Meditation with children

Colour Meditation
Choose a colour.
Ask your child to imagine this colour. You can also hold up something in this colour and ask her to say the colour out loud.

Now ask her to imagine the air around this lovely colour.
Say, "It's on this side". Gently stroke one arm.
Say, "It's on this side". Gently stroke the other arm.
Say, "It's behind you". Gently stroke her back and legs.
Say, "It's in front of you". Gently stroke their chests and legs.

Now ask your child to close her eyes and ask her to imagine that she can take the colour inside her body through the top of her head and down to her toes.

You may wish to pretend that you are 'colouring them in' - gently stroking down her body to her feet.

As you do this say words like, "I am safe/calm/happy", and ask her repeat them.

This can be a very calming way to get toddlers to focus

Holding hands meditation

Sit in front of each other, cross-legged, and hold hands.
Try to breathe in together and breathe out together.
Ask your child to think of things she likes, people she likes and other nice things.
As she does this, imagine you are surrounding her in a pink bubble.
Stay this way as long as you wish.
The colour pink is the colour of the heart centre - unconditional love.

These meditation exercises are taken from Calm Kids by Lorraine Murray (Floris Books, £9.99)