Amanda Seyfried’s playhouses teach kids mindfulness in her hometown | NBC

Amanda Seyfried’s playhouses teach kids mindfulness in her hometown | NBC

actor Amanda Cipher might be known for her hit Hollywood Blockbusters like lay Miz Mama Mia And Mean Girls it’s like I have ESPN or something but now she’s on a mission to give back to her hometown of Allentown Pennsylvania by bringing mindfulness to schools we in bre out in a unique way we all grow up taking these cardboard boxes and making them into whatever we want we’ve taken um it a little step further Amanda’s one of the co-creators of make it cute and their cardboard playhouse provide a safe place for school children to space these kids recognize as something that that’s theirs and they have their autonomy and hopefully that makes them feel safe to be able to explore their own feelings and and and then communicate cyer and the company’s two other creators grew up together I was able to be a part of the delivery of the playhouses and it was just such a special day now with the help of a donation from a local State Farm office and the mindful child initiative make it cute has been able to place these playhouses in 14 Allentown schools transforming them into caling Cottages the students at Central Elementary School finding Comfort Within These cardboard Cottages school counselor Aaron Rogers says the Cottages have become a key tool for kids to manage stress and control emotions students have told me before that they feel themselves starting to get angry they actually have stopped and thought about it and thought well you know how am I feeling what can I do to calm myself down right now two you could go in relax take a deep breath do mindfulness play with the teddy beers one study by the National Institutes of Health found that schools that incorporate mindfulness saw a decrease in students anxiety and attention problems and in Allentown mindfulness has even had an impact outside of school there was a shooting um at our local mall a few years ago one of the kids and family was brought into a store like in a back room and she came in and told her counselor I used mindfulness during the lockdown at the shooting why do you think mindfulness is important for children to practice especially right now mindfulness is pulling yourself back in to what’s real when we teach our kids these things at an earlier age hopefully they’re they’re they’re being taught how to manage their anxiety we can teach our kids anything that’s how to feel safe in themselves so the make it cute team says their next goal is to get more Cottages donated to other schools all across the country but for now the kids at the Allentown schools will be able to use the Cottages as a safe Sanctuary from their everyday stressors oh I love that and it was cool hearing that they’ve implemented their practices elsewhere too yeah yeah what a great idea Maya eagland thank you thanks