Materials:

• Several oranges, peeled and divided into segments (enough for each student to have a segment)
• A platter for the oranges

Description:

1. Set the scene with some relaxing music and some silent sitting or basic movements. This gives the children a chance to recognize that it’s time now to be calm, quiet, and relaxed.
2. Have the children sit in silence and invite them to focus on their noses and sense of smell.
3. Then bring their focus to their mouths. How does their mouth taste? How does their tongue feel in their mouth? Is it dry? Is it wet? Ask the questions for them to think about, not answer out loud.
4. Mindfully put a plate of peeled and divided oranges into the circle. The children, when invited, take one segment and return to their position.
5. Invite them to pick up their orange segment and feel the shape and texture of it. Invite them to look closely at the patterns on its surface.
6. Invite the children to smell their orange segment.
7. Explain that we want to eat the piece of orange as slowly as possible, moving it around on our tongues and in our mouths, tasting the different flavors, and noticing how it feels. When we finally swallow, feel it go down our throat and into our belly.
8. Do this for as long as the class is focused and interested. However, it’s important to stop the activity before the majority lose interest.
9. End the session in your normal way with some silent sitting and/or basic movements.