BUSHLAND FLORA: A GUIDE TO MINDFULNESS
*** A BEST SELLER ***
BUSHLAND FLORA: A GUIDE TO MINDFULNESS
Bushland Flora will take your child on a journey to discover more about themselves and their natural environment. Through meditation, games, affirmations and engaging activities, children will strengthen their ability to focus, concentrate, observe and communicate how they feel.
Read on to find out more about it!
The ‘why’ behind our guide
We worked on our story book Flora & Rainbow Hopping Bug as a hobby for four years. During that time, our inner Early Childhood Educator minds worked overtime, creating lots of activities to accompany the book, building upon the key messages and extending the learning.
Using our own experiences, we imagined what our character, Flora, might do in her spare time and collaborated to create our Bushland Flora image.
The scene embraces all of the wonderful flora and fauna of Australia because this is the country that welcomed us and that we now call home. Flora’s pose is one of calm because the ‘emotional’ journey is the underlying message of our story book. Flora’s pose captures the sensory elements of the bushland experience (colours, sounds, smells, touch).
We designed all of our activities using this image and mindfulness as our core focal point. Over many weeks, we observed the children interact with the activities and discovered that the children really enjoyed them. It was this revelation that inspired us to publish our story book and to chose a selection of the most popular activities to create a guide to mindfulness.
(C) Copyright of Rainbow Hopping Bug
“This is such a beautiful book. It is full of activities that we can do together and we loved looking at all the Australian animals, flowers and plants. The mandala was great!” Rachel, Parent
Mindfulness for children
(C) Rainbow Hopping Bug
During our journey, we realised that the practice of mindfulness is not simply about meditation. It is about being present in the moment and children naturally do this when they play. They will stop to look at a bug, or to pick up a leaf, and then study it intently. They aren’t thinking about what is for dinner or where they have to be in the next hour… they are living in the moment.
The key is to support children (and adults!) to continue mindfulness as they grow.
We have researched, tried and tested a number of cognitive and physical activities to help children, including meditation, games, observation, affirmations and movement. The images in our guide are based on real-life experiences of our mindfulness journey.
Meditation for Children - Does it really work?
YES, it really does!!!!! As Early Childhood Educators, we have successfully used meditation in our day-to-day practice when working with children. Meditation is a lifelong tool that can be used to benefit adults and children in a number of ways.
Once you have worked through our three-stages of meditation, you will have developed the habit of meditating. You can then choose how, where and when you would like to meditate (self-directed, listening to a guided meditation, the sounds of nature in the great outdoors or visualisation prompts) to keep it fresh and engaging.
Just remember, it does require patience and regular practice to be effective!
When used regularly, meditation yields a number of benefits to both the parent/Educator and child:
Improves concentration and focus
Develops awareness of self and how the body works
Promotes a growth mindset
Provides us with a coping mechanism and breathing techniques
Gives us an opportunity to be present and together
Allows us to experience deep relaxation (just ask at Ollie!)
Enables children to ‘design’ their own meditation experience
