Idea for the Artists
You likely have some students who love to draw, paint, color, etc. in your classes. The mental fitness technique for this week will really connect with them!
This is a “special place” guided visualization that you can spread out over the next few days.
Day 1: Ask the students to picture a place where they feel comfortable, relaxed, safe and at ease. It can be inside or outside, a room in their home or a park, a beach or a mountain. It can be a place they have visited, seen a picture of, or invented in their mind. Any place they think of that is comfortable for them is fine. Once they have a place in mind, have them close their eyes and for the next 1-2 minutes look around that place and notice everything they see - objects, people, colors, etc.
Day 2: Have the students remember that special place and for the next 1-2 minutes with their eyes closed, go back to that place and listen carefully in their mind. Notice all the sounds they hear in that place - waves against the sand, birds singing, people laughing, etc.
Day 3: Have the students remember that special place and for the next 1-2 minutes with their eyes closed, go back to that place and notice what they feel - both physically (wind blowing against their face, sand between their toes, etc.) and emotionally (calm, peace, happiness, joy, etc.)
Day 4: Have the students remember that special place and for the next 1-2 minutes with their eyes closed, go back to that place and notice if there is anything in that place that will allow them to experience their sense of smell (flowers, cookies baking in the oven, etc.) or taste (cool water from a brook, their favorite flavor of ice cream, etc.)
Day 5: Have the students remember that special place and for the next few minutes have them draw that place on a piece of paper using colored pencils, markers, or crayons.
Encourage the students to take this picture home and hang it up in their room or keep it somewhere that will remind them that when they are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, they can close their eyes and go back to this place - imagining all the details about it, what they see, hear, feel, taste and smell.
Hope you find this idea helpful!