Social Emotional and Mindfulness apps for kids
As an elementary school counselor, I have found the following apps to be very useful when supporting individual students. I also recommend these apps to parents when they want to reinforce skills or to offer fun games with a social emotional learning component. The first five apps are free and available to download from iTunes or Google Play. The sixth app has a free trial but requires a paid subscription to unlock its full range of benefits for the whole family.
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame Street – This app was designed for young kids to manage daily challenges like getting dressed, going to school, waiting their turn, fear of the dark. It’s great for preschool and kindergarten age students, but older students facing emotional challenges, up to age 9, also benefit from this app. They love tapping on the monster’s belly to help him take three deep breathes, popping the bubbles to help him think of a plan, then choosing which plan for him to use. It’s a fun way to teach an effective strategy for managing anxiety, frustration and fears. The breathe-think-do steps can be reinforced by parents and teachers when students face a challenge.
As an elementary school counselor, I have found the following apps to be very useful when supporting individual students. I also recommend these apps to parents when they want to reinforce skills or to offer fun games with a social emotional learning component. The first five apps are free and available to download from iTunes or Google Play. The sixth app has a free trial but requires a paid subscription to unlock its full range of benefits for the whole family.
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame Street – This app was designed for young kids to manage daily challenges like getting dressed, going to school, waiting their turn, fear of the dark. It’s great for preschool and kindergarten age students, but older students facing emotional challenges, up to age 9, also benefit from this app. They love tapping on the monster’s belly to help him take three deep breathes, popping the bubbles to help him think of a plan, then choosing which plan for him to use. It’s a fun way to teach an effective strategy for managing anxiety, frustration and fears. The breathe-think-do steps can be reinforced by parents and teachers when students face a challenge.
Emotions from Avokiddo – This is a fun app for students to explore emotions enacted by a delightful animal character. They choose one of four animated animals and offer it different food, accessories, instruments and other objects to see the reaction of the animal. There are no words used in the app, only sounds and music. So it is helpful to talk with the student as they play, prompting them to name the feelings and reactions to each of their props. It is also a fun game with no time constraint or end goal so it can be played for a short time without the student feeling they need to reach any goal.
Wuf Shanti Yoga Fun Machine - This app goes along with the popular PBS show and life-size dog character that teaches kids to self calm using yoga poses, songs, meditations, and positive thoughts. "Think well to be well" is the motto of Wuf Shanti, a human in a dog suit who uses animal figures and movements to explain yoga poses to young kids. Real kids are featured in some of the videos. There are also games and coloring pages on the app. The app has 4 out of 5 stars from Common Sense Media and is a great way to introduce kids to yoga, meditation and positive thinking.
Stop, Breathe and Think by Tools for Peace – This app is great for older elementary students and teens to learn mindfulness meditation. It teaches the basics about meditation, the brain, how it can help, and guides them in assessing how they feel and which guided meditations to use. There is a library of brief meditations, from four to 15 minutes, for falling sleep, waking up, engaging the senses, mindful walking, gratitude, sadness, joy, anxiety and others.
MindShift from AnxietyBC – This app is most appropriate for teens, but I have used it with a couple of mature upper elementary students. It provides education about anxiety with self-assessment tools that guide the student to create a personalized plan using helpful tools. The plan can address issues such as general anxiety, social fears, test anxiety, perfectionism, conflict and panic. The app provides basic education on anxiety, personalized assessments, thinking tools for re-framing thoughts into positive and truthful statements, relaxation and visualization exercises, inspiring quotes, and practical tips for self-care like eating, sleeping, exercise and recreation.
HeadSpace for Kids by Andy Puddicombe – This one requires a paid subscription. The original and popular HeadSpace app is for teens and adults, but they’ve now developed a pack of modules for kids. This is an excellent interactive app for learning and experiencing mindfulness meditation. Headspace for Kids consists of five sections: Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep, and Wake Up. There are three age ranges to choose from: 5 and under, 6-8, and 9-12, with sessions ranging from three to nine minutes. One subscription includes all of the excellent teen/adult tools as well as the kid pack.
Cindy Cleary
Elementary School Counselor
American School of Bombay
Cindy Cleary
Elementary School Counselor
American School of Bombay