Mindful Minds

(Objective)
Design Question: How can we help children be more mindful? Mindful Minds aims to increase empathy andcompassion in the early years of childhood through play-based learning exercises of mindfulness.
What started as a physical toolkit designed to provide kids with valuable information, engaging activities, and a self-reflective journal has now evolved into a dynamic digital app. This app builds on the original toolkit’s mission to increase awareness and acceptance, offering an enhanced, interactive experience for young users.
(Challenges )
User Research & Testing with kids:
  • Challenge: User research and testing with kids can be challenging due to their varying developmental stages and communication styles.
  • Solution: Effective methods must engage them creatively while ensuring ethical standards and clear interpretation of feedback.
Iterative Design:
  • Challenge: Repeatedly refining designs based on feedback and testing with kids.
  • Solution: To solve this challenge, I iterated designs through frequent, engaging testing sessions with kids and adapted my designs based on their actionable feedback.
Easy to use and functional:
  • Challenge: Making sure the app was easy to use and functional as a mindfulness tool.
  • Solution: Focusing on the research phase and making sure to test at multiple stages.

My process

Research
User research gave me the understanding and data that I need to begin building the product.
User Flows and User Personas
Once I discovered the problem, I embraced it. This involved getting away from the computer and talking to people in their own environments. Building user flows and user Personas helped me guide my project.
Wireframing
Using all my knowledge, I built well informed wireframes to explore solutions and ideation.
UI/UX Design
Using hierarchy, type, text and color to bring the product to life .

Why train children in mindfulness?

Defining the problem

Mindfulness means paying full attention to something. It means slowing down to really notice what you're doing. When children are stressed, they ruminate about past problems and worry about future what-ifs. These negative thought patterns rob their ability to focus on the present. While our brains are constantly developing throughout our lives, connections in the prefrontal circuits are created at their fastest rate during childhood. Research shows that children trained in mindfulness have more regulated emotional responses, and integrating this practice with the learning curriculum would allow them to build increased empathy and compassion at a young age.

Quantitative Findings

  • 100% of the participants interacted with their kids in their families or careers.
  • 40% of the participants were kids, 40% were educators and 20% were both parents and educators.
  • 80% of the participants talk with kids about how they are feeling.
  • 75% of the participants talk to kids about how other feel to develop empathy.
  • 100% of participants have used one or more methods to help kids with mindfulness. This means there is a demand for variety.

Qualitative Findings

Kids learn by example. While most parents/ educators talk to kids about how they feel and how to be mindful, some only do this on an occasional basis. It is important to note that kids learn through practice, discussion and repetition.

Building Personas & User Flows

Paper Wireframes

Let's be mindful together!

Navigate

Navigate with ease and explore ourdifferent mindful categories.

Key Takeaways

The cognitive difference is important to consider if you want to create a great user interface design for kids.That’s why it makes sense to dive a bit into the theory of cognitive development. Children’s mental abilities are quite different from adults. Why Mindfulness? Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness can help kids learn how to manage stress,regulate their emotions, focus on the task at hand, anddevelop a positive outlook on life.