Helping Your Child Build Mindfulness Skills: DBT Mindfulness Games for Parents and Carers of Under-13s

DBT · DBT · Practice-informed

A short guide written to parents and carers rather than the child, turning DBT core mindfulness into three games for children under 13. Rainbow Breathing pairs a slow breath with tracing a rainbow in the air, five times. I Spy With My Five Senses takes turns naming one thing for each sense in plain, factual words. Frog on a Lily Pad builds from 30 seconds of stillness, with thoughts pictured as bubbles to notice and let float away. Each game names the skills it builds and has three numbered steps.

Underlying mechanism: DBT Core Mindfulness Adapted for Children: Caregiver-Led Games

What it helps with

  • Giving younger children a playful, caregiver-led route into noticing and describing experience.
  • Practising at home during calm moments so the skills are familiar later.
  • Building attention and non-judgemental noticing without a worksheet.
  • Bringing the caregiver's observations back into session.

How clinicians use it

  • Model each game in session with the caregiver and child together.
  • Keep games to a few minutes and stop when they stop being fun.
  • Ask the caregiver to note which game works best and review it next session.
  • Be clear with caregivers that the games themselves have not been trialled by name.

Clinical Implementation Guide

  1. Model every game in session with the caregiver present.
  2. Practise at home during calm moments.
  3. Keep games short and stop if the child becomes upset.

What the worksheet looks like

Helping Your Child Build Mindfulness Skills — worked example
GameSkills It Builds
Rainbow BreathingOne-mindfully, Participate: trace a rainbow on each slow breath, five times
I Spy With My Five SensesObserve, Describe: one plain fact for each sense
Frog on a Lily PadParticipate, Non-judgementally: sit still and let thought bubbles float away

Clinical cautions

The games are child-friendly versions of established skills and have not themselves been tested in a controlled trial. Keep them short and playful, and stop if a child becomes upset. This tool does not diagnose any condition and is not a substitute for individual face-to-face therapy or for emergency crisis support. Anyone in immediate distress should contact their local emergency service or crisis line.

References

  1. Perepletchikova, F., Nathanson, D., Axelrod, S. R., Merrill, C., Walker, A., Grossman, M., et al. (2017). Randomized clinical trial of dialectical behavior therapy for preadolescent children with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Feasibility and outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(10), 832-840.
  2. Zoogman, S., Goldberg, S. B., Hoyt, W. T., & Miller, L. (2015). Mindfulness interventions with youth: A meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 6(2), 290-302.
  3. Snel, E. (2013). Sitting still like a frog: Mindfulness exercises for kids (and their parents). Shambhala Publications.

Part of

DBT Core Mindfulness

Related worksheets

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