Focus & Energy
In our busy lives, clutter can accumulate quickly, leading to stress and exhaustion. We are bombarded with messages that urge us to always want and do more, and we inevitably find ourselves distracted from what really matters to us. Our spaces become filled with clutter, unfinished projects, and an over-accumulation of physical things. It's no wonder we become easily overwhelmed and unfocused. This plan is a starting point of actionable steps to help tackle physical mess but also aims to instill lifelong organizational skills in participants of all ages.
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Suggestions:
- Start with short, manageable bursts of decluttering, such as 15-minute sessions.
- Create a chart or checklist to mark off areas you've decluttered, providing a visual representation of progress.
- After each decluttering session, take a moment to reflect on the space created.
- Encourage these habits with children of every age and lead by example.
- Enjoy the beauty of simplicity.
This free printable was created to help with discussions about how different activities drain or fuel us and how it is important to realize how our energy is effected by our choices but also how we must refuel ourselves constantly.
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Suggestions:
- Discuss the suggested wheel of how certain things affect us or create your own wheel based on how you would classify different activities. You can have fun by using colors, weird names, numbers or whatever is relatable.
- Write down different activities that you do on a daily or weekly basis and code them base on how these drain or fuel you.
- Decide if you need to incorporate more of certain types of activities in your day.
- Use as part of therapy or as a daily reflection tool.
- Use as needed.
This free printable was created to help with discussions about INTENTION and how by being mindful and setting our intentions, we strengthen and guide the thread that holds everything together.
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Suggestions:
- Discuss the word 'intention' and see if there are other words that you can use that might have similar meanings.
- Use as a reminder to set an intention for the day or to ask yourself questions about your intentions when you do something.
- If using in a workshop setting, use yarn and wooden beads to ask the participants what role the yarn plays in directing the beads and keeping everything connected.
- Use in schools, at home, or as part of therapy.
- Use as needed.
This free printable was created to help with growing through change. We can help manage our focus and energy by facilitating conversations about change. How it makes us feel, act, why we may need to change our understanding and vision of change. By reminding ourselves that we can calm down and work through the challenges of dealing with change. Through these conversations, we can learn that change is the constant in life and that the only place we need to be is in the moment.
Suggestions:
- Use as a discussion tool to have discussions around what change is and how we sometimes perceive change to be something negative.
- Use as a tool to discuss difficulties adapting around change.
- Use in schools, at home or as part of therapy.
A fun way to help with structure, focus, and habit creation. These reminder sheets can be used at school or at home and can help with different activities. Come up with the steps together.
Suggestions:
- Print a few of them and use them as reminders of what needs to happen before a certain activity and what finishing that what steps need to be checked off before that activity is finished. You create the steps together and the child checks them off as they accomplish each step.
- Keep as a visual aid for homework steps.
- Use in schools to help with the steps before playing, working on a test or any activity that a child may have a hard time with.
- Use with cleaning up and starting fun activities.
- Use as a reminder of what doing something well means.
- Have the children write their own steps for their own games and activities.
A way to give our children freedom and structure in managing their free time. Consult together as a family to decide what is important to you. Decide on the types and duration of these activities and watch as your children learn to manage their own time.
Can also be used to create structure during the weeks of school or to help children with their daily schedule.
Simple time reminders to help children navigate through their day at home or school.
These can make transitions easier and offer a constant visual reminder of desired behaviors and achievable goals.
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Mindfulness (the quality or state of being conscious, aware, or in the present) is a habit. We are always so eager to rush ahead that we often forget to pause and ask ourselves, one, two, three, do I have everything with me?
Suggestions:
- Use the printout to introduce the new routine of asking the question before heading out or making a transition to the new activity.
- At the beginning, you can use the paper as a reminder of what needs to be checked.
- Repeat the words together out loud at first to develop the habit.
- After a while, you will only have to say, One, Two, Three, and the child will automatically associate the words to the action of checking if they have all they need ready.
- Use the words, but make a drawing of what they should check for younger kids.
- Let your child hear you use the words before you leave in the morning. This will help them see you being mindful as well.
Having quiet alone time can have many benefits. It helps children develop emotional independence, understand boundaries, practice quiet time and focus their energy.
Suggestions:
- Talk about the importance for everyone to have quiet alone time and share ideas of what you can do during that time.
- Discuss how long and where this special time can happen and use the door hangers to assure privacy.
- Talk about the importance of respecting other people's time.
- Start small. 5-10 minutes is a good place to start and have some quiet games available for children who have a hard time sitting still.
A series of focus helpers to assist with creating strategies in the classroom or at home. These ideas can be adapted for children with ADHD or used to help children learn how to manage the flow of energy that passes through them.
- Use in the classroom or at home and add what is necessary to make the most of the ideas presented.
- Post them up at home to help with reminders.
- Have fun creating a story around the character. Come up with your own ideas to help your new friend focus.
Deep breathing helps children relax and focus their thoughts. It can help them deal with having too much energy and helps them calm down and decide the next appropriate step.
Suggestions:
-Talk about times when this type of breathing can be helpful and be as specific as possible, especially if patterns of distraction occur.
- Explain how the more you practice breathing, the easier it will be.
- Keep the visual reminders in places where they can have multiple effects or close to triggers.
- Practice when child is feeling relaxed.
- Come up with a phrase that can be used to encourage the child to breathe.
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Imagine if we learned how to listen to our bodies as children. If we could respect their natural yearning for balance. Like all skills, we can learn to be more aware and take appropriate actions. This is a great tool to help children who jump from one extreme to the next. It can also be used to establish appropriate and positive ways to deal with too much energy.
Suggestions:
- Talk about how our bodies are there to help us connect with ourselves. When we feel a certain way, it's because our body is telling us something and we should listen to that. Read the suggestions of what to do on the first page together and come up with your own if you wish by printing the second page.
- A great tool to use for children who show signs of ADD or ADHD. By allowing them to associate the way they feel with the actions necessary, they can learn to do the steps on their own over time.
- Print different ones for different settings. Could one be used in school and how would the actions be different than?
Focusing can be a little... What? Did you see that cat? Yeah, I'm hungry too now. What was I saying?
Suggestions:
- Explain what you mean when you ask your child to focus.
- Use these as visual reminders of what focusing entails.
- Post them in a place where older kids can see them.
- Use the wording in your daily life.
Example: Instead of: "I need you to focus." Say something like: "Remember, first things first. What is the first thing that needs to be done right now..."
Learning to put appropriate speed and energy into what we do is an important life skill.
Suggestions:
- Talk about it once and give examples based on your own lives.
- Keep as a visual reminder.
- Use the colors as a language
for self-managing and awareness.
