Best Kids’ Guided Meditations for Sleep

Helping kids settle down for bedtime can be a challenge – especially when they’re overstimulated. A guided sleep meditation for kids can be an essential part of their bedtime routine. This type of mindfulness exercise encourages a sense of calm to help children relax their minds and bodies as they prepare for sleep.

Whether your little one has an active imagination, worries before bed, or simply needs extra help winding down, these bedtime meditations can help them drift off peacefully.

Below we’ll highlight our favorite bedtime relaxation scripts to try with your child. But first, here’s how to help your child get ready for a good night’s rest.

Help Your Child Prepare for Sleep

Sometimes sleep is evasive because your child’s central nervous system is dysregulated. Incorporating mindfulness can be a big help! Here are some practical and simple physical ways to help regulate your child’s nervous system.

A Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine study found that elementary school kids who practiced some form of mindfulness training slept an average of 74 extra minutes a night.

You can also try these somatic exercises for kids to help release some of that built-up energy.

Offer plenty of play time during the day

There’s nothing like the restful slumber that comes after a busy day of play and fresh air. One of the most effective remedies against insomnia is an active day where physical energy was properly used and the mind was engaged.

Daylight and being outdoors helps to reset your child’s circadian rhythm, which is proven to enhance sleep.

Follow a bedtime routine

As parents quickly learn, the transition is everything. Just like we can’t expect our preschooler to abandon a puzzle the minute we say it’s time to go to the grocery store… we can’t spring bedtime on them without notice.

Kids thrive on routine because it gives them a sense of predictability in their lives. Even if your family is super busy, find routine where you can. Here’s a great calming bedtime routine:

• No screens after dark (blue light after sundown disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm)
• Low key play time with battery free toys that aren’t too stimulating
• Bath
• Story time
• Sleep meditation

The 8 Best Sleep Meditations for Kids

Once your child gets into a groove with their routine, bedtime becomes easier. Here are some of our favorite bedtime meditation scripts to try with your child.

Sloth’s Bedtime Meditation

Our sleepy sloth meditation is a reader favorite! Follow the slow and steady little sloth as it peacefully prepares for a long rest in its peaceful rainforest home.

This meditation encourages kids to mimic the sloth’s relaxed pace and embrace stillness, making it a great way to ease into a quiet bedtime. It also helps normalize moving at a slower pace and resting whenever you need it.

Deep Breathing Meditation

Sometimes simplicity is best. This guided breathing meditation focuses on teaching your child to take slow, deep breaths to calm their nervous system.

It also introduces the concept of box breathing to kids. The box breath is something they can use any time – day or night – to help recenter and calm themselves.

Sleepy Seahorse Meditation

The sleepy seahorse meditation is another one of our most popular sleep meditations for kids. In it, you’ll guide your child on an underwater journey as a seahorse looking for the perfect place to relax into sleep.

With calming ocean sounds and a focus on slow, rhythmic breathing that mimics the ocean, it’s designed to help kids release tension and settle into a safe, restful state.

Calm Kitty Meditation

Did you know that a cat’s purr can help regulate a human’s nervous system? Even if you don’t have a cat to cuddle with, another great somatic exercise is to hum or purr, which stimulates the vagus nerve.

In this calming meditation for kids, your child pretends to be a kitten who has had an adventurous day and settles down for an afternoon nap. Of course, a cat needs no excuse to rest! And your child will likely be asleep before the meditation is over.

Mindful Snowman Stillness Meditation

Perfect for winter nights, this meditation invites kids to imagine themselves as a peaceful snowman enjoying the quiet calm and stillness of the newly falling snow.

This fun visualization promotes a deep sense of calm and grounding with the earth. Stillness is a useful quality for kids to cultivate, and this is one of the best guided meditation scripts for kids that teaches it beautifully.

Body Scan for Kids

This body scan meditation for kids mimics the first few steps of The Military Method – a technique designed to help pilots fall asleep in 2 minutes or less.

It helps kids feel more connected to their body. Tuning into and listening to the body at a young age offers benefits that last a lifetime. And by bringing awareness to each area, it promotes major relaxation.

Magic Carpet Adventure

If your child loves a bedtime story or is inspired by adventure, they’ll love this one. Take a magical journey through the night sky with this guided relaxation meditation. This gentle magic carpet ride imagery is designed to help your child develop a sense of calm and self-confidence.

As the magic carpet gently glides through the stars, kids are encouraged to let go of their worries and view problems from a distance, where they can help gain a little perspective on them.

Restful Rag Doll Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This progressive muscle relaxation for kids uses playful imagery to help your child’s body relax completely, just like a floppy rag doll.

It’s an effective way to release physical tension and prepare for sleep. Friends and readers tells us their kids are sound asleep by the halfway point in this one.

How to Use a Sleep Meditation

By using one of these sleep meditations for kids, you can transform bedtime from a stressful experience into a cherished time of connection and relaxation.

Here’s how to make the most of this part of your child’s nightly routine:

• Create a cozy, dimly lit environment. Soft lighting, comfortable bedding, and calming music or white noise can enhance the experience.
• After you or your child choose a script, read through it on your own to find the right pacing. Then read it aloud to your child in a gentle, calming voice.
• Always follow your child’s cues. Allow plenty of time to pause and let your child really sink into the experience.
• Be consistent. For small children, having a group of three to five meditations as part of your child’s bedtime routine can help signal to their body and mind that it’s time to wind down.

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