Student Wellbeing

Mindfulness Through the Senses

At Greenhills, we continue to explore simple, effective strategies that help our students manage big emotions and regulate their nervous systems. In a previous  newsletter, we shared how breathing can be a powerful tool to support children in settling their minds and bodies. This week, we shift our focus to another key aspect of mindfulness: using our senses to anchor attention in the present moment.

Big feelings like anxiety or frustration can pull children into thoughts about what has already happened or what might happen next. By engaging their senses, students build sensory awareness, which interrupts the cycle of overwhelming thoughts and gently redirects their attention to the here and now. This helps them feel more grounded, settled, and in control.

By building a toolkit of mindfulness strategies, and practising them during calm moments, children are better prepared to use them when challenges arise. These tools become familiar, reliable ways to regulate emotions, refocus, and re-engage in learning. 

By gently guiding students to tune into their senses, we give them a toolkit to pause, settle, and re-centre. These strategies are not about avoiding emotions, but about acknowledging them, calming, and then choosing a helpful action. We want our children to learn that while big feelings are normal, we don’t have to get stuck in them.

Here are some easy, practical ways we encourage students to engage their senses at school and that you can support and build on at home:

Sight: Pause and name five colours you can see in your surroundings.

Smell: Take a slow, deep breath and notice any scents around you.

Touch: Press your feet into the floor or place your hands on a surface, feel the connection and texture.

As always, we encourage families to try these at home too. Next time your child feels overwhelmed or “stuck,” try asking, “What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel under your feet?” It’s a powerful way to reconnect and support them to move forward.

Janine Hough                                                      

janine.hough@education.vic.gov.au           

Brad Ryan

bradley.ryan@education.vic.gov.au