Mindfulness Apps for Kids and Teens

An app for young children to help teach problem-solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence skills. Kids learn as they help a Sesame Street monster friend calm down with belly breathing and solve everyday challenges. The website includes many other apps to help children cope with divorce, incarceration of a family member, emergency preparedness, autism, moving, and being part of a military family.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Sesame Street Apps and eBooks

• Age: kids

• Cost: free

This app for younger children offers relaxing, kid-pleasing stories, music, and relaxing sounds coupled with cute characters to reduce bedtime stress and anxiety and promote mindful moments during the day.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: kids

• Cost: free trial with subscription

An app for guided meditation. Categories include general meditations (confidence-building, positive-thinking, etc.), sleep stories, affirmations, and issue-based guided meditations (ADD/ADHD, anxiety, overeating, etc.).

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: kids

• Cost: free trial with subscription

An app with evidence-based courses that focus on helping children conquer anxiety, depression, ADHD, general stress, and more. Also includes courses that focus on parenting. A “family-first mental health app for the modern world.”

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: for kids but to be used with parents

• Cost: many free courses

This app helps children understand why they feel the way they do. Four positive penguins take the user on a journey to understand that feelings arise from their own thoughts. The app content focuses on challenging negative thoughts to help see things through a more optimistic lens. It emphasizes that feelings come from thoughts, not situations, and that anxiety is therefore modifiable.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: kids

• Cost: $0.99

This app uses a superhero character to guide children through yoga poses and breathing. Helpful for calming, mindfulness, and sensory integration. Focuses on self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-regulation.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: kids

• Cost: free

Smiling Mind is an extensive Australian mental health resource focused on mindfulness and developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to people’s lives. The website offers videos and resources for home, school, and the workplace.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Smiling Mind

• Age: any

• Cost: free

This is a simple app developed by the U.S. Defense Health Agency to teach diaphragmatic “belly” breathing, which helps lower stress and anxiety. Graphics and narration lead users through several breathing exercises. It is described as a portable skill rehearsal tool.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: any

• Cost: free

This is a popular app for sleep, meditation, relaxation, and sleep stories. Soothing bedtime stories, some narrated by celebrities, help users relax and fall asleep naturally.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: any

• Cost: free trial with subscription

This app offers free, anonymous, emotional support and counseling from trained active listeners. There is a text chat feature and listeners are available 24/7. Teens can also share their thoughts with peers. Described as “emotional support on demand.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: any

• Cost: free

Happy Color

This app is an electronic color-by-number app for mindless coloring. Includes an endless amount of pictures, including mandalas, flowers, and Disney characters.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: any

• Cost: free with in-app upgrades

Colorfy

This app offers a relaxing electronic coloring experience.

Click below on an icon to download the app:

• Age: any

• Cost: free