Native to India, yoga is an ancient practice consisting of specific postures. Yoga can be especially beneficial to kids, writes Marsha Wenig of Yoga Journal. Wenig writes that yoga can help kids to develop more body awareness along with increasing their self-esteem and providing a time for deep relaxation. Using wands in a yoga class helps heighten a child's sense of imagination and magic.
Step 1
Have each child seated in a comfortable cross-legged position on a yoga mat. Tell the children to close their eyes and begin to breath in and out in full inhalations and exhalations.
Step 2
Instruct the children to open their eyes. You hold up a wand. Inform the children you will be using this magic wand to help transform each of them into specific animals that you call out with each pose.
Step 3
Wave the wand over each child's head. Have a couple of helpers have wands too so you can each go around the classroom in a timely fashion. Tell the children they are now going to turn into a snail.
Step 4
Show the children what the snail pose, or "child's pose" in yoga looks like at the front of the room. Children will tuck their knees under their chest as they lie atop of their legs. Their arms will be resting along the sides of their bodies with the forehead touching the ground, facedown.
Step 5
Wave the wand to have children transform into cobras. Tell the kids to lie on their stomachs and place their hands under the shoulders. Instruct them to lift their chests off the ground and keep their legs together, keeping their head lifted.
Step 6
Tell children to turn into a downward-facing dog with the wave of a wand. Have the kids stay in the same position but lift their bodies to an inverted "V" as their hands and feet stay on the ground. Inform the kids that dogs do this stretch naturally all the time.
Step 7
Finish class with the children lying on their backs, as if asleep in a deep state of relaxation. Encourage them to make this part of the class a quiet time in which all of their stresses melt away as you and your helpers wave the wands over their bodies.
Tips and Warnings
- You can add as many poses as you would like in your yoga class. Most kids will be able to go for no more than 45 minutes of poses, including the final relaxation pose. Full of Joy Yoga shares adds that you can also give each kid a wand in the yoga class. The kids can take turns telling what animal they will become. After an animal is named, all the kids will tap their heads with a wand and turn into that animal.
- Do not have kids try any poses that may be too advanced and cause injury. Educate yourself on yoga poses and proper alignment before teaching.
Things You'll Need
- Yoga mat for each child
- A set of wands
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