I love visiting schools and enjoy talking to the students about being an author and introducing them to yoga. Recently I spent a wonderful morning at the Paton-Churdan Elementary and Junior High Schools speaking to the students about writing and publishing books.
We also learned some fun yoga poses and practiced them with games. A favorite game was the Mannequin Challenge. At the time this challenge had taken over the internet and the students were so excited to be a part of this sensation.
You can view our entertaining Mannequin Challenge below. The kids were very excited about this and I was amazed at their determination and focus to stay as still as they can. Being still isn’t easy when you are packed in tightly next to your classmates, but when you include some balance poses as well, it is even more challenging! The junior high kids are first in the video, followed by the preschool and elementary.
The school kids definitely rocked this yoga mannequin challenge! The preschool and elementary tried their best. It’s hard to be still! No matter what, everyone had fun!
Go Go Yoga for Kids: A Complete Guide to Yoga With Kids
How to Teach Yoga to Kids With Picture Books:
Learn about the secret power of reading aloud to children while doing yoga poses to help give the greatest benefit to kids. As a teacher and reading specialist, I understand the importance of reading aloud to children while keeping kids mindful, active, and learning to achieve great benefits. When you read aloud to children and combine it with yoga poses, you have children that are becoming mindful, fit, and literate! In this video you will discover some of the best books to read aloud to children and learn how you can easily incorporate movement and yoga poses into these read aloud times. A full kids yoga lesson plan that you can use with kids at home or school will also accompany this video.
Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children:
Children who are read aloud to get a head start in language and literacy.
It increases their vocabulary and opportunity for comprehension practice.
Combine that with yoga and you have children moving and stretching their bodies
Increasing their focus and balance while having fun!
When kids are moving it helps enhance their understanding and retention of what they have learned.
Kinesthetic learning and it is perfect to use with those busy wiggly kids that need to move their bodies during or after those long school days of sitting.
Find your copy of the Brown Bear Brown Bear Kids Yoga lesson plan here.
Let the book come alive by reading with enthusiasm and emotion! I have found the illustrations help children visualize or pretend to become that animal or feel as if they are in the story. When you add movement, the kids will remember the poses and the story even more as they anticipate what comes next.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: Begin as Caterpillar and end as a beautiful butterfly: Kids can transition through the different stages of becoming a butterfly through yoga poses. See how with Go Go Yoga KidsFREE Springtime Transformation lesson here.
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh: Is a fun choice to practice mouse and snake poses with this book. You can be used to introduce the concept of being “quiet as a mouse” for Savasana.
Kids love this familiar book by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. Its repetitive style builds confidence with reading in ages 2-6.
I love the bright vivid animal illustrations and how this book ties in perfectly to kids yoga. Read this book aloud and enjoy this preschool and Kindergarten movement and yoga lesson plan. It is perfect for home or school.
Find your copy of the Brown Bear Brown Bear Kids Yoga lesson plan here.
The book, published in August, instructs parents and teachers how to get children involved in yoga while still having fun.
“I could not find any kids yoga lesson plans anywhere, so I decided to make my own,” said Weis, who now lives with her husband Dave and three kids in West Des Moines. “You picture it being this serious and meditative thing, but with kids it’s got to be active and busy and engaging and fun.”
Weis has been teaching kindergarten in West Des Moines for 17 years since graduating from UNI in 1999 with degrees in elementary and early childhood education.
She’s following in mother Karen and father Jim’s footsteps. Jim North — who Weis says “everyone knows” — taught English in the same room at the middle school for 38 years.
“I knew, even growing up, that I wanted to be a teacher,” Weis said. “My mom used to baby-sit kids out of our house and I’d always organize them into games and create projects.”
The 1995 Jefferson-Scranton High School graduate says she became a certified kids’ yoga instructor a few years ago in Colorado and hasn’t looked back.
“I thought this is what I’m meant to do,” she said. “It has kids, it has yoga, it has lesson plans and games. It all came together, everything that I loved.”
Weis uses superheroes, princesses, dinosaurs and anything else kids are interested in to motivate them to get started with yoga. The kids learn the same poses as adults, but in a kid-friendly way.
“I didn’t want it to be like an adult yoga class, so I took what kids are interested in and made them into yoga poses and made them into lesson plans and themes,” Weis said. “That is what people have loved.”
The book features dozens of photos of kids doing the yoga poses because “when kids see other kids doing yoga, they want to do it too,” she said. Her own children, Megan, 14, Lucy, 12, and Max, 9, are pictured performing yoga poses in the book.
Yoga became a part of Weis’ life while she was training for triathlon events in her 20s. She said she overtrained, and at times became obsessed with her workouts.
“I really didn’t pace myself very well,” she said. “I hit it too hard. But my favorite workouts of all were yoga. It allowed me to slow down and take a step back.”
Weis, who self-published the book to get it on the shelves faster, had the idea for the book two years ago, but really focused hard on finishing in January, she said. She had the help of a cover designer, a copy editor and her husband putting the final product together.
“He’s a technology guy,” Weis said of her husband Dave, a Dunlap native. “I can write all the words, but he was the one who set up the blog and get everything formatted correctly.”
Weis said the benefits kids get from yoga go beyond the physical.
Yoga birthday parties, yoga sessions in school and after school are becoming more and more common.
“Kids are over-consumed with technology and social media now,” Weis said. “Yoga gives them a chance to be mindful and take a step back, plus it’s good for their bodies. I see kids are so used to instant gratification from video games and technology in general. It gives them a chance to get away from that.”
She says “Go Go Yoga Kids” is good for children in preschool through middle school.
“I have a lot of stuff for the young kids, but there’s also some stuff for tweens,” she said. “They’re growing so fast and can be at that awkward stage. Yoga is great for keeping those muscles warm and stretched.”
Weis says she hopes to eventually have the book in stores and libraries across the country.
Checking into NKYC with my new friend, Erin Leech, of Mama Bear Yoga.
Kids Yoga is on the move! The 3rd National Kids Yoga conference just wrapped up in Washington D.C. Nearly 200 yoga teachers, educators, mental health professionals and parents gathered for a weekend of professional development, connecting and inspired.
Inspired and energized we were! Attendees could choose from a variety of sessions based on the topics of yoga in the school, current research, tools to use, yoga as a business and even a teen track.
Donna Freemen of Yoga in My School
Jodi Komitor of Next Generation Yoga
These women, along with many others, have been trendsetters with Kids Yoga for many years. I loved how they were approachable, authentic and friendly they were to all. They not only inspired and empowered us with their knowledge, but they were so complimentary and supportive of one another. More thoughts on this and NKYC to come!
Registration for the National Kids Yoga Conference is already open for 2017. Go Go Yoga Kids plans to be there and is already mapping out possible presentation ideas! Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts. I would love to help you get plugged into the excitement and rewarding journey of kids yoga!
