Meditation has been there since the inception of mankind.
The ancients practice calms body, relieves stress, boost brain function and help attain mental peace. This century old practice helps individuals of all age. However, in today’s hectic world, where students are struggling with the demands of school and personal life it has become necessary to incorporate meditation into their curriculum. Several studies claim that 1 in 4 secondary students and 1 in 7 primary school students experience a mental illness2 and 75% of all mental illness has its onset before the age of 24.
Talking about its positive impact, according to a study, conducted on over 1,800 students from all around the world has found that meditation improved mental well-being, academic skills, and social abilities in students. Youngsters who practiced meditation in school reported better concentration on their tasks. They were also more self-confident and had a very positive outlook on life. Meditation has been shown to promote a stronger self-identity and higher optimism. This can be one of the major reasons to make students meditate in classroom or at home.
In this article, we bring you some of the top meditation apps to use in classroom.
Headspace is a great place to learn the basics of mindfulness for beginners and is suitable for a wide range of ages. It is structured around five themes: Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep and Wake Up. While this app features guided meditations for individual of any age, creators incorporated a kid space because meditation can help kids focus on being kids. This freedom allows kids to develop their focusing skills and self-awareness, while relieving anxieties and reducing stress. The app has short, animated instructional videos which kids can choose from short guided and unguided sessions (3-minutes long) categorized by types of feelings. Each program is customized for three different age groups (5, 6-8 and 9-12) based on breathing exercises, visualizations and focus-based meditation.
The Calm app offers sleep stories to read to kids to help them relax and sleep better. Calm ranks as one of the top mindfulness and wellness apps for adults but it also has a great section for children- Calm Kids. It has an enormous variety of relaxing sessions ranging from 3 min exercises or unguided timed meditations. Daily Calm provides its users with a soothing 10-minute exercise to prepare their mind & body for the day ahead. Though calm is a paid subscription based app but as a part of the Calm Classroom Initiative, teachers can apply to receive Calm’s paid subscription at no cost for access to the library of meditation and mindfulness exercises for age groups covering pre-k through high school.
Launched in 2012, Smiling Mind is a free mindfulness meditation app designed to help people pressure, stress, and challenges of daily life. This app has an amazing section on Mindfulness in the Classroom and is suited for kids ages 7-18. Smiling Mind is a unique mindfulness app with hundreds of guided meditation and mindfulness activities that can be used in the classroom and at home to help bring balance to your life. There are a variety of programs for kids in different age groups, as well as for schools, workplaces, and sports.
Moshi is a miraculous audio-only app that helps kids fall asleep independently using enchanting storytelling, magical music and soothing sounds. This application features recurring characters to teach your kids the basics of mindfulness with guided meditations to make them relax, reduce anxiety and manage negative thoughts.”
While not made specifically for children, Buddhify is the only meditation app that fits perfectly in the busy modern life. It has simple and colorful interface and 80 plus custom meditations that offer plenty of options, and the upfront price with no additional costs add even more value.
Simple Habit is one of the best meditation apps for busy people designed by the world's best teachers. Its wellness and sleep therapy sessions offer guided mindfulness & meditation, daily motivation, guided sleep sessions, relaxation session and coaching by the renowned experts. All of those sessions are guided by a calm & relaxing voice perfect for meditation. One can also track their steady progress towards mindfulness with streaks & get weekly tips on how to relax effectively.
This easy-to-use meditation tool designed especially for kids includes kid-friendly guided visualizations, affirmations, and meditations. Dreamy kid offers meditations such as Body Scan, an ADD and ADHD session, ambient background noise, and more.
It also uses proven techniques to help teach kids methods to guide them towards a happier life through mindfulness. Besides these, kids can listen to selections for promoting relaxation, falling asleep more easily, focusing for school and more - living a happier and healthier life. From General and issue-based meditations, guided visualizations and affirmations are added each month.
Insight Timer is a well-rated and revised meditation app with different styles, teachers, and methods. This app has guided meditations and talks led by the world's top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford and more; music tracks from world-renowned artists. Users can log cumulative meditation time, join the online community of meditators, or set a timer for a session to help calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, sleep deeply and improve happiness.
Stop, breathe and think indicates what this app focuses on; all three are important life skills that are often under-taught. It is a guided meditation app and provides users calming breathing exercises for sleeping better and getting rid of anxiety. Stop, breathe & think best suited for kids above 10 allow users to practice for their current state of mind and also receive tailored meditation exercises depending on how they feel at the exact moment. Moreover, let’s them easily track their progress and gain daily momentum with reward stickers, check-ins, and a lesson on how to meditate as well as a list of meditations to follow.
Designed for kids above 7, Wellbeyond motivation app offers five meditations with kid-friendly art and tone, ranging in time from three to 14 minutes and takes kids from sitting comfortably through visualizations to reorienting to your surroundings. Four of the meditations are immediately available, but to get the fifth one (on sleeping) parents need to provide their email address to sign up for a newsletter on mindful parenting .All of the sessions has a different theme and consist of a simple, ocean-themed drawing and an audio track of a soothing female voice guiding listeners in sitting comfortably, breathing, visualizing, and so on.
Happy Child is a mindfulness based, movement and awareness app that is available not only for kids but for the whole family. The app aims at reducing stress and building body awareness for young and old alike. For kids, there are 18 Low Stimulus and 18 High Stimulus training videos that demonstrate different methods that are basic to developing resiliency and self-care skills. Basically, it uses movement to discharge stress and build body awareness to support development of resilience and self-regulation through training in mindful movements.
Here’s a quick look through on the benefits mediation upholds, if practiced regularly:
- Improved memory and concentration
- Increased confidence and self-esteem
- Improved sense of self-worth
- A more positive body image
- Greater creativity
- Feelings of calmness and inner peace
- Higher grades and test scores
- Improved behavioral profile
- Improved inter-student relationships
- Enhanced cognitive function and learning skills
Do try these amazing apps and let us know its impact below, in the comment box.
