One of my husband’s favorite games to play with our kids is Cloud Shape Game- a great way to tap into your imagination and dream up what object a cloud looks like as they float by.  This last weekend I decided to add a bit more to the simple game and turned it into a mindfulness activity.

The Game

I found 15-minutes of mommy-daughter time with my 5-year old.  We got a couple of picnic blankets, took a pad of paper and a pencil and went into our backyard. Before we even played, we just laid on the blankets on our grass, soaked in some fresh air and watched the clouds drift by, which was extremely relaxing and peaceful. After a few minutes we sat up and then started noticing the different clouds.  Each time we saw a new object in the clouds, my daughter drew it out on her pad of paper.  We saw a bunny rabbit, butterfly, an airplane, a dragon and more.

Checking into her feelings

I then asked her how she was feeling at that moment and to find a cloud that represented her feelings.  We were about to meet some of her friends at the park, so she said she was super excited.  She found a cloud that looked like a girl with fire coming out of her ears, which was her excitement, so she drew that! I said I felt very calm so she saw a bed in the clouds that I could lay on.  We continued finding and drawing shapes in the cloud until she didn’t want to play anymore and wrapped up. Simple as that!

It’s worth noting that I played this game in the car with my daughter as well, when we were stopped at a red light. That day she said she was feeling a bit cranky, so she found a cloud that looked like a frown.  I was tired, so I found some droopy eyes in the clouds.  So this is a creative way to find out how your kids may be feeling, which may at times may be difficult to get out.