This booklet is split into sections Section 1 - BLUE SECTION (8 pages of learning): 1. The brain. 2. The Amygdala. 3. Fight, Flight, Freeze. 4. The Prefrontal Cortex. 5. The Hippocampus. 6. Stress Hormones. 7. Good Stress V Bad Stress. 8. Stress and Performance. Reading - learning about the brain and hormones. This information will help you to learn about specific parts of the brain that can help you during test time, including hormones that take over leading up to the test time, during the test time, and even after the tests have been completed. This information is useful for pupils to read and also to discuss either in class or with a group. Lots of questions and further information can stem from each information page about the brain and hormones. Section 2 - GREEN SECTION (6 mindful learning sessions and follow-up activities): 1. Releasing Stress. 2. The Circle of Control. 3. Happy Hormones. 4. Positive and Negative Thinking. 5. Gratitude. 6. The Feelings Iceberg. Mindful activity information and worksheets to support you. You can re-do these activity sheets anytime and they also give you a chance to think and live more mindfully. Section 3 - RED SECTION (8 breathing techniques and 4 mindful moments). Breathing Techniques and Mindful Moments. Try each breathing technique a few times, and try the mindful moments. Then you can add the one(s) that work for you in your strategy lists in section 4. Section 4 - ORANGE SECTION (3 strategy lists for three different moods and energy levels). Your strategy lists. Fill in the strategy lists and use the strategies that work for you leading up to your tests, during test week and after the tests have been finished from the ones in section 3 and also everything that helps you in your life (what you enjoy, hobbies, things you do where you use your senses). Also think of the people around you who can help you and who make you feel better. Suggested teaching would be to plan around your time, 15 - 30 minutes per day or a couple of days per week and read, discuss and carry out activities from sections A - C, then work on fitting these into the strategy lists in Section D and use these lists in SATs week.

Our mindful weekly planner and reflection diary is for each week of the year. The A4 size is perfect for young people to have space to write down their plans each week and then reflect on how their week has been. Each week has two mindful prompts… so there’s 108 mindful prompts for the year. They include breathing tips, mindful quotes, reflective questions, mindful activities, discussion prompts, kindness reminders, thoughts about friends and family and mindful questions. This diary supports mindful living and mindful thinking as well as giving some space to plan for busy weeks. Each weekly reflection gives time to think about… what went well, goals achieved, things they can learn from, things they are thankful for, any next steps for the following week and other reflections if needed. Writing down and thoughts or feelings, or just clearing the busy mind can help young people to get any thoughts out of their minds and is a fantastic mindful strategy to organise and break down any thoughts that may be building up in the mind, learn how to express and thoughts or feelings, move on from the day or note a memory that is a happy one as well as improve the memory, give some time out and practice writing skills. This diary was designed as I really benefit from planning each week and reflecting on what has happened, it really does help to organise the busy mind and the busy lives we have. I love to plan and feel organised. A different style is also available, inspired by my daughter who just loves to write freely when she wants to and doesn’t like writing lists and planning… we are all different and I hope that either the dairy or planner will be suitable for your young person at home or for pupils in school.

We hope you like our calendar design for 2024 :-) A mindful calendar for 2024, with little mindful prompts on each month to encourage thinking about what can help the busy mind and live in a more mindful way. Decorated to suit the seasons each month. Each month has a space to write notes. Each date has room to write down important dates or events to help with organising the month. The PDF version is great for printing off pages for young people to use either at home or in school, or printed off to put up each month in the classroom.

Our mindful monthly planner and diary has been designed to be suitable for children who need a bit of space to write in, the A4 design gives the line spacing plenty of room for young people to write in. There are 12 monthly planning pages to write down any monthly goals, dates to remember and important notes. The rest of the pages are free for your young person to write in when they want to. There are no dates in the diary, so it doesn’t matter if they miss days, meaning they can fill it up without blank spaces and missing dates. The diary is 100 pages, with 84 writing pages (examples in the photos) every other page has a mindful quote, mindful question, breathing technique, health focus, or mindful reflection to support and encourage mindful thinking and mindful living. Writing down and thoughts or feelings, or just clearing the busy mind can help young people to get any thoughts out of their minds and is a fantastic mindful strategy to organise and break down any thoughts that may be building up in the mind, learn how to express and thoughts or feelings, move on from the day or note a memory that is a happy one as well as improve the memory, give some time out and practice writing skills. This diary design was created because of my daughter. Firstly I created a mindful weekly planner as I love to plan and feel organised (this is also available for young people who feel the same), whereas my daughter just loves to write freely when she wants to and doesn’t like writing lists and planning… we are all different and I hope that either the dairy or planner will be suitable for your young person at home or for pupils in school.

The feelings iceberg is a great way for young people visualise and understand how feelings can be shown on the outside (above the surface), but also recognise what may be going on also on the inside and below the surface. This is a good way to being to understand other people as well, such as we may see that someone is angry due to their behaviours, but what might be going on for them underneath, and what are the possible build ups to such big emotions. This activity along with a number of other activities have been created as part of Developing Matters CIC course and session delivery to young people to help with their mental health and wellbeing. Each activity is designed to have an information/example sheet, then a second page to complete the activity. Our activities have been completed with 1000s of children and their families and they are helpful to make children, young people and also adults to live in a more mindful way, to understand themselves better and also to deal with day-to-day life experiences and transitions.

A Circle of Control activity sheet with information to help young people complete their own Circle of Control: thinking about what things in life are in their control and what is out of their control and is a great way to accept events and challenges they may face in a more mindful way. The circle of control can have many focuses; from a general focus as explained within this worksheet, or for a specific transition or life experience such as moving schools, exams, relationships. This activity along with a number of other activities have been created as part of Developing Matters CIC course and session delivery to young people to help with their mental health and wellbeing. Each activity is designed to have an information/example sheet, then a second page to complete the activity. Our activities have been completed with 1000s of children and their families and they are helpful to make children, young people and also adults to live in a more mindful way, to understand themselves better and also to deal with day-to-day life experiences and transitions.

Mindful v Mind Full is an information and discussion activity to help young people understand that their minds are full all of the time and they are very busy. When our minds are busy we tend to miss the here and now and what is going on within us and around us. This visual can help young people to differentiate how we say our minds are full compared to how we can live in a more ‘mindful’ way, explaining that ‘mindful’ is living in the present moment and not missing the things around us, even if our minds are busy. This activity along with a number of other activities have been created as part of Developing Matters CIC course and session delivery to young people to help with their mental health and wellbeing. Each activity is designed to have an information/example sheet, then a second page to complete the activity. Our activities have been completed with 1000s of children and their families and they are helpful to make children, young people and also adults to live in a more mindful way, to understand themselves better and also to deal with day-to-day life experiences and transitions.

The 10-Part Check In is a quick yet effective mindful meditation, and can be used anywhere at any time once young people are familiar with doing it. This script is a great starting point, but it can be changed to make it personalised and owned by children as well. They can just have a 5-part check in or build up to a 15-part check in adding some movements and other activities. The main aim it to bring the attention to our thoughts and our senses. This activity along with a number of other activities have been created as part of Developing Matters CIC course and session delivery to young people to help with their mental health and wellbeing. Each activity is designed to have an information/example sheet, then a second page to complete the activity. Our activities have been completed with 1000s of children and their families and they are helpful to make children, young people and also adults to live in a more mindful way, to understand themselves better and also to deal with day-to-day life experiences and transitions.