Kids Yoga

1. Stretching

Within this vital practice, educators explicitly teach basic yoga poses to stretch and strengthen kids’ growing bodies. Educators should challenge the child to test their flexibility and mobility through particular yoga poses, encouraging an understanding of body awareness. As a result, children can develop their strength and balance through conditioning their bodies. 

An important consideration is not to overwhelm the child, as this could hinder their confidence and lead to disengagement with yoga classes. Therefore, early childhood educators should assess the children’s physical capacity before selecting achievable poses. 

Yoga Poses for Kids

The best way to engage kids’ interests in yoga is to provide a variety of poses. Educators should include more accessible and achievable poses to help build child confidence. Some easy yoga poses include:

• Chair pose: in a standing position, have the child bend the knees to lean into their heels as if they are sitting on a chair. Then, the child should raise their arms above the head. This pose helps strengthen kids’ thigh and calf muscles. 
• Superman pose: the child should lie flat on the stomach with stiffened legs and arms. Encourage the child to raise their chest, legs and arms as high as possible so that they look like Superman flying through the air. This helps develop kids’ shoulder, leg and core strength. 
• Banana pose: in a standing position, have the child raise their arms above their head with their palms placed together. Encourage the child to lean from one side to the other to look like a banana. The exercise helps develop balance and strengthens lower back muscles.

Meanwhile, successful yoga programs also incorporate fun ways to teach yoga positions. Educators can achieve this by relating poses to animals. For example, some animal yoga poses for kids are:

• Cow pose: the child should be on all fours with their head facing forward to look like a cow. Encourage the child to suck in their stomach while also pushing out their lower hips, so their back is arched inwards. This helps raise body awareness, as well as improve coordination and strengthen hip muscles. 
• Seal pose: the child should be lying on the floor with their palms planted flat on the floor shoulder distance apart. Then, with their hips still connected to the floor, tell the children to raise their upper body using their arms. This will help stretch the child’s lower back. 
• Whale pose: lying on their back with their knees bent and soles of their feet planted flat on the floor, encouraging the child to lift their hips towards the sky. The child’s feet, upper back, shoulders, and head should still be on the floor while their hips are raised. The whale pose is excellent for stretching a child’s neck and spine while also strengthening leg muscles. 

Partner activities are another way to engage children and pique their interests. Partner yoga poses for kids can include:

• Lizard on a rock pose: One child should place their knees and forehead on the floor, resting their buttocks against their heels. The child’s head should be tucked between the knees with their arms resting comfortably down the side of their body, giving the impression that they are a rock. Once comfortable, have the other child place their feet flat on the floor and plant their buttocks on the rock’s lower back. Encourage the child to recline back so their head rests on the rock’s upper back, allowing for spinal stretching.
• Seesaw pose: Sitting down, the children should be facing each other with their legs extended and feet touching. The children then need to hold each other’s hands to support each other. Once connected, encourage the children to lean backwards and forwards over their legs, pretending to be a seesaw. This partner yoga pose helps stretch their hamstrings and develop their core strength.

Helpful Resources

Incorporating kids yoga into an early years learning centre can be facilitated by using helpful resources! Below are some resources we make use of to engage our children with the practices of yoga for kids:

• Themed yoga lesson plans
• Yoga animals in the forest 
• Baby Loves Yoga: An ABC of First Poses 
• Yoga music for kids

Yoga Games for Kids

Incorporating games into yoga sessions is another excellent way to promote principles of play-based learning and increase child engagement. Below, we have listed some useful games that are easy to apply at home with parents or in early years learning centres:

• Simon says game: Taking the rules of Simon says, one child acts as the leader and dictates what poses everyone should be doing. However, others can only do the pose if the leader states Simon says before. Kids who complete poses without the instruction of Simon says are eliminated. This game is great for building concentration and focus among the kids.
• Guess the animal game: Similar to charades, each child has a turn to do a pose that looks like an animal. Other children try to guess the animal that the child is trying to replicate. The guessing game is perfect for developing children’s memory within the context of recalling previously learnt yoga poses. 
• Ball game: This simple game requires a small soft ball. With the group as a circle, a child will throw the ball to another classmate and state what yoga pose they must complete. When the classmate catches the ball, they then complete the pose and throw the ball to someone else. The game helps consolidate yoga poses for children while engaging them in a fun and exciting environment.