Mindful learning pays dividends
Photo: Instagram
By Crystal Jensen
Growing up I always had a passion for working with children, music and the outdoors. I had a vision to create a safe space where children could fully express themselves without restriction of judgment.
Being free to spend the majority of my days outside amongst the trees provided me the opportunity to not only creatively play, but the rhythm of nature taught me how to breathe and ultimately regulate my emotional output. Plus, digging deep and playing with the Earth is always fun, regardless of age!
Over the years I lost touch with my inner child. Life got busy and with that I found an emptiness inside. I forgot the little things that meant so much to me—playing in the dirt until dark being one of them.
In 2004 I graduated with a certification in early childhood education, and I began my journey understanding mindfulness, self-awareness and self-love. I realized that as adults we also need tools to help us self-regulate, to breathe and to find calmness in our every day. I started practising mindfulness, which led to finding balance, and it wasn’t long before I started to feel alive again. Suddenly everything from my childhood in nature came flooding back to me, and I found my renewed purpose in life. Being of service and inspiring others to work with their own innocent joy of mindful, creative expression.
Come join our early learning centre community, a safe inclusive, mindful place for all who wish to expand into themselves.
Here is our philosophy:
MINDFULNESS
• Children learn better when they are in a relaxed state, calm and regulated.
• Practising mindfulness helps children better manage stress and anxiety, and creates tools for them to carry with them as they grow moving into a lifestyle.
• This promotes an environment where children can fully understand how to process their emotions in a healthy way, reducing the impact of stress and anxiety that often result in mental health difficulties.
PLAY
• Children achieve greater academic, social and emotional success by learning through play.
• During play children learn about themselves and their surroundings.
• Play allows children to explore and test their own limits and at the same time build confidence, social and cognitive skills.
• We incorporate play throughout our entire day, and we have fun.
CURIOSITY
• We offer curious play spaces to encourage self-directed play and to promote creative exploration.
• We incorporate a concept, bringing natural objects to encourage real-life experiences to foster their creative mind.
• We emergent plan and build off the child’s curiosity, and expand off their emerging interests to enhance their learning possibilities. This is where creative expansion and magic happens.
NATURE LEARNING
• With a focus on nature based learning, this creates a calming approach to learning and helps to regulate the child’s creative mind.
• We believe that outside time and stepping into nature is the best medicine for young minds.
• We immerse into nature and ensure there is outside learning each day—rain or shine.
• We bring earth elements into their play space to encourage the child to use their five senses to engage with the world around them.
• The children take part in a seasonal garden seed to harvest, and they really learn the life cycle of our food source.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
• We work with the children on their social and emotional needs to prepare them to find their voice and have the ability to communicate their true feelings.
• Children who have the social and emotional skills prior to entering kindergarten are better prepared to learn the academics.
• Teaching the children how to problem solve, communicate to each other using “I” statements, and allowing them to express their feelings and emotions is key to their development.
Crystal Jensen is the owner of Mindful Expressions in Kelowna
This column was submitted as part of BWB Wednesdays
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