Video resources for young children and teenagers
YouTube hosts many videos that can be helpful to children and teenagers if a family member or carer has a cancer diagnosis. If you choose to let your child or teenager use the links below or to search for relevant videos, please remember that adverts may be shown and that the “next” video may play automatically: these might not be appropriate for your child or teenager. It may be best if an adult watches videos first or supervises the child or teenager whilst they are viewing videos or searching for content.
Mindfulness videos
Mindfulness is a way of relaxing the mind and being in the moment. It is a way of emptying the mind of busy thoughts. The techniques work for children and young people as well as adults. If your children or teenagers are finding it hard to cope with their feelings you may find that practicing mindfulness can be of help. Lots of schools have introduced mindfulness into the school day, so you could ask your children’s school for details.
Here are a few examples of mindfulness videos for children:
Mindful Ozzy: A 3 minute video, probably appropriate for age 3-5 years. Mindful Ozzy, a cartoon owl, talks about the superpower of mindfulness, focusing on breathing techniques to help with feelings that you don’t like.
Be the pond: A 5 minute video, probably appropriate for age 4 -10 years. In the video, a cartoon character tries out breathing techniques to help. The video uses the idea of a pond (representing the mind) full of different fish (representing our feelings). Focus on the pond and not the fish. Feelings come and go: they can be observed without getting swept up by them.
Guided Imagery: a 15 minute video, probably appropriate for age 6-12 years. This is a relaxing video of fish swimming around in the sea, while the narrator talks about breathing methods and how these, combined with imagination can help you to relax and let go of emotions such as sadness, anger or fear.
A selection of videos of books for younger children (YouTube)
Below you will find a selection of videos of books for younger children. Please do follow this link to our webpage “children’s books” for a wider range of books suitable for children and teenagers.
Videos for older children
Below you will find a small selection of videos for older children that may provide useful information if a parent or other family member has been given one of three specific cancer diagnoses: