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If you’ve ever tried to get a classroom of six-year-olds to sit still, you know it’s no small task. Now imagine getting them to meditate — willingly, every day, for two months. That’s exactly what researchers at Bond University and the University of Sydney set out to do. And what they found might change how you think about mindfulness in schools.

The study, published in Mental Health & Prevention, tracked over 1,500 students across three Australian primary schools as they practised daily 5-to-7-minute meditations using the free Smiling Mind app. The results? Kids showed measurable improvements in emotional regulation, behavior, and wellbeing — and most of those gains appeared in the very first week.

Here’s what the research actually found and what it means for parents, teachers, and anyone who spends time with kids.

Key Takeaways

• Over 1,500 students aged 4–12 from three Australian primary schools participated in daily 5–7 minute mindfulness meditation using the free Smiling Mind app (Stapleton & Blanchard, 2026).
• Emotional and behavioural difficulties decreased significantly, with most improvement happening in week one and holding steady afterwards.
• Younger students (ages 4–8) showed improved wellbeing; older students (ages 9–12) showed improved mindfulness skills.
• Students with low-to-moderate difficulties benefited most, suggesting daily mindfulness works best as a preventive strategy rather than a treatment for severe challenges.

How the Study Worked

The research team worked with three public primary schools in Brisbane, Australia, during the 2023 school term. A total of 1,535 students took part — 1,312 junior students (ages 4–8) and 223 senior students (ages 9–12).

Every morning, teachers played a short meditation from the Smiling Mind app. That’s it. No special training required, no complicated curriculum. Each session lasted between five and seven minutes. The app guided students through age-appropriate exercises — things like paying attention to their breath, noticing sounds around them, and labeling emotions.

The weekly topics looked like this:

Week	Meditation Focus	What the Kids Did
1–2	Awareness	“The Bubble Journey” — noticing thoughts and feelings
3–4	Attention	Belly breathing exercises
5–6	The Senses	Exploring sounds in the classroom
7–8	Recognizing Emotions	“My Internal Weather” — naming feelings
9–10	Strengths	Identifying personal strengths

Every Friday, students filled out a quick survey (under 7 minutes) about how they were feeling. The questions were age-appropriate — younger kids used smiley faces on a simple scale, while older kids answered more detailed questions about emotional awareness.

Did It Work? Here’s What Actually Changed

The researchers measured five things:

1. Emotional difficulties — things like worrying, feeling sad, having trouble sleeping. These dropped significantly over the 8–9 week period.
2. Behavioral difficulties — acting out, losing temper, fighting. These also decreased.
3. Wellbeing (younger kids only) — sense of life satisfaction and thriving. This improved steadily.
4. Mindfulness skills (older kids only) — awareness of thoughts and feelings without getting swept away. This improved too.
5. Happiness — this was the tricky one. Happiness nudged up briefly around week three, then leveled off. It didn’t show a consistent upward trend overall.

Here’s the simple version:

What They Measured	Did It Improve?	Who Saw the Change?
Emotional difficulties (worry, sadness)	✅ Decreased	All ages
Behavioral difficulties (acting out)	✅ Decreased	All ages
General wellbeing	✅ Improved	Younger kids (4–8)
Mindfulness skills	✅ Improved	Older kids (9–12)
Happiness	⚠️ Brief boost	All ages (week 3 only)

Are these changes life-changing? No. The effects were modest — the program explained about 1–4% of the changes seen. But here’s why that still matters: the program costs nothing, takes five minutes a day, and requires no expert training. When you consider the scale — over a thousand kids across multiple schools — even small shifts can have a big impact on classroom dynamics and student wellbeing.

The Surprising Part: Most Changes Happened in Week One

If you’ve ever started a new habit, you know the pattern: slow start, gradual improvement, eventually it sticks. This study found something different.

The biggest improvements in emotional difficulties, behavioral difficulties, wellbeing, and mindfulness all appeared after the first week. From there, they mostly held steady. Kids didn’t keep getting dramatically better each week — they reached a new, better baseline early on and stayed there.

For behavioural difficulties and mindfulness, there were some additional improvements later (weeks 5, 6, and 8), suggesting some benefits take a bit longer to solidify. But the pattern is clear: the first week did the heavy lifting.

This matters for a few reasons:

• Schools don’t need to wait months to see results. Teachers can see improvements quickly, which makes the program easier to sustain.
• Kids don’t get bored. Since the meditations are short and varied by topic, engagement can stay reasonably high.
• The quick payoff helps with buy-in. When parents and teachers see changes fast, they’re more likely to keep going.

That said, one big caveat: nearly 90% of younger students and 72% of older students had dropped out of the weekly surveys by the end. So we’re relying on a smaller, possibly more motivated group for the later weeks. The core findings — early improvement and maintenance — are solid, but the later-week data should be read with that in mind.

Who Benefits Most from Daily Mindfulness?

One of the study’s most useful findings is about who gets the most out of daily meditation.

Students with low-to-moderate emotional and behavioral difficulties at the start showed the biggest improvements. Those already dealing with severe challenges improved less.

This makes intuitive sense. Mindfulness teaches skills like noticing your thoughts and choosing how to respond. If a student is already in a good place to learn those skills, they’ll pick them up faster. If they’re dealing with serious mental health challenges, they likely need more targeted support — therapy, counseling, or other interventions — in addition to or instead of a general mindfulness program.

Here’s what this means in practice:

• For the school as a whole: Daily mindfulness works well as a universal “Tier 1” prevention strategy — something every kid does to build resilience, much like how every kid gets recess for physical health.
• For students who need more help: Universal mindfulness isn’t a replacement for professional support. But it can be a foundation that makes other interventions more effective.
• For the worried parent: If your child is struggling with occasional anxiety or big emotions, daily short mindfulness practice is a low-risk, no-cost place to start.

What This Means for Parents and Teachers

The study used the Smiling Mind program, which is free and available as both an app and a web platform. As of 2025, over 1,790 Australian schools had already participated in the program, and Smiling Mind reports that 75% of students say it benefited their mental wellbeing.

If you’re thinking about trying something similar — at school or at home — here’s what the research suggests:

Keep it short. Five to seven minutes was enough. You don’t need 20-minute sessions.

Make it daily. The study’s daily approach contrasts with many previous programs that only practiced once or twice a week. The daily frequency may explain why improvements showed up so quickly.

Don’t overthink it. Teachers in this study just pressed play on the app. They didn’t need to be mindfulness practitioners themselves.

Start with awareness and attention. The first two weeks focused on noticing thoughts and belly breathing — simple, concrete skills that kids can grasp.

Manage expectations. This isn’t a cure-all. The effects are modest. But the program is free, fast, and safe — no adverse effects were reported in this study.

What’s worth noting is that the Smiling Mind program is intentionally designed to be brief and strengths-based, which may explain why no negative effects appeared — unlike the larger MYRIAD trial in the UK, which found some students with vulnerabilities actually got worse. Program design matters, and not all mindfulness programs are created equal.

The Bottom Line

This study doesn’t claim that five minutes of daily meditation will transform a classroom overnight. It does suggest something more realistic: that daily, short mindfulness practice is a low-cost, low-effort way to give kids a small but meaningful boost in emotional regulation and wellbeing.

Nearly 14% of Australian children aged 4–11 experience a mental disorder in any given year (Young Minds Matter, 2013–14). With a new national study (Young Minds: Our Future) currently gathering updated data, the conversation around early mental health support in schools is more relevant than ever.

Programs like this one won’t solve every problem. But they cost nothing, take five minutes, and put a simple, evidence-backed tool in the hands of every teacher and parent. In a world where kids’ mental health resources are stretched thin, that’s worth paying attention to.

Want to explore more? Download the free Smiling Mind app and try one of the guided meditations yourself. You might be surprised what five minutes can do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Didn’t a big UK study (MYRIAD) find that school mindfulness didn’t work?

The MYRIAD trial studied over 28,000 adolescents aged 11–14 and found no significant benefits, and even some negative effects for vulnerable students. That study used a different program, was delivered by teachers who had trained in mindfulness themselves, and targeted older kids. The current study used a much shorter daily practice (5–7 minutes vs. longer sessions), a free app so no teacher training was needed, and included children as young as four. Different designs, different results.

Is the Smiling Mind app really free?

Yes. The app and the school program are both free. Smiling Mind is an Australian nonprofit organization, and the program has been implemented in over 1,790 schools across Australia. You can download it from the App Store, Google Play, or access it through their website.

Can I try this at home with my own kids?

Absolutely. The app has age-specific content for children as young as two, plus programs for teenagers and adults. The study used the Primary School Program, but the app itself has meditations designed for home use. Starting with the “awareness” and “attention” exercises matches what the study did in the first few weeks.

What if my child has serious anxiety or behavioral challenges?

This study found that kids with severe difficulties didn’t improve as much from the universal program alone. Mindfulness can still be a helpful tool, but it’s not a replacement for professional support. If your child is struggling significantly, a psychologist, school counselor, or GP is the right first step.

Research referenced: Stapleton, P., & Blanchard, M. D. (2026). Daily mindfulness meditation for improved student outcomes: An Australian primary school trial. Mental Health & Prevention, 41, 200485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2026.200485