Teaching yoga through a story is great for kids, but it’s even better when you can work with a story that a certain age group of kids are really into. The Very Hungry Caterpillar works wonders for 3 and 4 year olds. The Princess and the Wizard is great for 5 and 6 year olds. Anything by Roald Dahl is a winner for 7 and 8 year olds (Roald Dahl yoga class plans coming soon!) and so for ages 8 up to 11 years – what to do? By this age kids are getting into reading in a much more serious way and they will reel off lists of books they have read and enjoyed. The issue with converting them into yoga stories is their depth and length. We’re trying to fit a 200 page novel into a 45 minute yoga class and the plot lines, characters, twists and turns are what make them interesting to kids. That said, it is possible and I have taken the very popular Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone (the first one when Harry is 10 years old) and whittled it down to a neat 45 minute kids yoga class plan. I have been pretty brutal and cut loads out of it but I think we make up for that with some good fun partner yoga, which is something this age group are great at. I hope you find it useful and let me know how you get on with it.

If you need help with the postures you can always download the Big Yoga Posture Book here which explains 115 poses with instruction scripts, anatomical focus and teaching tips.

Harry Potter is ten years old and lives in Four Privet Drive (house pose), with his aunt and uncle: Vernon and Petunia Dursley and their spoiled and bullying son, Dudley. He always tries to be as quiet as a mouse and stay in his small bed reading books so as not to disturb his horrid family.

On Harry’s eleventh birthday, the moon is in the sky (both sides) and the clock strikes midnight (reaching and pointing straight up). All of a sudden a giant called Hagrid clumps in through the door and delivers Harry a letter telling him that he is in fact a wizard (reverse warrior) and he has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Wizarding and Witch craft (house pose)!

Hagrid takes Harry on a magic carpet to Diagon Alley, a magically concealed shopping precinct in London. Hagrid has brought Harry here to buy his equipment for school. Harry takes big giant steps to keep up with Hagrid who explains how famous Harry is among witches and wizards as “the boy who lived.” The dark lord, Voldemort had killed Harry’s parents but couldn’t kill Harry when he was a baby. Plus Harry is quite wealthy, since a bequest from his parents has remained on deposit at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The bank is run by goblins (witch pose) who make a nosey archway (partner posture – towers or tabletops – in a row to make a corridor to walk in through, one partner at a time, and joining on – into the posture at the end) as Harry and Hagrid enter the bank. Harry withdraws the money he needs to buy the equipment for his first year at Hogwarts.

First they open the door to the wand shop. Harry tries a few wands for size (surfer pose with swishy wand movements) he finds that the wand that suits him best is the twin of Voldemort’s; both wands contain feathers from the same phoenix (dancer pose). For Harry’s birthday Hagrid gives him an owl who he names Hedwig.

On the first day of school, Harry leaves the Dursleys’ home in a taxi (truck pose) to catch the Hogwarts Express from King’s Cross railway station. He meets the Weasley family, who show him how to pass through the magical wall (monkey jumping) to Platform 9 ¾ . The train sets off, Harry befriends Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Harry also makes an enemy on his trip; fellow first-year, Draco Malfoy.

On arrival, the table’s (bridge pose) are set for the first dinner in the school’s Great Hall. Everyone takes a seat (chair pose). The first-years are allocated to houses by the Sorting Hat (house pose). Twinkling our fingers on our heads and faces as the sorting hat announces Harry, Ron and Hermione are in Gryffindor.

They have Potions (sitting up legs crossed, hands on knees and rotate torso one way then the other) lessons with Severus Snape. They fill their cauldrons and stir them one way then the other (other leg), potions bubbling.

They have broom-flying lessons. Harry is pretty skilful flying (other side) on his broom so he becomes the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

There’s a horrid Troll (gorilla pose) who lurks in the toilets at Hogwarts! Hermione is rescued by Harry and Ron from it, so they become great friends.

They visit Hagrid who lives in the Forbidden Forest. full of tall, dark trees. Hagrid is looking after a baby dragon (link thumbs above head and flare fingers – then do lion face with tongue out and eyes wide) and a badly injured unicorn (other side) .

Harry nearly gets eaten by a giant spider but is rescued by a centaur(horse pose), named Firenze, who offers to give him a ride back to the school.

One night they find a huge three-headed dog. called Fluffy. They quickly run and hide (mouse pose). Hagrid tells them that music is the key – it sends Fluffy to sleep!

For Christmas, Harry receives an Invisibility Cloak (partner crescent warriors) that belonged to his father.

Harry, Ron and Hermione discover that the Philosopher’s Stone, which contains an elixir of life is being hidden at the school. Voldemort wants the stone so he can regain full health, kill Harry and take his power back. Harry decides that they must protect the stone themselves.

Covered by the Invisibility Cloak (standing spin), the trio enter Fluffy’s (dog pose) chamber, where Harry sends the beast to sleep by playing a flute (Lord Krishna pose). They lift (woodchopper) a trap-door, and encounter a series of rooms. They tiptoe into the first room which contains a life-sized game of wizard’s chess – the chess pieces come alive – Bishop (stand in prayer and bow), Knight (horse pose – back knee lifted), Castle pose (house pose)

There’s a tunnel that leads to the final room and Harry crawls in alone. Once inside, as Harry stands as still as a mountain in front of the magic mirror, he feels the Philosopher’s Stone drop into his pocket. Voldemort appears in the form of one of the teachers and they battle with magic (flow – Warrior I into surfer into wizard pose into humble warrior – hands plant down coming into downward dog and repeat other side) Voldemort tries to grab the Stone from Harry, but simply touching Harry causes his flesh to burn – he crumbles into a pile of dust (mouse pose).

After the battle, Harry is exhausted and needs to rest. He gets into the comfy bed in the school hospital and folding forward (seated forward bend) to pull up the cosy blankets he lies back on the soft pillows.

Relaxation He dreams of his friends, his mother and father, and as he rests he gets his strength back. Dumbledore explains to him that he survived because his mother sacrificed her life to protect him, the power of love is the best defence against the dark arts. With that we all come back up to sitting with our legs crossed, our hands together at our hearts and our eyes closed to breath in calm, peace and love and breathe out worry, anger and negativity. We repeat this and enjoy feeling centred and at peace with our Self. Namaste

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In this download, there are 11 ready-to-go kids yoga class plans for tweens (kids aged 8 to 12).

It’s a 38 page PDF crammed with tried and tested class detail. Here are the classes included in the download:

Partner Fun!

Children work in pairs to explore yoga postures, learning to balance and support each other.

Yography!

We travel the world, using yoga postures to learn about nature, geography and culture across the continents.

Olympics

The children try group and individual yoga postures to represent the unity and events of the Olympic games.

Yoga for Sports and Athletics

A focus on the physical benefits of yoga for sports, especially to prevent injury. A yoga class with a more adult feel.

The Alphabet Body

We show how yoga helps particular parts of the body, using a fun alphabet-based game.

Building Balance with Yoga

The children explore their balance and practice staying centered when they face challenges on and off their yoga mat. This is about being OK with falling too!

What am I feeling? (part 1)

We consider how yoga makes us feel, trying yoga postures and breathing techniques to notice their effects on our bodies and minds.

What am I feeling? (part 2)

We continue to explore the way certain yoga postures make us feel. Do this class after Part 1.

The Yoga Challenge

A class about working together and building a yoga sequence based on the children’s knowledge and understanding about yoga poses learnt so far.

Shoulder Time

The children focus on their shoulders, releasing tension, building strength and opening the chest for a better posture.

Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space

The children identify and explore yoga postures that link to the five basic elements – Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space.

Wishing you lots of love and much success with your classes!

Jaime xx

Find out more about why I think yoga is important for tweens.

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Here is a lovely kids yoga class plan adapted from the story Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. The aim of the lesson is to help children learn about gratitude and being truly thankful. It works all year round but is especially brilliant at Harvest and Thanksgiving. All the yoga postures are highlighted and if you click through you’ll see a picture of the posture as a helpful guide.

You can download and print the full script by clicking the grab button on the left. If you need to get more familiar with the yoga poses, download the Big Yoga Posture Book or for a more comprehensive understanding about teaching kids yoga come and join our online kids yoga teacher training.

I hope you and the children you teach enjoy this wonderful class.

Warm-up

In honour of thanksgiving, we enjoy bringing the story ‘Bear Says Thanks’ to life with yoga. Let’s get ready for our story by making a special thanksgiving sandwich to take to see our good friend Bear and all of the woodland animals. We lay out the first slice of bread, legs long, touching our toes. Then we spread the butter on top (stretching from waist to toes along the legs singing the butter butter butter song). Now we twist one way and get some honey. Bear loves honey and we make big circles with our arms round one way then the other to make sure to get it right to the edges. Now we twist the other way to get some lovely berries to plop into the sandwich. Plop, plop, plop. Mmm. Now we reach high to get the top slice of bread and put it on top, bending our knees a little if we need to reach our toes. There now we’re ready to go find Bear!

Story

We ride on our bicycles to find Bear all alone in his cave (either house pose or dog pose). It’s very windy – blowing in all directions. Sweeping us down and forwards (mouse pose) then up to the sky (camel pose). Repeat. It blows us from one side (high on knees, reach and lean the right arm overhead to the left placing the left hand on the ground to stabilize) then all the way over to the other side (reach left arm up then overhead to the right, placing the right hand on the ground to stabilize.)

Inside we find Bear, huddled into bear pose, his paws covering his nose, listening to the wind. He is bored, bored bored and he misses his friends.

We sit in front of our big friend bear and cross our legs wondering what on earth to suggest!

Suddenly Bear sits up – his legs wide and outstretched – “I could make a big dinner! A feast I could share!” We think it’s a great idea! And reaching into our backpacks (arms only) we pull out our sandwich to contribute to Bear’s feast. Bear says “Thanks!”

Then he gets up and opens the cupboard door . But as he looks through his cupboard using his big hopeful binoculars, he finds his cupboard is bare. He closes the cupboard door (other side). Then bear walks back to his spot feeling defeated once more. “You’re so very kind to offer this food. But I feel bad with nothing to add.”

Then mouse stops by with a huckleberry pie. And Bear says “Thanks!”

Crossing his legs he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head he declares, “Goodness me! What a delectable pie!” Then he stretches his legs out wide again, leans forward onto his bear elbows and sighs – “But I have made nothing.”

We all hear “Hi Ho!” And see Hare at the door to Bear’s lair – long ears sticking up. Hare has a big basket (bowl pose) carrying a freshly baked batch of muffins!

Hare hurries in, hopping (bunny hops) out of the cold rushing wind. Bear sits up tall and says “Thanks!”

“Your welcome!” says Hare. Then he points to the door.“Here comes badger and he’s got even more.”

Coming up to a crouch position (kangaroo pose), keep the toes tucked under and drop forward onto knees. Our arms are lifted to make paws. To make them badger like, we make two little fists, folding them forward from the wrists (to get a great stretch from the wrist across the top of the hand) “Brrrr!” says Badger as he tromps inside. He sets down his pole and he smiles real wide. “I’m back from a stroll at the old’ fishin’ hole!” Sure enough, Badger lays down his catch – lots of freshly caught silver fish (fish pose) all still hooked to the line. Bear comes onto his knees and bows forward (mouse pose) saying “Thanks!”

Then gopher and mole tunnel up from the ground. Reaching arms forward, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle forward (from mouse pose) and up (into snake pose) tunnelling like mole and gopher! “We have warm honey nuts. Let’s pass them around!”

We sit kneeling up to enjoy the yummy nuts. All of a sudden, there’s a flap (owl pose) and a flitter (owl pose) and a flurry (owl pose) in the den when in flutters owl (owl pose saying Two-itt two-oo!) with raven (option to do crow pose or repeat the owl pose with a squawk up and down) and wren (tweety bird pose). Wren tweets (wrapping arms around our shoulders to make a tweety beak) “We went flying together (standing tall, extend the arms wide, lift the right leg up behind you and tilt forward into flying pose) swooping over houses (house pose). Then we flew through the woods (repeat flying pose on the other side). We landed in a pear tree (tree pose). It was windy, but the trees were strong! You couldn’t blow them over! (Try blowing the children over both sides). Raven adds, (sitting in a crow pose ready crouch with hands planted and up on the tiptoes/balls of the feet) “We have brought pears from the tree and herbs to brew tea!” Ooo. We get ready to brew the tea, sitting with our legs crossed, holding our knees, arms outstretched. We swirl the herby leaves round one way, moving from our hips in a big circle. Then the other way! Round and round.

Sitting with his legs out wide, Bear suddenly says “Wait…!”

He mutters, drawing one leg in, so the sole of his big paw (foot) rests on the inside of his outstretched thigh then brumbles his lips (horse blow) as he folds down over his long leg (head to knee forward bend). He stutters, swapping his legs now, folding down over the other leg (head to knee forward bend), again brumbling (horse blow). On his face he wears a big frown. Bear sits up tall, stretching out both legs wide and he sighs (breathing in, sighing out) and he moans (breathing in, sighing more audibly) as he draws the soles of his paws together in butterfly pose, he holds his claws (toes) and rounds his back, hollowing his tummy and hanging his head down low. He says:

“You have brought yummy treats. You are so nice to share. But me, I have nothing. My cupboards are bare!”

All tucked up tiny and small like a ball (mouse pose) Mouse squeaks, “Don’t fret. There’s enough dear Bear. You don’t need any food, you have stories to share!”

We friends hug him tight (sitting up high on our knees and wrapping arms all the way round)

It will all be alright!

And Bear lifts his head, sits tall and says “Thanks!” with a big smile.

Legs crossed, bottom planted on the mat, we reach forward to lay out our feast in front of us. And Bear takes his seat (chair pose) and we all gather round. Some are seated on one side coming into mermaid pose – legs swept round twisting to look up to Bear. Some are seated the other side (mermaid pose other side) – legs swept round the other way, twisting to look up at him the other way.

Coming to kneel – here we are in a cave in the wood, in a warm bright lair.

We friends feel grateful for our good friend Bear.

We pass around platters. We tweet and we chatter.

And we all say “Thanks!” with our hands in prayer together.

Relaxation

We lie ourselves down and rest for a while. Letting our bodies get lovely and comfortable. As we come to a calm still place our mind wanders and we begin to think of all the people in our life who we are so thankful for. Our families who love us and take care of us. Our teachers from whom we learn so much. Our friends who we laugh with and play. We spend these moments here in our rest, sending special wishes of thanks for all that they do, for helping us be the best that we can. Thanksgiving is the time to celebrate the beautiful world that we are a part of and everyone we know for making our lives so wonderful. We whisper the word ‘Thankyou’ all together. After 3 – 1,2,3 “Thankyou.” Slowly we come up to sit and bring our hands to our hearts. Giving thanks for our yoga today by saying our magic word… Namaste.

Activity

In preparation for the class, print out the following Bear Says Thanks ‘I am thankful for…’ activity sheet. Hand them out with pencils so the children can write or draw in the hearts what they are most thankful for.

The post Bear Says Thanks Kids Yoga Class Plan (*Pay What You Can*) appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Here is the kids yoga class plan for one of our most popular videos on the Cosmic Kids YouTube Channel – Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope.

Inspired by George Lucas’ brilliant first Star Wars film, this is a truly epic class and the kids will love every minute. If you need some guidance check out the video to see it in action:

Click the grab button and follow the steps to purchase and download your copy of this long awaited and exciting kids yoga class plan!

I hope you have a great time teaching this class and do let me know how you get on.

The post Star Wars | Kids Yoga Class Plan appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Here is a great little kids yoga story I recently wrote that works brilliantly at Easter time. It also incorporates wonderful themes around sharing and saying please and thank you, so really can be done any time.

I’ve had kids aged from 2 up to 9 years old enjoy this story, so I’m sure you’ll find it works for you too.

You get a 4 page pdf download of the class plan with all the yoga highlighted. It includes a guided relaxation script and a follow-on activity to extend your class.

Please pay what you can for it and know that all proceeds are put into making the Cosmic Kids episodes and ensuring they remain freely available to kids all over the world.

Click the Grab it button and the download option will appear!

It works best if you have the Big Yoga Posture Book handy to help you know the poses and how to instruct them.

I hope you love it and so do the kids in your classes.

Namaste,

Jaime x

The post Peter Cottontail | Kids Yoga Class Plan (*Pay What You Can*) appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Ten inspiring and easy-to-use lesson plans for a brilliant kids yoga class, based on episodes 11-20 of the Cosmic Kids Yoga series.

This is a 52-page digital download.

All plans are designed for children aged 3-8 (though I have used these stories very successfully with kids up to the age of 12!)

Each class plan includes:

• a warm-up section
• a full story script with yoga postures highlighted
• a guided relaxation
• suggestions for follow-on games
• an extra activity that is relevant to each story.

You will find all the videos for these adventures on the Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube channel, so if you need extra guidance, please take a look.

Adventures included:

• Twilight the Unicorn
• Tommy the Bedtime Turtle
• Fernando the Silver Fox
• Marv the Metal Detective
• Babs the Beaver
• Lulu the Lioness Cub
• Popcorn the Dolphin
• Dodgson the Dodo
• Nelson the Pigeon
• Nibs the Octopus

If you haven’t already, check out the first ten adventures Class Plan Collection here – Take me to the Cosmic Kids Class Plan Collection Volume 1 – The First Ten Adventures

To see what one of our class plans looks like, please download one of our Pay-What-You-Want class plans – Bear Says Thanks.

The post Cosmic Kids Yoga Class Plan Collection Vol. 2 appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Jaime’s Guide to 115 Kids Yoga Postures

You get a Hi-res 125-page PDF packed with instruction and guidance on 115 kids yoga poses, including:

• Full-colour high-quality images showing Jaime in every pose, from Aeroplane to Woodchopper,
• Scripted instructions to help you take kids safely into every pose
• Anatomical focus – the benefits and safety watch-outs for each pose.
• Teaching tips for the 115 postures, so you can make your teaching fun, safe and inspiring.
• Jaime’s ’12 top tips for teaching yoga postures to kids.’
• You can print it out, and also view it on your smartphone, tablet and computer.

NB this is included in our online training course ‘Getting Started In Kids Yoga’.

Grab it

Grab it

The post Big Yoga Posture Book (115 kids yoga postures in-depth) appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Grab this epic kids yoga class plan based on the Disney movie – Frozen. It is an awesome adventure which the kids will love. With it being a 2 hour long film, I have condensed it into a 40 minute – 1 hour long lesson for practicality. To make learning it easier, there is also included a pose summary list which simply lists the poses in sequence.

The children will have lots of suggestions and ideas along the way, so be ready for this to be a highly interactive class. It’s great fun to also play the songs at certain points too as the children love singing along.

In your 6 page printable kids yoga class plan download you will get the following:

Full story script with all yoga poses highlighted
Guided relaxation
Suggested follow-on activity
Pose summary list for quick reference and to help memorise the sequence

To see how the kids yoga class plan works and how the story flows  have a look at the video of the yoga story on the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel. This is also a good way to see what all the moves look like.

It really helps to have a Big Yoga Posture Book nearby as you read through the class plan to help you understand the poses and how best to instruct them.

If you want to learn to teach kids yoga professionally and gain a Cosmic Kids certification read about our online program here.

Get your pdf download by clicking the grab button on the left and following the instructions.

I hope you love it and the kids in your class love it too!

J xx

P.s If you like this class plan, you might also enjoy some of the others we have on offer in the Grab section.

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A super-useful compendium of 24 fun kids yoga games.
These games can be used as part of regular kids yoga classes, summer programs, birthday parties, holiday clubs and in the classroom to promote focus and increase productivity.

Use the Grab It button here on the left to be taken to the download and get the full Yoga Games Compendium now!

The games included are:

1. Airball
2. Football-oon
3. Animal Dip
4. Candle Gazer
5. Yoga Whispers
6. Yoga Statues
7. Namaste/Om Bumps
8. Colouring, Drawing & Mandalas
9. Yogi Says
10. Toe-ga
11. Grandmother’s Yogasteps
12. Pass the Chimes
13. Yog-aboard
14. Human Knot
15. Hula-Hoop Wiggle
16. Keeper of the Keys
17. Mirror Sticks
18. Pamper Train
19. Yoga My Name
20. Sandwich Race
21. Newspaper Balance
22. King of the Jungle
23. Pass the Pulse
24. Tower of Terror

The post 24 Fun Yoga Games For Kids! appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

This is a great kids yoga class plan based on the classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

It works best for the younger groups – around 4 years and under and really helps them understand why it’s good to eat healthily. Another lovely extra touch is to print, laminate and cut out all the food items. I give each child one of the pictures and when the hungry caterpillar has his binge on the saturday we make a big sandwich with each of the children taking turns to show and call out their food picture. Click here for a readymade printout of all the food mentioned in the story.

It works wonderfully in a nursery, pre-school or kindergarten as this story is a well used resource. Also, healthy eating is such a key part of the curriculum at this stage, so teachers LOVE it too! Hope you enjoy it and the kids have fun doing it with you!

In the light of the full moon a little egg lay on a leaf.

The little egg rolls over onto its side, then over onto it’s other side (hugging knees). It can feel something happening, it is beginning to grow (interlace fingers and stretch up in hero pose – sitting on heels).

It’s a stormy evening and the wind is blowing the egg around the leaf, (side stretches from heels, flow back and forward from camel to mouse). Then it begins to rain on the egg (pitter patter rain with fingertips all over face and body).

One Sunday morning the warm sun came up (sun salutation) – and the egg went POP. Out wiggled a very tiny and very hungry caterpillar looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!” he said as he looked from side to side. But he couldn’t find anything so wiggled back to his leaf and fell asleep (mouse).

On Monday the sun came up (reach up “hello sun”) and the hungry caterpillar wiggled out onto the edge of his leaf, looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along came a very happy dog, wagging his tail, who gave the hungry caterpillar one apple.The hungry caterpillar says Namaste and sitting with his legs wide leans forward to eat it all up. After finishing the apple he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty.” But the hungry caterpillar was still…. Hungry! He wiggles back onto his leaf and falls back to sleep again (mouse).

On Tuesday the sun came up (hello sun, hello earth). The hungry caterpillar wiggled out onto the edge of his leaf, looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along came a horse, clip clop, clip clop, who gave the hungry caterpillar two pears.

The hungry caterpillar says Namaste and sitting with his legs in butterfly pose leans forward to eat them up. After finishing the pears he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty.” But the hungry caterpillar was still…. Hungry! He wiggles back onto his leaf and falls back to sleep again (mouse).

On Wednesday the sun came up (hello sun, hello earth step one leg back – beep beep). The hungry caterpillar wiggled out onto the edge of his leaf, looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along came a cat, meow, meow, who gave the hungry caterpillar three plums.

The hungry caterpillar says Namaste and sitting with his legs out long in front of him, leans forward to eat them up. After finishing the plums he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty.” But the hungry caterpillar was still…. Hungry! He wiggles back onto his leaf and falls back to sleep again (mouse).

On Thursday the sun came up (hello sun, hello earth step one leg back – beep beep step the other leg back – hissy snakes). The hungry caterpillar wiggled out onto the edge of his leaf, looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along came a camel blowing rude raspberries! The camel gave the hungry caterpillar four strawberries.

The hungry caterpillar says Namaste and sitting in turtle leans forward to gobble all the strawberries up. After finishing the strawberries he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty.” But the hungry caterpillar was still…. Hungry! He wiggles back onto his leaf and falls back to sleep again (mouse).

On Friday the sun came up (hello sun, hello earth step one leg back – beep beep step other leg back – hissy snakes lift up to dog. – woof woof). The hungry caterpillar wiggled out onto the edge of his leaf, looking for something to eat. “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along came a dinosaur clumping with his big feet. The dinosaur gives the hungry caterpillar five oranges.

The hungry caterpillar says Namaste and sitting in boat pose eats up all five oranges. After finishing them he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty.” But the hungry caterpillar was still…. Hungry! He wiggles back onto his leaf and falls back to sleep again (mouse).

On Saturday the hungry caterpillar was rolling from one side to the other on his twisted twig (supine twists with arms wide). He was moaning; “I’m so hungry. I’d love something to eat!”

Along comes a lion who does a big friendly roar! The lion has brought the hungry caterpillar lots of food. He says Namaste to thank the lion and the hungry caterpillar decides to make one big ginormous sandwich with it all. Sitting with his legs out long, he butters his bread (reaching to toes and back to tummy singing “butter, butter butter!”) Then he twists round side to side as he pops in all the fillings – one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake and one slice of watermelon.

He sits with his legs crossed, leans forward and gobbles the whole sandwich up! Oh dear! That night he had a stomach-ache and he rocked and rolled forward and backwards hugging his knees. He decides to telephone the doctor. The doctor answers and says he will call back shortly. RING RING RING RING! That’s the telephone! The hungry caterpillar answers it (picking up the other foot) “Hello, this is the hungry caterpillar speaking, how can I help you?… Oh hello doctor. Thanks for calling me back. Right. So I need to go to bed and keep off the unhealthy food. Rightio. I’ll do that.” The hungry caterpillar puts down the phone, heads to his bed, lies back and falls asleep.

The next day is Sunday again. The hungry caterpillar wakes up and decides to go and find some healthy food to eat. He wiggles off to a lovely old tree full of delicious green leaves. He climbs up “up we go, up we go, up we, up we up we go…” And eats one nice green leaf. After finishing it he rubs a hand on his tummy and pats his head at the same time. “Mmmm. That was tasty. I feel much better.” Now the hungry caterpillar wasn’t hungry any more, but when he looked down at himself he saw he wasn’t a little caterpillar anymore… he was a big fat caterpillar! (star pose with puffed out cheeks.)

He did some exercises – running on the spot, stretching and swishing like a windmill, jumping and some silly dancing! Then he built a small house, called a cocoon around him. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon (open and close jaw) and pushed his way out (donkey kicks). He was a beautiful butterfly (flutter knees then extend alternate wings/both wings asking the children what colour their butterfly is).

Relaxation

We lie back and fold our butterfly wings around ourselves, placing a hand on our tummy and a hand on our chest. The hungry caterpillar has helped us learn about eating healthy foods. That the food we eat, although it tastes nice in our mouth isn’t always very good for our bodies… Our tummy usually tells us if it’s not good by aching. If we eat natural foods like fruits and vegetables that grow from trees or in the ground our bodies feel good and work very well. When we eat healthy food we grow and become stronger just like the hungry caterpillar grew to be a beautiful butterfly.

The post The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Kids Yoga Class Plan (*Pay What You Can*) appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Perfect for the classroom or bedroom wall, this is a fun way to help your kids learn kids yoga postures.

Now available in English, Dutch, Spanish, Korean, Persian, Italian, German and French!

A hi-res image download showing Jaime doing 31 different named kids yoga postures.

Hit ‘Grab It!’ (on the left) to get your free download. The image is 5000×7100 pixels, which is BIG, so you can print out a poster up to 16.67 inches by 23.67 inches (A2) at 300dpi without any pixelation.

You can also print it out at normal US letter or A4 size. You may notice slightly different margins depending on your paper choice.

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Welcome to the Fairytale Kids Yoga Bundle! A resource for kids yoga teachers.

Included in this PDF download are three popular fairytale stories converted into kids yoga class scripts that work brilliantly for kids aged 2, 3 and 4 years old.

Included in the bundle are the following stories:

• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Three Little Pigs
• Little Red Riding Hood

These are classic kids’ fairytales, brought to life using simple and easy to follow yoga poses.

Each story is written as a yoga story script, giving you the narrative of the story with the yoga poses indicated by the words in a different font to the rest of the script.

There is also a handy pose list at the end of each story for you to keep nearby as you teach to remind yourself of the sequence.

Download our Big Yoga Posture Book for full instruction guidance on every kids yoga posture.

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Five wonderful children’s books adapted into yoga story scripts.

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• The Gruffalo
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
• Aliens Love Underpants
• The Princess and the Wizard

Each story is written as a yoga story script, giving you the narrative of the story and the yoga poses indicated by the words in a different font to the rest of the script. At the end of each story is a script you can use for a guided relaxation to bring your class to a beautiful and calm end.

There is also a handy pose list at the end of each story for you to keep nearby as you teach to remind yourself of the sequence.

These are designed to be used by kids yoga teachers who have experience teaching yoga to children. To see an example (free) kids yoga script, please download The Very Hungry Caterpillar first as a free download.

Use the Cosmic Kids Big Yoga Posture Book as a guide to all the poses, so you feel confident on what they are, what they do and how to instruct them.

All of these plans have been written and roadtested by me (Jaime) in my own classes. I can safely say, the kids have loved them! These stories work best with younger children aged 3, 4 and 5 years old, although kids aged 6 really enjoy the silliness of Aliens love underpants and the Princess and the Wizard.

The post Children’s Book Bundle appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Five kids yoga scripts adapted from movies: Harry Potter, Frozen, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Alice. Written and road-tested by Jaime.

With dramatic plot lines and developed characters, these plans work really well for older kids aged from 7 to 12 years old. Many kids know these movies well, and enjoy reliving them through the yoga.

Included in the bundle are the following movies as yoga story scripts:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

• Frozen

• The Wizard of Oz

• Star Wars – Episode IV A New Hope

• Alice in Wonderland

Each plan is written as a yoga story script, giving you the narrative of the story with the yoga poses indicated by the words in a different font to the rest of the script.

I recommend you use the Cosmic Kids Big Yoga Posture Book as a guide to all the poses, so you feel confident on what they are, what they do and how to instruct them.

As they are feature-length movies, the stories have been edited down to the main events and elements so they fit the timings of a yoga class. This also makes it possible for you as the teacher to learn them. Some of the kids may enjoy filling in the details as you work through the sequence.

There is also a handy pose list at the end of each story for you to keep nearby as you teach to remind yourself of the sequence.

They are designed to be used by kids yoga teachers who have experience teaching yoga to children. If you are keen to learn we have a free crash course as well as a full certification training. Both of these are online and you can find out more at www.cosmickids.com/learn.

All of these plans have been written and road-tested by me (Jaime) in my own classes and I can safely say, the kids have loved them! That said, if you feel you want to adapt any of them to suit you and your students, please go for it!

The post Kids Yoga Classes based on Movies appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Keep your kids yoga classes relevant at big seasonal celebrations with these five festival-inspired kids yoga scripts.

Included in the bundle are the following five stories as yoga story scripts:

• Halloween – ‘Trick or Treat’ (We go trick or treating with a real life witch!)

• Thanksgiving – ‘Bear Says Thanks’ (An adaptation of Karma Wilson’s lovely story about gratitude and sharing.)

• Christmas – ‘To the North Pole!’ (We find Santa and help him in his workshop!)

• Chinese New Year – ‘The Great Race‘ (a lovely fable explaining how the years became associated with different animals in the Chinese calendar)

• Easter – ‘Peter Cottontail and the Tickly Monkeys‘ (We help the Easter Bunny find the missing Easter eggs)

These are the annual events most celebrated by the kids in my classes. I have tested the plans with kids ranging from 3 to 9 years old and they’ve worked beautifully!

Each plan is written as a yoga story script, giving you the narrative of the story with the yoga poses indicated by the words in a different font. There is also a handy pose list at the end of each story for you to keep nearby as you teach to remind yourself of the sequence.

I recommend you use the Cosmic Kids Big Yoga Posture Book as a guide to all the poses, so you feel confident on what they are, what they do and how to instruct them.

If you are keen to learn we have a free crash course as well as a full certification training. Both of these are online – find out more at www.cosmickids.com/learn.

I hope you have lots of fun with your seasonal class plans and wish you all the best with your kids yoga!

Jaime xx

The post Seasonal Celebrations Bundle appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

11 ready-to-go kids yoga class plans designed specially for toddlers and pre-schoolers! Each is themed around topics which are relevant for this age group.

The 11 topics are: Space, Jungle, Farm, Beach, Transport, Carnival, Pirates, Spring, Summer, Autumn / Fall and Winter. 

Each plan includes the following:

• A learning objective
• List of resources
• A pose of the week image
• A themed yoga sequence
• A song with yoga actions
• A craft activity
• A game
• A pose cue list
• A themed picture for the class

There is enough material in each class plan to last an hour – so you can select the segments you want to use based on how long your class is.

These classes work brilliantly when the kids are unaccompanied, but they are also great for ‘family’ or toddler/parent classes too. Whenever you can, invite all parents and carers present to join in with everything: the yoga, songs, games and even the crafting activity. You’ll find lots of group poses and partner moves that a child and parent/carer can do together. The kids love these! Having their grown-ups make a tunnel of dogs for them to wriggle through like snakes is magical and builds proper strength in the adults too!

For craft activities, I have listed the materials you will need. If you plan to offer a crafting segment in a class I recommend you prepare a kit box so you are ready to go.

I hope you find these ideas and plans super helpful! Read my top tips on teaching this age group, and check out my audio recordings of the songs which I used in this class plan collection.

As ever, please pass on any insight you can share with other teachers, as you build your skills teaching this wonderful age group!

Namaste

Jaime xx

The post Yoga Class Plan Collection for Little Ones appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Cosmic Kids Yoga Funsheets: colouring pages, mazes, word searches and craft games – with a focus on creativity, imagination and mindfulness.

Download FREE our 12 ready-to-go kids yoga fun sheets! Perfect for brain breaks in the classroom or at home, each funsheet is themed around one of the characters from our kids yoga adventures!

Download Now!

To take a closer look, check out the sample activity sheet below.

Enough material in each for a 20-30 minute brain break!

Download Now!

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To accompany our new Brain Breaks series – Jaime’s Brain Breaks – we’ve made a free Wallchart for the playroom or classroom.

It shows all 12 of this seasons (2017) brain breaks from ‘Ready to Launch’ to ‘Spidey Superpowers’, and is designed to help you pick the right brain break. It also includes the kids in the fun of selection – and improves their awareness of what they need.

Print it out A4 / US Letter or much larger if you like!

Download Now!

This is a Pay What You Want download – we’re honestly happy to just see it being used, but if you can support Cosmic Kids, every dollar is helpful.

The post Jaime’s Brain Breaks Wall Chart appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

A downloadable poster showing 50 yoga poses – to help kids learn the poses and to encourage yoga.

The poster is FREE – but please do make a contribution to Cosmic Kids if you can – every penny will be invested in new Cosmic Kids content!

All 50 yoga poses are in our weekly series on YouTube, Yoga Pose Universe.

The post Yoga Pose Universe poster appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.

The definitive visual guide to kids yoga poses. A 253 page hi-res PDF download.

Features 220 kids yoga poses, including partner poses and breathing exercises
400+ high quality pose images
Clear, child friendly instructions into each posture
Anatomical focus, benefits and contra-indications for each pose
Teaching tips to make the poses work for kids
A linking index to each pose

For kids yoga teachers, school teachers, parents, home educators, camp organisers, child care professionals, nannies, occupational therapists, storytellers, entertainers and kids themselves!

This is a PDF ebook so it works brilliantly on a tablet, and can be printed.

These kids yoga poses are the foundation of all kids yoga – knowing them enables you to build sequences, create yoga stories and adapt favourite books and movies into yoga adventures.

A goldmine of information on kids yoga!

The post The Big Book of Kids Yoga Postures appeared first on Cosmic Kids Yoga.