Yoga
Don’t be intimidated by the word- your toddler CAN do yoga! And more than likely he/she will enjoy doing the different poses! Just pick two or three at first- not to be too overwhelming. Go through each of the steps of the poses- modeling it for your tot- and be sure to not get frustrated if your tot has their own yoga technique. Remember that the goal of yoga is to relax and energize your mind and body- not leave you stressed out! I recommend purchasing a yoga for kids program to help simplify the pose steps and make this a FUN activity as well- I use the Yoga Pretzel cards and LOVE them!! My wiggly daughter loves the rock pose- who knew she would want to be so still!
Supplies Needed-
– yoga mat or towel to perform the different poses on
– a knowledge of yoga or a learning tool (book, video, activity cards)
Happy Teaching!
I’ve been reading your blog for months now and just wanted to let you know how very much I enjoy it. I always walk away with new ideas and activities to implement with my daughter (and, I’m also a planner so I have several “Home Teacher” inspired stickies in my journal! Ha!).
I left you a little award over on my blog. Thanks for all you do!
Oh, and duh… I was originally going to say that my daughter LOVES yoga! There are a couple of really cute books we’ve checked out from the library and we’ve learned together!
I’ll have to do more research on this! I’ve struggled to find exercise I can keep up with regularly – it’s a major push on my part to exercise in the first place, and then if my daughter doesn’t cooperate, I just get discouraged and quit. I love yoga, but have hardly done it since having her.
I will try this in my classroom 🙂 Where I can find yoga activity cards?
I noticed that there is a picture of Baron Baptiste’s “My Daddy is a Pretzel” in the foreground.
My kids have that book, because my husband owns a yoga studio and their daddy IS a pretzel! 🙂 I didn’t even know that there were cards to go with it.
You probably already know about it, but there is a yoga ABC video for kids by Marsha Wenig that would be great to go along with your alphabet project. Her YogaKids blog is here: http://www.yogakids.com/blog/
Oh! And I made a little display/ interest area for my kids with the “My Daddy is a Pretzel” book with some large wooden beads and pipe cleaners so that they could build people with them and put them in the yoga poses. There is a picture of the display in the photo album at the bottom of my article on organizing learning spaces:
http://www.examiner.com/x-15855-Huntsville-Education-Activities-Examiner~y2009m8d5-Learning-environment-101-organizing-your-space
I didn’t mean to write a book here, I just got excited when I saw this post. 🙂
the yoga activity cards that I use I purchased at Barnes and Noble- but I am sure that they are available in other bookstores as well as on websites such as Amazon.com…. They are a wonderful resource in making yoga easier for little ones! Plus they have some group yoga activities that I did with my second graders a lot as well as some great breathing technique cards- its a great kit!
I have purchased a DVD for Anna – http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Kids-Ages-Marsha-Wenig/dp/B00062DKMM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1250703143&sr=8-2, but haven’t tried it yet. I am all set to start using it once we return from our vacations.