Be Happy Summer Camp – Week Five, Activity Two – Become a Barefoot Explorer!

Ground Keeper Badge – Barefoot Explorer

Take off your shoes, discover the feeling of the ground beneath your feet and earn your Ground Keeper Badge with our Barefoot Explorer activity!

Children will spend around five minutes exploring a small, safe and adult-checked outdoor space, paying close attention to the sensations beneath their feet. Is the ground warm or cool? Soft or hard? Smooth, bumpy, damp or tickly?

The activity introduces children to grounding and explores how focussing on physical sensations can bring our attention away from busy thoughts and back to our bodies, surroundings and what is happening right here, right now.

After their barefoot exploration, children can create their own Grounding Footprint, drawing around their foot and filling it with words, pictures, colours and patterns inspired by what they felt, noticed and experienced.

A simple sensory activity combining grounding, mindfulness, creativity and time outdoors to help children slow down, connect with the present moment and earn their Ground Keeper Badge!

Barefoot exploration should always be supervised by an adult in a thoroughly checked, safe area. A shoes-on/hands-based alternative is included for children for whom barefoot participation isn't safe, suitable or comfortable.