten, and then continued in September, November and April. Kindergarten staff assessed the adaptability of students to kindergarten. The results showed that children who regularly got at least 10 hours of sleep during the night were the most accustomed to kindergarten. They also showed great progress in emotional development, engagement in learning, and performance during the year in kindergarten. The authors took into account family income, children's health status and attendance.

It is important that such a sleep pattern be introduced before starting kindergarten. At the same time, daytime sleep did not affect the adaptation of children, and also could not compensate for nighttime sleep deprivation. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends that preschoolers get 10-13 hours of sleep per night, but the results of this study suggest that for those children about to start kindergarten, those hours should be centered at night. The study authors also recommend avoiding television, video games, and tablets at least 30 minutes before bed. It is good practice to have rituals before bed, which may include bathing, reading books, and talking in a quiet environment.

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