5 Mindfulness Activity Ideas to Enjoy With Your Family
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What better way to have fun with your loved ones than to offer activities that are both enjoyable and focused on being present in the moment? In this article, you’ll find five ideas for mindfulness activities that you can do with family and friends to have a great time that you’ll remember long after!
1. Paint or draw your emotions
Painting or drawing games can appeal to many, from the youngest child to grandparents! The idea is very simple and can really bring you closer to one another.
First, grab a sheet of paper for each person. Choose if you prefer to paint or draw, but either way: the more colors available the better!
Settle down together, then take a minute or two for everyone to close their eyes and get in touch with the moment. You can have a timer so that everyone can play the game of silence and ground themselves in the moment.
When the alarm sounds, invite each person to paint or draw how they are feeling right then. If you’d like, you can set a specific time for the painting or drawing activity as well.
It is important to make it clear to the participants that the goal of the game is not to create something pretty, but to express themselves freely using the shapes and colors that best suit their own feelings.
When everyone has finished painting or drawing, you can suggest that each person shows their creation in turn and that the others guess what emotion they’re expressing. This is a good way to talk about what you feel in the present moment, through a fun and relaxing activity. However, if you think that some people will not be comfortable discussing and/or sharing their feelings, don’t hesitate to skip this step of the activity.
2. Cook together with intention
Here too, young and old alike can participate!
Decide together whether you prefer to cook a sweet or savory dish (or both!). Next, each person must choose an ingredient that resonates with them that they would like to incorporate into the dish.
With the list of ingredients you have now selected, think together: what can you cook, combining what you have chosen? Don’t limit yourself and try to combine flavors you’ve never mixed before; it’s time to create and discover! And if you think it would be better to make two dishes instead of one, go for it! The idea here is for everyone to get involved and put their creativity to work for your culinary community!
3. Dance with your eyes closed
What if we added some music (and laughter) into the mix?
Depending on the mood of the group, choose music that resonates. Do people need to let off steam? Maybe something with a heavier beat. Do people want to relax and move slowly? Maybe choose something with a soothing melody.
Invite everyone to stand up and move around the room so that everyone has enough space to dance around at their own pace.
The idea of this activity is for everyone to dance with their eyes closed and focus on their body movements so that they can really feel every move they make with intention and awareness. In addition, the fact that everyone closes their eyes allows all participants to move freely without worrying about other people’s gazes. Because this activity is similar to the drawing activity, you are not there to dance well, but rather to consciously release your body’s energy!
4. Play the game of the lost object
For this activity everyone goes into the same room. Set a three minute timer and ask everyone to observe all the objects and furniture in the room.
When the three minutes have elapsed, one person stays in the room while everyone else leaves. The remaining person must select and move an object to a new location.
When the object has been moved, the other participants enter the room again and the first one who finds the object is the one who will be able to hide another one during the next round.
This is a great way to open up our attentiveness to the spaces around us and children love to play the game of the lost object!
5. Treat yourself to a conscious nature walk
Everybody outside, we are going to observe nature! Invite all of the participants to go for a nature walk. If you can’t go out in nature, the game remains the same, but in the city!
Once you arrive at your destination, it’s time to observe: everyone has to name the insects, birds, plants, flowers, and trees they find on their way.
If you don’t know the name of what you observed, then you must describe it to the other participants.
Bonus! You can also use the Seek application that allows you to take pictures of the plants, flowers, and animals you pass on your way and if the application recognizes it, it will tell you its name. This is a great way to enrich everyone’s knowledge of their natural surroundings!
So, what do you think about these ideas for activities to do with family and friends? Are you thinking of trying some of these with your loved ones? If you have any other ideas for mindfulness activities to do on your own or in a group, share them with us in the comments section!
Translator: Stella Debiaggi
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