ball pass

This game teaches skills like teamwork, turn taking and communication. It's also a sensory game, which gives kids a fun way to integrate their senses while moving the whole body. Ball Pass will get the kids using their core and leg strength, and will help develop balance and coordination.  

For ball pass you will need a light-weight rubber ball that their little feet can grasp. (I made the mistake of using a soccer ball once and this was too heavy. A little boy dropped it on his nose. Bad yoga teacher! He was ok...he laughed. But still, use a light ball.) Then have the kids sit in a circle with their feet towards the middle of the circle, sitting fairly close together. They will lay down on their backs and one child will start with the ball in between her feet. She will carry the ball with her as she does plow pose (halasana), and then will pass the ball to the child next to her. That child will then grab the ball with their feet, do plow pose and pass it on.

Need more of a challenge?

If the kids are getting this easily, you can add a second ball into the mix...a "hand ball". Any smaller ball that they can hold in one hand will do. They must pass this hand ball to one another in the opposite direction of the foot ball. Here is where communication really starts. The kids may be looking one direction at the foot ball that is nearing them, and may not notice the hand ball that is trying to be passed. They will need to say "Sara, hand ball!" or "Gabriella, foot ball."

Need MORE of a challenge?

Put a small wooden dowel or an unsharpened pencil between their toes! They will pass this in the same direction as the foot ball. Start the stick a few spots away from the ball, so a kid never has a ball between their feet and a stick between their toes at the same time.

Need even MORE of a challenge?

Make them do all of this with their eyes closed. The kids will need to memorize who is to the right and left of them, so that they can say, with closed eyes, "Melissa, stick!" or "Sam, hand ball."

bowling for butterflies

This is a really fun game, but it does require some space. We start by laying mats on the floor in a big square, like a carpet of yoga mats. All of the kids except for one, sit in butterfly pose (bound angle pose). The bowler is the child not sitting in butterfly, and he rolls a bouncy ball into the other kids, trying to tag them. The butterflies may roll out of the way of the ball, avoiding the tag, but they must stay in the pose, with the soles of their feet touching.

Our bowler releasing his ball...

...and the butterflies rolling out of the way. Just barely!

crab volleyball

Kids love balloons. I mean they really love them. Every single time I take out my bag of balloons, their faces light up. 

In crab volleyball they get to kick a balloon into the air, trying not to let it touch the ground. This crab crawl gets the kids in a position that strengthens their wrists, triceps and shoulders, engages their core and opens their chests. I also like to use the crab crawl when going from one obstacle to another in an obstacle course.

If the kids are doing a great job keeping the ball up and sharing turns kicking the balloon, I like to add a second balloon into the mix. The crab crawl is my favorite way to play, but sometimes it can be too much on the wrists. After we have all agreed that our wrists are tired, we gently roll our wrists and, if they want to keep playing with the balloon, we do it standing in tree pose, or maybe frog jumps. I have had them stand with hands at heart center and they need to raise their leg, keeping the leg straight, to pop the ball up with their toes. Really they can do anything to keep the ball from touching the ground. 

Just turn up some fun music and let them play!

ping pong push

After setting up goals with yoga blocks on one side of the room, I set the kids up on the opposite side of the room, giving them each a ping pong ball and a straw. They have to blow through the straw and get the ping pong balls across the room and into their goal. 

They love it.

This game is some simple pranayama practice and helps them learn how to control their breath; exhale too hard and the ball goes way far away, exhale too softly and you'll never make it to the other side of the room. Plus they are army crawling around, using their tummy and lower back muscles. 

obstacle course!

By far one of the kids' favorite games we play is the 

Yoga Obstacle Course. 

It's so great because the possibilities are endless. It can't get old. I set up mats all around the room, and each mat has it's own activity. 

Some of my favorites are:

ROPE WALK

 Lay a strap or rope on the floor and walk across it as if it were a tightrope high in the air. They can walk across regularly, or do Warrior III across.

L-HANDSTAND WALK

Standing with heels against the baseboards, come into down dog. Place hands on the floor and lift one leg at a time, pressing soles of feet into the wall. Now "walk" from one side of the mat to the other. 

RIVER WALK

Place yoga blocks on a mat, pretending the mat is a river and the blocks are the tops of rocks, and hop from stone to stone.

BLIND TREE

Kids get into tree pose and practice holding the pose with their eyes closed.

BEAN BAG TOSS

One of my students made this game up and it's brilliant! Using our bean bag eye bags that we use in Savasana, he sat in butterfly pose (baddha konasana) and placed the bean bags on one side of him and an empty basket on the other side. He put a bag on his knee/inner thigh and catapulted it into the empty basket.

HULA HOOP BOAT ROW

Have kids sit in boat pose on a mat and hold a hula hoop in front of them, so that their raised legs are through the center of the hoop. Now they can pulse back and forth from low boat to high boat, moving their legs in and out of the hoop as they do so.

FLASHCARDS ON A MAT

I placed my yoga pose flashcards face down on a mat and the kids simply have to blindly choose a card and do the pose.

TOEGA

The kids must pick up fuzzy pom pom balls using only their toes, and place them in a cup.

SUN SALUTATIONS

Let each kid lead themselves through one Sun Salutation, emphasizing moving with the breath.

PLOW BALL PASS

Here they can lay on the mat and they have a ball or block placed on the bottom of the mat near their ankles. They grab the ball (or block) with their feet and do plough pose, carrying the ball (or block) up and over, setting it down behind them near their heads.

It's also really fun to create an action that they must do to get from one mat to another. For instance they could walk in down dog to get around the room. Or they could crab walk in reverse table top. frog jump or hop around in tree pose from one mat to another.

I also love to create a DOWN DOG TUNNEL at the end of the obstacle course. The first one through the course gets into down dog and waits. As soon as another yogi gets to the end of the course, that second yogi crawls under the first doggie and gets into down dog right next to them. Then the third and the fourth, until the whole class is in a side by side down dog, with the last player in the line crawling under everyone to get to the front.

Flashcards on a mat

Hula Hoop Boat Row and Rope Walk

L-Handstand Walk

For a beautiful video on kids doing a yoga obstacle course, check out this blog by Alluem Yoga:

http://alluemkids.blogspot.com/2009/11/obstacle-course.html

peace

It's hard to get the little ones to sit still during Savasana. It doesn't seem to matter how much we moved our bodies around during class, it's still tough to get them to find stillness on their mats. They wiggle a lot. They open their eyes a lot. They talk a lot. 

I ask them to get "floppy" like a stuffed animal, and then I walk around and pick up their arms and legs to see how relaxed they can get their limbs. As I wiggle their arms and legs back and forth, they always crack a smile while trying their best to be floppy. In an attempt to get them in quiet meditation, I tell them calm stories or guide them through focusing on their breath.

Last week I asked them to think about what brings them peace. I asked them to see it in their minds. Maybe it's someone they love or somewhere they go. Maybe it's a taste or a smell or a sound. I let them think on this image for a bit, and when we got out of our resting poses and said "Namaste" we colored. I asked them to please color what they focused on that brings them peace. 

Here is what the sweet little ones drew for me:

Here is a girl with her mom at the beach.

This girl imagined a rainbow.

This little boy said "It's a toast machine!" I said "A toaster brings you peace?" He replied "Yes. It's so warm."

The planets from Star Wars.

Here is a drawing of a little girl laying in her bed at home.

The white, squiggly line is "a bee buzzing to get nectuh."

This is what my daughter drew. The yellow is the sun's warmth touching the ground and that lovely lady there is me.

This little girl said she thought about a fairy in a field of flowers and that made her feel peaceful.

I like to get them coloring after Savasana. It helps me understand what their brains were thinking of while laying down. And really, it just makes me smile to see their imaginations on paper.

yoga jenga

I bought a regular Jenga set, and then, with a sharpie, wrote a yoga pose on each block. I wrote it in English on one side and in Sanskrit on the other. This is great for the older kids who can read well. They like to try and pronounce Sanskrit and usually laugh at the funny sounding words. For my non-readers, I also drew a picture next to the English word, so they could figure it out.

Then, it's just like Jenga. We draw a block, trying not to knock the tower over, read the pose and do it all together. When they do knock the tower over, we have to hold plank for 30 seconds! 

They love this game and it's an amazing way to get them familiar with the names of each pose. We can do over 30 poses in a short time.

musical mats

This game is similar to musical chairs, only I do not take a mat away after the music stops. I think there is enough competition in the world, and in yoga class they shouldn't have to scurry around anxiously trying to find a mat. Plus, the whole point of a kids yoga class is to get the kids doing yoga, not having them "out" and sitting on the side.

So, I set up mats all over the room, each mat with a different yoga pose flashcard. I play loud, fun music and we dance/run/skip/hop around the room, until I pause the music. Then everyone must find a mat and do the pose on that mat. We continue until everyone has done every pose at least once.

They really do enjoy this game. It's a great way to get their wiggles and sillies out, and still get them doing yoga. Plus, they hold the poses for a bit, as I walk around, making small adjustments and praising each kid individually.

yoga abc's

I do not pretend to be an artist. But, hey, look what I made:

These cards have been so beneficial in my yoga classes. There are lots of yoga pose flashcards to chose from out there, if you'd like to buy some, but if not, just cut up some construction paper and make stick figures like I did. :)

So, when I decided that I wanted to build a yoga activity around making letters of the alphabet out of our bodies, I wondered how I would make the flashcards? I had some ideas about how to create some letters. So a 'T' would be easy. I can make an 'A'. But how about an 'M'? And how on Earth would I make a 'Q'? 

And then I found these!

Buy them here: http://rainbowkidsyoga.net/shop.html

These cards are so, so great. I had each student pick four of their favorite cards. They had a lot of fun looking through all of them. And what's better, is that on the Rainbow Kids Yoga website, they give a little paragraph for each letter, explaining how you get into the pose. For instance:

 G – Giraffe; Balance on your bottom, bend your knees slightly and lift your feet off the floor, extend your arms towards the sky and then round your arms to reach for some leaves to nibble on while you curve into a G shape. Giraffes get to practice their balancing skills and improve on their core strength while tasting different leaves in the jungle.

So not only do the kids work their core, practicing this funny shaped boat pose (navasana), but they are creating the letter 'G' with their bodies, engaging their brains as well as their tummies. When they go home and practice, maybe they forget what they did to get into the 'G'. Then they think, "Okay, 'G' is for Giraffe...what was the giraffe doing? Oh yea! Reaching for leaves and balancing on his bottom."

This was a great find for me. I got these beautiful cards and tons of games to go along with the cards.

Here are some of my yogis:

                                     

M is for Mermaid

 Z is for Zebra

 B is for Butterfly

toega

Last week I introduced "toega" to my littles. I walked into the studio and flung these pom-poms all over the place and their little faces lit up.

I found them in the wonderful dollar section of Target. Michael's or Hobby Lobby or any craft store will have them. I placed cups along the studio floor and the kids had to sort them by color, picking them up with only their tiny yoga toes.  

Toega is a fun and easy way to practice balance and it gets them spreading their toes wide, working all of the muscles of their feet. And for the really little ones (maybe in a mommy and me yoga class with toddlers), it's an exercise in color identification. 

why teach yoga to kids?

The benefits of yoga seem to be endless. I find myself falling more and more in love with yoga each day, as I feel and learn new benefits with each practice. Yoga heals and strengthens the body. Yoga teaches us proper alignment so that we may prevent further injuries. Yoga calms the mind and lifts the spirits. When we practice yoga we regulate our glands, boost the body’s systems and allow our joints to move in their full range of motion. It’s just so great! We all should practice yoga!

All of these things that benefit us adults will also benefit our children. Physical strength, learning how to make the mind-body connection, reducing stress...these are things that benefit kids and adults alike. Think of how many peaceful, happy, strong, and healthy little people we could have roaming this planet.

Children today are totally bombarded by stimuli. Technology is coming at them in the forms of images whizzing by on the television screen and a constant noise of cell phones and video games. Extra-curricular activities and pressure to succeed in school leave them stressed out and weary. Children need, perhaps even more than adults do, to get away from this over stimulation and learn to calmly focus while moving their bodies in a healthy way.

A kid’s yoga class will be more playful and silly than a class you and I are used to. The goal is not to get them into the perfect pose, but rather just get them moving. Allowing them to explore a pose and how their bodies feel when they get into it. It is also a time for them to create social connections with each other in a non-judgmental and supportive environment. Yoga will help them release excess energy and promote acceptance of themselves and others. They will also learn basic breathing techniques that will strengthen their practice and bring them peace. Teaching children peace is perhaps the most important lesson we can leave them.