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Graphic. A green box with a smiling face has eyes closed and is wearing a santa hat. Underneath it reads '12 Days of Calm Christmas'

Magazine /

News: Mindful countdown to Christmas launches today

Posted 14 December, 2022 by Jennifer Drummond

anxiety Mental Health mindfulness

The 12 Days of Calm Christmas offers children and families daily mindfulness activities to cope with the busy festive period.

Social start-up, Wee Seeds, has created and launched the activities to help bring calm, reduce stress and contribute to a better night’s sleep in the run up to, and during, the Christmas holidays.

The mini-mindful exercises, aimed at children and their parents can help plant the seeds of focus, calmness, kindness and gratitude in early years children.

Christina Cran, mum of 10-year-old Fin and founder of Wee Seeds, said:

“We’ve been through many Decembers now when I’ve watched Fin getting more broken by the day. Often by the time Christmas Day comes, everyone is exhausted. We want to stop that happening.

“Taking a pause each day through mindfulness activities is proven to support our physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. Our five-minute mindfulness activities will help parents bring calm and connection this December.”

The 12 mini-mindfulness activities are aimed at 3-8 year olds and have been given festive names such as Snow Angel, Festive Gratitude and Christmas Pause Button.

Wee Seeds will be sharing the exercises on social media from 14 December until Christmas Day. Follow on Facebook (click here to access), Instagram (click here to access) or Twitter (click here to access) for daily activities.

Alternatively, you can click here to download the 12 Days of Calm Christmas.

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Logo for 'wee seeds' - a green oval icon with eyes and smile, with blue text that says 'wee seeds' at the bottom

Magazine /

News: Early years mindfulness venture receives financial boost

Posted 9 November 2021 by Jennifer Drummond

charity funding mindfulness third sector

An Edinburgh-based early years mindfulness enterprise has been chosen to receive support from Big Issue Invest’s Power Up Scotland scheme.

Along with seven other Scottish ventures, Wee Seeds will receive backing through investment, business support and assistance with partnership-building for long-term success.

Wee Seeds exists to bring mediation and mindfulness to the early years and promote positive mental health from a young age, delivering tools to help parents and professionals plant the seeds of positive mental wellbeing in the early years.

Power Up Scotland is funded by partners abdrn, University of Edinburgh, Experian, Places for People and the Scottish Government. Legal support is provided by Brodies LLP.

Successful applicants receive mentoring and business development support, with an opportunity to pitch for long-term funding to create a sustainable future.

Speaking about the financial award, Wee Seeds founder Christina Cran said:

“We’ve laid the groundwork and so we’re delighted to have the support of Power Up Scotland to help us plant solid roots for the future to deliver mindfulness for all, especially post-Covid when we know many of our young people faced challenges that took a toll on their mental health.”

Big Issue Invest CEO Danyal Sattar said:

“It is challenging as a social venture to secure early-stage funding. We are therefore so pleased, working with our brilliant partners in Scotland, to be able to support these organisations with the investment and business development expertise that they need in order to make an even greater difference.

“We are incredibly excited about working with this year’s Power Up Scotland applicants.”

Wee Seeds joins Ayrshire Women’s Hub, Bikes for Refugees, Brave Strong Beautiful, Coffee+Clay, Common Ground Against Homelessness, Lochend Football Academy and MyPickle as this year's recipients.

The social venture recently launched a new website and course, following successful trials with parents and nursery staff.

It has also launched trials of its social impact programme to ensure mindfulness for all, by working with other organisations to provide resources to families who need them.

Click here to find out more about Wee Seeds

Click here to find out more about the Power Up Scotland scheme

Wee Seeds featured in Issue 201 of Children in Scotland magazine, highlighting how their mindfulness toolkit could improve focus, sleep and bring calm. Click here to download

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