Are you ready for a new and fun idea that will get kids to listen? The Listening Game is one of my favorite new mindfulness games to use in my kids yoga classes. This simple game works like magic in getting your student’s attention while helping them be quiet and mindful.
I have used this with kids ages 2-16 and it is amazing how it completely calms and focuses them.
This is also a good game to use as a teacher to transition from a loud large group activity to a more calming and mindful time.
This chime is also the perfect size for popping into my kids yoga bag to take to class or in my teacher bag to use at school.
What I Would Say to the Kids: How many of you think you are really good at listening? Children raise hands
Great! We are going to see what great listeners we can be and play The Listening Game!
Sit up nice in tall in your seat with your hands resting in your lap. Now I am going to play a chime. I want you to listen for as long as you can. When you do not hear the chime anymore than raise your hand. Are you ready?
Play the chime once. Notice when the children raise their hands when they cannot hear the chime anymore. They can also open their eyes.
Oh, you are such great listeners AND you look so relaxed!
Have the children take two or three rounds of breath together and then play again. A note from experience, remember to not overplay this game so it will not lose its effectiveness. 2-4 rounds is enough at one time.
It was “Ask the Author Anything” for these 4th-grade students..and they sure did! It is always so much fun visiting schools. We cover it all including; getting ideas for stories, adding pictures and a cover, the publishing process, and if kids can get published. (Yes they can!) I am certain some of them will!
Of course, we always include some yoga poses games as well to help them get fit, flexible, focused while being introduced to the lifelong benefits of yoga.
A Sampling of Student “Ask the Author” Questions:
1. How do you get your ideas?
2. What do you do with your idea to get started? Mind Mapping, revising and editing made easy.
3. How do you add pictures?
4. What about a cover?
5. Where can you put your book when it is published?
6. Can a kid get published?
7. Will you write another book?
Why the Go Go Yoga for Kids E-Store Matters to You:
Now you are able to easily download your Go Go Yoga for Kids books on any device. This means your iphone, computer, tablet, kindle, ipad. Any of these places!
You can also easily transfer your Go Go Yoga for Kids books from device to device.
This is also extra exciting because you are able to easily print out sections that are important to you. You know how much I love writing and putting together kids yoga lesson plans. Now you can easily find which lesson plan you want to use and print it out for your personal use. This is also true for our lesson plan templates, guides and games that are found in our books!
Another great reason to purchase your e-books directly from the author is that it does help me out. You know how kids yoga is my passion and I love being able to get resources and ideas straight to you. When you purchase directly from the author this allows a great connection and helps small businesses such as Go Go Yoga for Kids.
I was honored to speak at the Opening Minds Conference and Expo in Chicago. It is one of the biggest early childhood events of the year and I was so excited to be a part of it. I presented on How to Easily Incorporate Yoga in Your Preschool Classroom with Poses, Games, and Mindfulness Within Your Existing Curriculum.
I may have slightly overpacked, but I had so many props, resources, and ideas that I couldn’t wait to share with fellow educators, counselors, parents, child care providers, and healthcare professionals about the importance of introducing yoga to young children.
An hour and a half can be a long time for a session so I made sure to break it up with some breathing exercises, poses, yoga games and videos that everyone seemed to enjoy. A few favorites were Birthday Candle Breath, Balloon Breathing, how to effectively teach Tree Pose to children and ways to instantly incorporate yoga into the classroom in minutes. We used the Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards for some of the exercises, but any yoga pose cards could work.
One of my passions is definitely helping children get fit and literate. One easy way to do this is by incorporating quality read aloud books along with yoga poses. I took the opportunity to walk through some of my favorite children’s books and explain how to incorporate yoga poses and games with them. Kids love this and they retain what they are learning all the better if they are moving as well.
I so enjoyed meeting the attendees. They had wonderful questions and feedback. It was definitely a joy to be able to share my passions of kids, teaching, and yoga with others.
This is the biggest early childhood event of the year and I can’t wait to be a part of it.
I will be presenting on How to Easily Incorporate Yoga in Your Preschool Classroom with Poses, Games, and Mindfulness Within Your Existing Curriculum.
Get ready to learn how to effectively use yoga with young children through a variety of methods in an early childhood session. This engaging and interactive session is designed for teachers, child care providers, counselors, and those who want to learn the best strategies to get young children involved with yoga in kid-friendly ways.
You will learn characteristics of this 2-6 year old age group and why now is the best time to introduce them to yoga. This session will include breathing and calming exercises that really work with these young children to help them focus and ease anxiety, stress or nervousness. These exercises can be used at school or home.
Discover which yoga poses work best for this young age group. Learn how to easily incorporate these poses into your regular classroom schedule. Get proven classroom transition tips to help children move easily and quietly from one activity to another.
Learn cooperative games that allow children to practice yoga poses, build strength, flexibility, and practice self-control while having fun. These games are perfect to play with any size space and require few props or materials.
Handouts will be given including an illustrated yoga pose guide, lesson plans, and resources.
I can’t wait. It promises to be an amazing event. I would love to see you there.
Find out more information or see ticket prices see here. Take advantage of a discount by ordering 5 or more.
Affirmations and mantras can be an important tool to help children develop positive foundations on which to grow. A positive self-belief system built in childhood will hopefully stay with a person throughout their life. While attending the National Kids Yoga Conference, I got the pleasure of meeting Erin Hurley, an elementary school guidance counselor from Virginia. Erin was also named “School Counselor of the Year” for her school district.
She is the kind of guidance counselor that any of you would love to have your children work with and learn from. Erin has a kind and creative spirit and truly cares about children. Plus she definitely understands the importance of introducing yoga and mindfulness to children so they will have these skills for life.
Erin shared with me how she uses the Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards when she works with students in her elementary classrooms. She has loved using these pose cards with her students as they are visual, age-appropriate, and include simple yet memorable mantras.
Each yoga pose card has a corresponding empowering mantras for success such as “I am strong” or “I am fair and equal.” This ensures that the students are not only receiving the health benefits of each pose, but also the mental and mindfulness benefits as well.
Erin shared with me one incredible activity and lesson plan that she did with her students that I wanted to pass along. This lesson could be done anytime throughout the school year, but would tie in nicely with the beginning of the school year, Thanksgiving or a kindness theme.
Mantras and Mindfulness Kids Yoga Lesson Plan
This lesson would work well with children ages 5-11.
First, brainstorm with the students about positive qualities that they see in themselves. For example being kind, honest, hardworking, caring, strong, etc. Write these qualities on the board.
Next, the students took the “hand template” and wrote qualities that described themselves. They did this by writing around the hand template.
Finally, the students were able to put the yoga poses and mantras for success together to practice and perform. This absolutely made the lesson even more memorable as it ties together so many different types of student learning such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning.
I was honored to speak at the 
