Schools Tree Day - The Nature of Mindfulness - 60 minutes

These activities have been designed to promote a deeper personal connection to nature-based mindfulness. In the first activity students explore how different additives affect the growing potential of seeds, and then relate this to the ways their habits affect their own bodies and minds. In the second activity, students investigate the interconnectedness of nature by participating in a group activity. Students are asked to relate this activity to the connectedness of their own lives. In the third activity students relate the seasons and the changes of the seasons to their own experiences.

Learning Goals:

• To create enhanced focus, emotional regulation, empathy and happiness through connection with nature.
• To cultivate present moment awareness so that calm, considered and conscious choices can begin to replace impulsive, unconscious reactions.
• Deepening personal connection and relationship with nature-based mindfulness.
• To provide hands-on contact with the natural world.