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By the time students reach middle school, they’re capable of self-reflection, critical thinking, and advanced problem-solving. The trick is getting them to use those skills before their pre-teen impulses take over, and equipping them with important social-emotional skills they’ll actually use during those stressful moments and adolescent mood changes.
Mindfulness is the act of focusing on yourself in the present moment and avoiding any judgmental or anxious feelings as you process your feelings now. Incorporate mindfulness for middle school into your curriculum, no matter what subject you teach. You’ll find that student happiness increases quickly, which leads to student success and a peaceful class community that makes the school day more enjoyable for everyone.
One-Minute Middle School Mindfulness Activities
You don’t need hours of extra time in your week to include mindfulness in middle school lessons and curriculum. All you need is one minute (known as a Mindful Minute) to improve your students’ mood for the day. Try out these SEL activities for middle school that make a big difference in a small amount of time.
- Have a silent class-wide reflection on their day so far before beginning class.
- Check in after teaching harder lessons or concepts to see how everyone is feeling.
- Play part of a song and have them write how it made them feel, including memories or mood changes.
- Encourage students to put their heads down and silently reflect on how they feel at that moment, whether it’s tired, happy, stressed, content, or another emotion.
Set up daily reminders of mindfulness strategies
It’s one thing to teach mindfulness in middle school, and it’s another to have access to those strategies when students really need them. Have reminders of mindfulness strategies up in your classroom, whether it’s a bulletin board, daily affirmations, or advice from other students.
Mindfulness Bulletin Board or Counseling Bulletin Board
By: Kylie The Creative Social Worker
Grades: 4th-12th
Subjects: School Counseling, School Psychology
Every teen and preteen feels a little overwhelmed now and then. Guide them through those stressful feelings with an interactive bulletin board designed to display personalized coping strategies for students to use.
Five-Minute Calming Classroom Activities
When middle schoolers need more than one minute to reach mindfulness, you’ll need longer SEL activities. These activities can include meditation for middle schoolers to center their thoughts, breathing exercises, stretch breaks, or any other five-minute practice that gets students thinking more about themselves in the moment.
- Teach students breathing exercises that they can do as a class before a big test or after a challenging lesson.
- Incorporate yoga breaks, both seated and out of seats, into longer periods.
- Pass out clay, dough, or stress balls for students to fidget with when they’ve finished an exam or project.
- Add five minutes of independent reading into your classroom schedule, no matter what subject you teach.
Keep it calm with meditation for middle schoolers
If you’ve got five minutes for a class warm-up, you’ve got five minutes for middle school meditation. Perfect as Mental Health Awareness Month activities or mindfulness practices during any time of the school year, these resources include multiple ways to encourage meditation, emotional regulation, and brain breaks.
Zen Zone Booklet: Meditation, Yoga, & Breathing Techniques for Students
By: The SuperHERO Teacher
Grades: 4th-12th
Subjects: Classroom Community, For All Subjects
You’re never too old for a brain break! Let middle schoolers take a breather from their daily routine when you create a Zen Zone in your classroom for them to decompress and focus on mindfulness using yoga, breathing exercises, and other relaxing strategies. This thorough resource includes teacher and student directions, music, and wellness challenges for students.
Meditation Activity
By: Mrs Recht’s Virtual Classroom
Grades: 5th-7th
Subjects: ELL
“Middle school” and “meditation” don’t always seem to go together, but they do when you use this print-and-go resource to take students through guided meditation for middle school students. Best used as a short activity in a daily routine, the resource includes a slideshow in PowerPoint and video formats, an audio file for students to listen to, and a memory game printable.
One-Period Classroom Mindfulness and Gratitude Lessons
Use longer mindfulness for middle school activities as one-day projects or assignments. These activities also make excellent back-to-school assignments for individuals or groups to complete, as they can establish mindfulness, gratitude, and healthy social-emotional learning as priorities in your classroom.
- When assigning a writing project aligned to CCSS, have students write about a time they felt strongly in the moment but later calmed down or changed their mind.
- Have students write a letter to a person they feel grateful or appreciative toward (they don’t have to send the letters, but they can).
- Encourage middle schoolers to list one thing a day that they’re grateful for, even small things like good weather or having a spare pencil in their backpack.
- When reading, see if students can name what the character would be grateful for, despite the character’s present circumstances.
Gravitate toward gratitude in junior high classes
When middle schoolers reflect on what they’re grateful for, they’re able to feel connected to the world around them and improve their mindfulness. Use resources to help students find those moments of gratitude in longer SEL units or as standalone lessons.
Gratitude Journal (mindfulness / SEL ) prompts and mini- books
By: Teaching Kiddos with Mandy
Grades: 3rd-9th
Subjects: Character Education
Encourage middle schoolers to focus on the positive aspects of their lives with gratitude journals and mini-books. Students follow the prompts to respond in writing or art, and create a larger gratitude journal that can boost their spirits on more stressful days.
Year-Long Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Activities
The concept of growth mindset isn’t just an instructional trend or teaching strategy. It’s a complete attitude turnaround that can lend to heightened emotional regulation for kids and mindfulness for middle school, especially when students are able to identify their current achievements and how close they are to their growth goals.
- Have students track progress for personal goals (such as social goals or emotional goals), not just academic or skill-based milestones.
- Assign a writing assignment for middle schoolers to write a letter to their elementary self, and to explain how much they’ve changed in just a short amount of time.
- Include reflection steps in team projects, such as moments for students to mark their progress or sections in a rubric that note project contributions.
- Have students complete growth-mindset and mindfulness exit tickets with questions like “What did you learn today?” or “What are you looking forward to for the rest of the day?”
Connect mindfulness and growth mindset all year long
Students who struggle with mindfulness and self-regulation would benefit from adjusting their attitude toward a growth mindset. They’ll learn more about themselves and strengthen self-reflection skills when working toward a goal, and soon they’ll become more aware of their own thoughts and feelings in the current moment.
Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Lessons Activities for SEL and Self-Regulation
By: Queen’s Educational Resources
Grades: 6th-12th
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning
Can your students see how much they’ve grown over the year, or do they have more of a fixed mindset? Help them monitor their growth with a resource that includes teacher directions, visuals, a full lesson plan, and everything else you’ll need for this valuable activity.
Make mindful decisions easy for middle schoolers
While teaching mindfulness for middle school may feel like a challenge, it’s a lot more straightforward than it seems. High-quality, low-prep middle school mindfulness resources are the perfect way to incorporate these skills and values into a curriculum designed for adolescents facing a host of biological, social, and academic challenges. For older students or more mindful ideas, try mindfulness activities for high school students.
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