Yoga Poses for Children: Kids Yoga Lesson Planning 101 With Yoga Themes
Hello and welcome! I am so happy that you are joining us for our Kids Yoga Lesson Planning 101 Training. You are in the right place!
Get All Caught Up Below:
Why you need a Kids Yoga Lesson Plan before you even think about teaching yoga to children.
Part 1: The Welcome: How to engage your students right from the start.
Part 2: Breathing Exercises: Made Relevant and FUN for Children
Part 3: Sun Salutations Made Simple: Connect Movement with Breath
Part 4: The Importance of Active Movement: Get hearts pumping, build strength, and get wiggles out.
Kids Yoga Lesson Planning 101: Yoga Themes for Poses (Part 5)
Congratulations! You have made it to the main part of your yoga class where you can introduce and teach poses to your students. Kids enjoy learning new yoga poses and often get excited about adding new ones to their repertoire.
How to Teach Yoga Poses to Kids
When teaching yoga poses to kids, I have found it helpful to group the yoga poses together by a theme. It is also helpful to only introduce 4-6 yoga poses per class. This really gives children the opportunity to practice the yoga poses and remember them outside of class.
I have found that concentrating on fewer poses in class allows the children to truly focus, pay more attention to correct form and achieve success. They will feel themselves getting stronger, longer and more flexible as they become more comfortable with the poses. Your theme-related yoga poses are also a great way to differentiate and accommodate for the varying needs of your class.
How to Introduce the Yoga Poses
When introducing the yoga poses, it is important to be excited about the poses and build anticipation. This is a great technique and you will have the kids in the palm of your hand and so excited to learn what the next pose will be.
- Gather the children in a circle
- Have some sort of seasonal bag or prop (colorful gift bag, basket, stocking cap, sand pail) that you have placed the 4-5 pose card visuals. I use The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards.
- Call on a child to come and “draw out” the next pose.
- Everyone practices the pose. Discuss what parts of your body you feel working and getting stronger.
- Call on another child to draw out the next pose and practice.
- Continue in this format until all of the poses have been drawn.
- I like to give the students a “test.” Since I am a teacher they find this highly interesting and engaging. I call out a pose that we have learned and the students must get into it as quickly as they can. For younger ages, it is fine to show the Kids Yoga Pose Card to help them find success.
How to Teach Yoga Poses to School-Aged, Tweens, and Teens
After learning and practicing the yoga poses with older students, we will flow the poses together. Our yoga mats are already placed in a circle and I then place the yoga pose cards (that we just learned) in the center in the center in the circle and also order that we will flow. The children really enjoy this and they feel very grown-up.
They are definitely not too grown-up, however, when the Yoga Flow ends and it is time to practice the poses with a Yoga Game! Kids never ever want to pass up a yoga game!
Stay tuned for our favorite Kids Yoga Games in our Kids Yoga Lesson Planning 101 coming up next!
with their heads touching. With their arms at their sides, they raise their feet above their heads to touch to make a giant raindrop.
