Monthly Archives: March 2019

3 Creative Ways to Do Yoga with Toys

TOYS!  What child doesn’t love them?

Puppets, stuffed animals, dolls, toy trains, planes & trucks, the list goes on and on…

I’m sure your child got an assortment of toys for the holidays that they have been enjoying playing with.

But, did you know that toys are a perfect prop for teaching children yoga, focus, and relaxation?

Yoga with Toys

As a yoga teacher, I have experimented with different kinds of props and have found that some of my most popular lessons have been using simple toys to spark a child’s imagination.  I have my very own collection of stuffed animals and puppets which I love using in my classes.

Here are three ways to use what’s in your child’s toy chest or play room to teach your children positive, healthy yoga and movement activities while having FUN!

1) Toys are great for exploring Yoga Poses and Movement.  

Grab your child’s favorite stuffed animals, dolls, trucks or puppets and go on a yoga adventure with them.   A toy can be a wonderful prompt to MOVE and BE like the animal or object which the toy represents.  Bark in Downward Dog Pose, Fly in Airplane Pose, Arch your Back in Cat Pose, Squat in Frog Pose…You don’t even need to be familiar with the yoga poses to enjoy this play time with your child. Just ask your child how a snake, a butterfly, or a car or truck moves and then stretch your body this way or that.  Recently, a parent shared with me that once a week her 2 year who is in one of my preschool yoga enrichment classes would lay out a blanket and her stuffed animals and pretend to be the ‘yoga teacher’!

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2) Toys are wonderful props for developing focus and concentration.

Whenever I bring out my bag of finger puppets, all my students get excited and are ready to explore our yoga poses together.  They all watch and listen in anticipation as each child chooses a puppet from the bag and leads the class in a yoga pose!  Doing yoga with a toy helps children focus while trying some of the more challenging poses.  For example, ask your child to hold the puppet or toy out in front of them or place it on their head when doing a Tree Pose, which helps keep their attention on standing still and steady in the pose.

You can buy a set of adorable plush animal finger puppets for your child on my shop by following this link HERE or clicking on the image below.
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3) Stuffed animals or beanie babies are a fun breathing or relaxation ‘buddy’.

Your child’s favorite stuffie is the perfect companion for breathing exercises or relaxation time.  Place the beanie baby or stuffie on your child’s belly as they are lying on the ground or snuggled up in bed.  Have your child close his or her eyes and breathe in and out, slowly as they give their stuffed animal friend a gentle ride on their belly.  The kids love this!   This breathing exercise can be done right before bedtime so children can enjoy a restful night’s sleep.

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For more creative ideas on using props for yoga, look at some of my other posts:

Fun Finger Puppets as Yoga Props

Imagination Kids Yoga Props

Kids Yoga Props on a Budget

 

 

 

 

 

By: Category: Breathing, Children, Creativity, Family, Fun, Imagination, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Meditation, Partner Yoga, Props, Relaxation, Teaching, Theme Classes, Yoga

Kids Yoga Props on a Budget

Yoga Props and Books are essential teaching tools for kids yoga teachers.

I have written several posts about my favorite yoga props, books and music, but I realize that many teachers who are just starting out may have a limited budget, so I wanted to share with you some of the awesome props I found at my local Dollar Tree and Amazing Savings discount stores.  Yoga props do not need to be expensive to be FUN!

I’ve tried out all these props in my classes over the past few weeks and the children LOVE THEM!!

Of course, Books are my favorite yoga prop!

Books keep children engaged and eager to turn the page to find out what yoga poses they will meet in the story.  The 3 books pictured here worked with different ages.
The board book Hello Lion with the LION puppet attached was a big hit with my younger preschoolers (ages 2 to 3).  I pretended to make a deep lion voice as I read the book and they had fun doing the poses ELEPHANT, MONKEY, TREE, BUTTERFLY, SNAKE and of course the “King of the Jungle” LION!
Mommy, Where are You is also a fun book for preschoolers. It’s about a little MOUSE who wakes up and can’t find his mother.  Each page shows an illustration that appears to be the mouse’s mommy, but is actually another animal. We did the yoga poses of each animal or nature element in the book and the children really enjoyed the idea of guessing which character they would meet on the next page.
The last book was a fun, double-sided book! One side is called You are a Gift to the World and the other side, The World is a Gift to You.  The book is perfect for elementary school age children to reinforce the concept of our connection to the earth and being part of it all.  There are so many poses in the book and it is such a positive message for children to realize their own unique gift  and that the Earth provides so many gifts to us.
Stickers are a favorite prop because what child does not like stickers?
There are a wide variety of stickers available at the Dollar Store in the education aisle.   Children love being able to choose a sticker and lead the class in the yoga pose represented by the animal or object on the sticker.  Stickers are great for animal, nature or transportation theme classes!
Animal Picture Cards are a wonderful visual prompt for yoga.
The cards are an excellent way to teach yoga poses once the kids are familiar with animal and sea creature yoga poses.  Children can each get a turn to come pick a card and then the whole class does the pose together!
Stuffed Animals are another popular yoga prop for kids!
They are plentiful at the Dollar store and the kids love visuals, so they make a great prompt for yoga! You can have each child choose a stuffed animal or create an interactive  yoga story with the stuffies. Stuffed animal are great for relaxation too.  Place the toy on the child’s belly and pretend to give them a ride with your breath!
All these props cost me less than $16!
So, when you are on a budget, make a trip to your local dollar store and use your imagination to find some really awesome props for your classes!

By: Category: Books, Breathing, Children, Creativity, Family, Fun, Imagination, Kids Yoga, Props, Teaching, Yoga