Skills Building: Zen Shorts (PK-5)

Instructions

1. Seat students at tables. 
2. Explain that mediation is simply giving our attention to one thing in order to become calm and relaxed. Remind the students that when they give all of their focus to one thing, they are meditating. Today they will be meditating as they create a work of art.
3. Introduce the activity and share an example of what the students will be making. Remind them that each work of art will be unique and it is important to let their mind become free of other worries, focusing only on the lines.
4. Pass out watercolor paper and sharpies to students. Do not use markers because they will bleed through the paper. If you don’t have sharpies, you can also use crayons. 
5. Turn on calming background music and have students focus on it.
6. Next, have students use the sharpie to draw a continuous line of winding swirls around the page. Tell students to keep their sharpie on the paper and not to pick it up. Have them continue to draw their winding line until they are satisfied and the page is full. 
7. Pass out watercolors, paint brushes and water. 
8. Have students focus on their painting and fill in the shapes they’ve created with different colors, staying inside the lines. (Note: Having students focus on staying inside the lines and filling in the shapes is itself a form of meditation.) 
9. Allow students to continue until their entire picture is full of different colors. They will need to fill the entire page, leaving no white space. Challenge students to try to keep shapes of the same color from touching one another. 
10. Once done, have students lay their works of art on another table to dry and clean up.
11. After cleaning up, allow students to go on a gallery walk to view all the different works  created. 
12. Remind students they can look with their eyes but not with their hands. Also remind students that we only use words that are kind and encouraging.
13. Gather students back together.