Through this wellness activity, you will be practicing a simple grounding technique (or meditation) to help you to be calm before you start the art portion of the activity where you will create and decorate flowers using adjectives that describe how you are feeling today! During the activity, you will get to relax by tuning into your senses and then you will get to express yourself by designing your own flower!
Supplies:
Plain white paper or white cardstock
Pencil
Markers
Colored Pencils or Watercolor Paints
Any extra materials you want to decorate with! Foam shapes, sequins, glitter, glitter glue, etc.
Activity Steps:
Step 1: First, let’s make sure our workspace is nice and clean! Clear a space on your table, desk or wherever you have enough room to do this activity. Organize and set out the supplies you will need to do the art portion of the activity. A clean workspace will help you to really relax and be present during this activity!
Step 2: Before we start the art piece of this activity, let’s take a moment to ground ourselves and be present in this moment. Do you know what a grounding exercise is? A grounding exercise is something you can do to help calm yourself by breathing deeply and focusing on things around you. We can do these exercises anywhere. Let’s try one now! Follow the steps below to practice this exercise.
Grounding Exercise Steps:
Step 1: First, get comfortable and uncross your arms and leg.
Step 2: Now, close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly three times.
Step 3: Next, look around you. Name 5 objects you can see. For example - I can see my shoes, my kitchen table. I see my computer. I see flowers. And I see my dining room window.
Step 4: Now, close your eyes again. Breathe in and out slowly, three times.
Keep your eyes closed and listen carefully to the sounds around you. Name 5 sounds that you can hear. For example - I hear a person talking outside. I hear birds chirping. I hear myself breathing. I hear the music playing. I hear my cat walking around.
Step 5: Keep your eyes closed! Breathe in and out slowly three times again.
Step 3: Now, grab your piece of paper. Let’s start by drawing a flower. You can draw any type of flower that you want. I drew a flower with petals!
Step 4: Then, in each petal of your flower, or anywhere you would like on your flower, write down words that describe how you are feeling right now. Use adjectives (words that describe something). Right now I am feeling calm, happy, busy and grateful. The sun is shining through my window so I am also feeling warm! I wrote each word in a different petal but this is your flower so you can write them wherever you would like!
Step 5: Next, use colored markers, watercolors, or whatever you’d like, to color your flowers. Choose colors that represent how you are feeling right now. Choose whatever colors you would like! You can also write your name on your flower! I am going to write mine right in the middle.
Step 6:Then, if you’d like, you can draw patterns on your flower or use other art materials such as glitter glue and sequins, to decorate your flower.
Step 7: Lastly, hang your mindfulness flower in the area you do your homework, read, or spend the most time to remind yourself to think about how you are feeling in the moment!
That’s it! You have just created your own mindfulness flower. Now you can think about the colors and the words you chose. How did our grounding exercise make you feel? Remember this activity you did today - you can ground yourself anywhere, anytime. The next time you are feeling busy, nervous, scared, etc. take some deep breaths and name 5 things you can see and 5 things you can hear! By the time you do that, you should be feeling much more calm and relaxed.
Check out other mindfulness activities in our blog and through our Facebook Page!
~ Made by Lauren A.