A deck to help adults teach kids core attentional skills.
A growing deck of easy little co-op games to build kids' attentional skills in a fun way — especially for kids aged 3-10 who struggle to sit still, stay with their senses, or regulate boredom. The secret is to teach kids that mindfulness is magic, so we frame each game as a way to train magical abilities.
As a meditator with a kid who struggles to regulate attention, you can only imagine the creative ways I’m coming up with to teach him mindfulness. Well, good news: you actually don’t have to imagine… I made a thing! Mind Magic is a free, growing deck of quick co-op games to help kids train attention in a playful way, especially if they struggle to sit still. This feels more important than ever as they inherit a world that constantly pulls at our attention. Every parent you know is struggling to figure out how to raise a kid when boredom is optional, outside is optional, true friends are optional, and nervous systems are overclocked. Every teacher you know is noticing big shifts in how kids are showing up to class. We’re starting to see social media bans and classroom bans and all kinds of strategies around how to limit (and often demonize) screen time. But we’re not seeing enough new tools teaching kids the foundational skills they’ll need to navigate all this. That includes curricula for a healthy, secure relationship with tech, digital literacy, and in the case of Mind Magic, the core attentional skills that enable both.
I’ve seeded the deck with a few games I invented with my son, whose particular nervous system makes this especially challenging. But a lot of us are struggling to regulate attention these days, so we’re hoping to identify more games that work well for a lot of diverse kids. That’s where you come in: check out magic.attentionactivist.com, try a few cards with the kids in your life and submit your own game ideas. If we get enough cards, we’ll print the deck and ship it out to help kids everywhere. The next generation is poised to inherit a world that runs on technology. There’s no reason to believe their wellbeing will be prioritized by algorithms whothat commoditize attention, attachment, and intimacy. It’s up to us to help them be ready.
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