6 kids meditations for better sleep and more relaxation

What are the benefits of kids meditations for better sleep?

How many times have you slept badly yourself because you were fretting about all sorts of things? A bad news call you had, that argument with your partner or that presentation at the end of the week that you're nervous about?

It's not just adults who can lie twisting, tossing and grinding in their beds. Children can also experience stress that prevents them from falling asleep comfortably. And while sleep meditations for children may not immediately come to mind when you think of technology and headphones, these meditations work great for calming children down so they can dream away delightfully.

For children who fret a lot and have trouble falling asleep, a children's meditation for better sleep can help to:

• Worry and doubt less
• Relax more easily
• Fall asleep more easily
• Deal better with emotions such as sadness and anger
• Increase creativity and imagination

6 children's meditations for sleep & relaxation

Want to calm your little ones at bedtime? Try the following sleep meditations for kids from the Meditation Moments app to help your child dream away.

• The magic mirror. When looking in a magic mirror, what do you see? Feel the magical power within yourself.
• The wishing tree. Join me on a journey to a special forest where the Wishing Tree lives. What wish would you make?
• Come fly with me. Where would you like to fly to? Join in an imaginary flight.
• Head in the clouds. Lay down nice and easy and feel how your belly moves with your breath. Your thoughts float by as if they were clouds, they come and they go. Let all the clouds and your thoughts disappear; you'll relax completely.
• Balloon breath. Breathing calmly and deeply is very important. With every inhalation your belly grows as big as a balloon. With your breath you can recharge yourself and renew your energy.
• Starry night. Imagine you’re watching the stars at night. And you can pick your favorite to make a wish.
• The magician. A story about you becoming a magician. Imagine what you would do with magical powers.
• The magic power of your wish. Every thought is a tiny seed for your dreams. What will you choose to plant and nurture.

How do you teach children to meditate?

Teaching children to meditate can sound like a challenge. Above all, remember that it should be fun and gradually discover what works and what doesn't. We offer some tips for teaching children to meditate:

1. Use tools

Just setting a child down on a meditation cushion and saying "just go meditate" won't help. It's nice to have a "tool" like a guided meditation, so kids can really be guided into relaxation.

2. Create a safe place

Meditating can be quite exciting at first. Therefore, provide a safe space where kids can lie and sit quietly and relaxed, with a blanket, soft pillows and their favorite stuffed animals. This can be in their own bed, but also in another "safe space."

3. Make it a nice ritual

Meditating is most effective when done regularly. Make meditating in the evening a nice evening ritual so that eventually it almost feels crazy not to meditate before bed. A regular evening ritual is important for calming down and making sure that sleeping goes better. You can set up a nice child meditation or, for example, go through the day together.

4. Meditate together

Meditating is a nice way to end the day together. Make it a nice moment of rest that you do together every evening. For children, seeing is doing. If they see you closing your eyes, they are more likely to do the same themselves.

5. Be persistent

Sure, pushing too hard won't help. But it makes perfect sense if there is some resistance. Change is not easy for anyone and especially not for kids. Just don't give up if meditating in bed at night doesn't work right away. Then just try to do it in a different way. For example, put on a guided meditation while brushing your teeth, when your kids are in the bath or when you are tucking them in. They don't have to listen to this neatly in silence, eventually just hearing the meditation will get more and more used to it.

6. Remember that a child is a child

Meditating does not have to be done on a meditation cushion in silence. This may also be done through play. Is it difficult for a child to lie or sit still? Then it may help to go crazy first and dance and jump around.

7. Practice breathing exercises

An important part of meditating is breathing. You can relax better by paying close attention to your breathing. You can practice good belly breathing by having a child put a hug, pillow or his or her hands on their belly. That way they can feel very consciously how it goes up and down.