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child TRAINER · AGES 4–12
Mindfulness Child Trainer
Learn to bring mindfulness to children aged 4 to 12 with the Eline Snel Method. A practical, experiential training that prepares you to guide children through the eight-week Attention Works! programme.
Who it's for?
For professionals who work with children.
This training is for professionals who want to help children develop attention, self-awareness and resilience through mindfulness.
Mindfulness Professionals
For mindfulness trainers who want to specialise in bringing mindfulness to children aged 4 to 12.
Teachers & Educational Professionals
For teachers and other education professionals who want to bring mindfulness into their work with children.
Child & Family Professionals
For therapists, coaches and other professionals who support children and families.
What it brings you
More than a programme to teach. You learn how to bring mindfulness to children in a way they understand, experience and can use in their everyday lives.
A complete eight-week mindfulness programme for children, ready to bring into your work
Practical ways to teach attention, awareness and self-regulation at a child’s level
A deeper personal mindfulness practice that becomes part of how you teach
Certification in the Eline Snel Method and a place in AMT’s international network of trainers
Inside the training
Experience it. Understand it. Learn to teach it.
Children learn mindfulness through experience, not explanation. Throughout the training, you explore the practices yourself and learn how to translate them into language, exercises and activities that make sense to children.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
You get to know the full programme session by session: what each lesson covers, how the themes build on one another, and why that order matters. Alongside the structure, you learn the thinking behind the method Eline Snel developed, so you can stay close to it while responding to the group in front of you.
A body scan written for adults does not work for a child of nine. You practise turning every exercise into words, images and invitations that children recognise, and you learn to notice when your language is becoming too abstract, too long or too instructive.
Attention is not a fixed ability. It develops, and it develops differently at six than at eleven. You learn what children of different ages can and cannot do yet, and how that shapes the way you introduce a practice, how long you make it, and what you can reasonably expect.
Children sense your presence long before they hear your instructions. That is why your own practice is part of the training. You deepen your personal mindfulness practice throughout the course, because the steadiness you bring into a room is the first thing children learn from.
Children bring their worries, their restlessness and their strong feelings into the room. You learn how to work with all of it: how to help children notice what is happening inside without pushing it away or getting lost in it, and how to hold difficult moments safely.
Learn how to create a group atmosphere in which children feel safe to participate, share and explore their experiences. You’ll practise guiding a group with clarity and warmth, while responding to different needs and group dynamics.
The conversation after an exercise is where much of the learning happens. You practise asking open questions, following what a child actually says rather than what you hoped to hear, and letting "I didn't feel anything" be a complete and valuable answer.
Training is one thing; running the programme in a real setting is another. You look at what your own context asks for: how to plan a series, how to talk about the programme with colleagues, parents and management, and how to make this work sustainable for you.
THE PROGRAMME YOU’LL TEACH
Attention Works!®
Attention Works! is an eight-week mindfulness programme developed by Eline Snel for children aged 4 to 12. Through short practices, stories, movement and reflection, children learn to notice what is happening inside themselves and around them.
Week by week, they practise paying attention, recognising thoughts and feelings, noticing signals in their body and pausing before reacting. Not to make difficult feelings disappear, but to meet what is happening with greater awareness and choice.
As a trainer, you learn how to create the safe, playful and attentive environment in which children can discover these skills for themselves.
How it's structured
Learn it by experiencing it.
The training combines your own mindfulness practice with theory, demonstration and plenty of opportunities to practise guiding children yourself.
Before you start
These are the requirements for joining the training. If you’re not sure whether you meet them, just get in touch.
An eight-week MBSR or MBCT training, completed or nearly completed.
Your own regular mindfulness practice.
Professional experience working with children, or the intention to do so.
The opportunity to work with a group of children during or after the training, so you can put what you learn into practice.
YOUR CERTIFICATION
Become a certified Mindfulness Child Trainer.
Complete the training and certification requirements and you can guide the Attention Works! programme for children aged 4 to 12.
Your personal AMT certification as a Mindfulness Child Trainer.
Your official frog quality mark, showing that you are trained and certified in the Eline Snel Method.
A personal profile so parents, schools and organisations can find you.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
What trainers took with them.
Agenda
Find a group that fits.
Upcoming start dates for the Mindfulness Child Trainer training — in person and online, in several languages.
No upcoming start dates at the moment. New groups are added regularly.
What's included
Your materials
Learning and support
Also included
No dates fit your time or location?
Leave your details and we'll let you know as soon as a new group opens that fits.
Good to know
Questions, answered.
The training is for professionals who work with children, or intend to do so, and want to bring mindfulness into their work using the Eline Snel Method. Your own meditation experience and your experience with children form an important foundation for the training.
Yes. Before starting, you need to have completed, or nearly completed, an eight-week MBSR or MBCT training. You also need to have your own regular mindfulness practice.
You should have professional experience working with children, or the intention to do so. During the training, you learn how to adapt mindfulness practices, language and themes to different age groups.
The training combines experiencing the method yourself with theory, demonstration and plenty of practice. You explore the trainer manuals, experience example lessons and gradually practise guiding exercises and lessons yourself. After the training days, you put what you have learned into practice by leading your own eight-week pilot with a group of at least three children.
Alongside the training days, allow time for your own mindfulness practice, reading and preparation, and for your eight-week pilot. The pilot is an essential part of the training and is where you bring the method into practice with your own group of children.
Ready when you are.
Still thinking it over? Explore a little further, or get in touch. We’re happy to help you decide whether the training is right for you.
Explore a little further
Read more about the method, certification and the experiences of other trainers.
Talk to us
Have a question about the training, requirements or practical details? We’re happy to help.