Mindfulness Moments for Kids: Listen Like an Elephant

by Kira Willey, Anni Betts (Illustrator)

Overview

Part of the Mindfulness Moments for Kids series, this mindful meditation exercise featuring a colorful elephant helps kids feel focused, wherever they are.

With Listen Like an Elephant, kids learn to slow down, listen to the world around them, and focus their minds—no matter how messy life becomes. Best of all, the exercise can be performed anywhere: in the backseat of a car, at home, or even at their desk at school. Written by Kira Willey, winner of a Parents' Choice Gold Award, this board book series (also including Breathe Like a Bear and the upcoming Bunny Breaths) is the first of its kind and is the perfect tool to help children and parents develop a fun and consistent mindfulness practice.

Adapted from the successful hardcover and paperback editions of Breathe Like a Bear—a collection of mindfulness moments and exercises for kids—this board book is an easy-to-follow exercise kids can use to manage their bodies, breath, and emotions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781984894106
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Series:	Mindfulness Moments for Kids Series
Pages:	26
Sales rank:	171,879
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	AD240L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Kira Willey, author of Breathe Like a Bear and the Mindfulness Moments for Kids series, is a children’s music artist, kids’ yoga and mindfulness expert, and creator of Rockin’ Yoga school programs. She has released five albums of kids’ yoga and mindfulness songs; her work has won Parents’ Choice Gold, four Independent Music Awards, and the ASCAP Foundation Children’s Songwriting Award. Her hits include “Colors,” which was featured in a worldwide Dell ad campaign. Kira created and hosts several yoga-for-kids programs which air on PBS TV affiliates nationwide; and her TEDx talk, “Bite-Sized Mindfulness,” can be viewed online. Learn more at kirawilley.com! 

Anni Betts is an illustrator who creates vibrant, cheerful drawings for books, magazines, advertisements, greeting cards, and more. Originally from Illinois, she now lives in Durham, England, with her archaeologist husband, Kamal; their new son, Emmett; and their adorable dog, Logan. When not illustrating, she can be found exploring the historic sights and natural beauty of the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, baking sweets, going for long walks, and sewing colorful clothes.

Editorial Reviews

[A] restrained approach sets this book apart in the growing realm of mindfulness books for children…. A wonderful adaptation of mindfulness practice into board-book format.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2019-11-25
Elephant loves using her big ears to notice all of the sounds around her, and readers can too!

This offering is one in a series of mindfulness practice books for children written by well-known children's yoga-and-mindfulness musician Willey. In place of a story, the vibrantly illustrated board book offers a simple and age-appropriate mindful-listening practice for children. Readers are invited to take a deep breath, still their bodies, and open up to all of the sounds around them, in all directions, up close and far away. The instructions are straightforward, asking readers, "what do you hear?" The lack of superfluous text creates an introductory mindfulness practice perfectly suited to its audience and to the adults who share it with them. The illustrated jungle animals seem to shimmer as they serenely breathe and observe what they hear. There is no judgment about the sounds one may encounter; the objective is simply to observe what is. This restrained approach sets this book apart in the growing realm of mindfulness books for children. Although there is no additional information for adults about mindful-listening practice, the text itself is simple enough for even the mindfulness novice to understand and model while reading. Like its companion, Breathe Like a Bear, this is adapted from a longer, 2017 title for preschoolers also titled Breathe Like a Bear and is one of those rare board adaptations that works for its audience.

A wonderful adaptation of mindfulness practice into board-book format. (Board book. 1-4)

Kirkus Reviews