Teaching kids about gardening helps plant the seeds for self love and peace.

This week we explored  a gardening theme in my yoga classes.  Since the children have been learning about Nature and how things grow, it seemed like a great way to connect everything we have been learning through an interactive story.  We began in circle time by sharing what grows in their gardens at home.

Then I introduced the story:

Are you ready to put on your gardening gloves because we are going to get messy in the soil!  

First we cut the grass with our gardening shears.  Next I taught them PLOW POSE so we could get the soil ready for planting.  The children really enjoyed moving their legs in plow and then rolling back up to a seated position.  We were now ready to dig a hole in the soil with our shovels so we could plant our seeds.

Let’s pretend that you are the little seed in the soil. 

I had them come into CHILD’s POSE like a seed.  I went around with my rain stick to make the sound of the rain as I watered the “seeds”.  I asked them to feel what it would be like to grow and then peek out from the earth.  The little plants began growing and taking in the light of the sun to grow taller into TREE POSE.  We also grew into pretty FLOWERS.

I asked the children what else we might find in our garden and they came up with some of their favorite yoga poses including BUTTERFLY, RABBIT, BIRD, and FROG, as well as some very creative ideas, such as ladybugs, grasshoppers, ants and snails and spiders.  We all had some laughs crawling, wiggling and hopping around like insects!

Let’s go inside and wash up!

We sat with our hands on our shoulders and “washed” our dirty clothes in the washing machine while making a swooshing sound and then “dried” them in the dryer, while rolling our arms in a circular motion.

After a long day of gardening, we were ready to relax in SAVASANA and I guided them through a visualization of them sitting in their gardens, looking around at what they had planted and taking in the sights and smells and sounds in their GARDEN!

I ended class with a song called In My Garden, that my friend Scott Massarky had created in collaboration with some children for a Peace Garden Mural Project.  It’s a beautiful and catchy song that all the children loved and by the end of class, they were all singing along!  To find out more about Scott’s amazing project, stop by my blog tomorrow because I will be posting a video of the song.

Stop and smell the flowers.

I even brought a live gerber daisy to my first teacher yoga classes this week.  I placed it in the center of our yoga mat circle and told them it was a reminder that we are planting some new seeds by nurturing ourselves through yoga and relaxation.  It was so rewarding to be able to provide some tranquility in the middle of a busy day for these preschool teachers and educators.

You can find more fun Nature Yoga Themes and ideas in some of my previous blog posts here:

Earth Day Yoga Theme 

A Rainbow of Colors     

Be Like a Butterfly     

Spring is in the Air