PreK–8.

MindUP is a preventive mental well-being program for schools created by the Goldie Hawn Foundation. It combines mindfulness, neuroscience, positive psychology, and social-emotional learning, pairing lessons and knowledge about how the brain works with attention practices so children understand the internal processes of their own bodies.

The program builds attention, emotional self-regulation, the ability to cope with stress, empathy, and prosocial behavior, as well as kindness, optimism, and gratitude.

The primary official version (published by Scholastic) consists of 15 lessons of 40–50 minutes each, grouped into 4 thematic units. Certain national adaptations (for example, in Australia and the United Kingdom) feature variants with 12 or 17 lessons of roughly the same length. A daily mindfulness practice — 3 times a day — is also recommended.

7 million children worldwide.

Canada, the USA, Uganda, and Portugal — independent studies on MindUP's effectiveness have been conducted in these 4 countries. The total number of countries where the program is used has not been officially disclosed.

Curricula are available in English and Spanish; family resources have been translated into nine languages.

The program is included in the CASEL Program Guide with SELect status; its effectiveness has been confirmed in grades 4–7 based on 9 peer-reviewed studies, including 4 randomized controlled trials.

A 2010 quasi-experimental study of 246 students in grades 4–7 found increased self-reported optimism, as well as teacher-rated improvements in attention/concentration and social-emotional competence, alongside reduced aggressive and oppositional behavior (compared with the control group).

A 2015 randomized controlled trial in grades 4–5 found improvements in prosocial behavior, executive function, perspective-taking, optimism, empathy, and emotional control.