Kids and family yoga teacher, Camille Busson Thompson, shares some helpful tips for encouraging children to practise yoga, and have fun, during these weeks away from school.
Now that we are all at home it’s a good time to put in practice the tools of yoga to keep calm, release energy and cultivate a positive mindset bot for us and our children. More than ever they need connection and practising yoga together can bring us closer in a different way. Yoga for children is definitively different than what your usual adult class looks like. If you are not sure about where to start, here are some guidance on how to create a fun and engaging home yoga practice with your kids.
Create a dedicated space and time
- Set a practice routine: decide what will work best for you. Once a week or daily? In the morning or before bedtime?
- No phones (intentionally turn your phone off in front of them: they know now they get your full attention)
- Depending on the age of your children make the practice shorter (20 min) or longer (45 min)
Bring tools to your practice
- Use props, music, songs and stories. They love it! See below my favorite list of props*
Educate while you play
- Bring in facts about anatomy, animals, geography, maths (how many triangles can you see in trikonasana?)
Get in the head space
- Make sure you switch off the parents and activate your inner child to connect; if you need set golden rules before with boundaries (like no jumping on the table, do that before).
- Be flexible (don’t correct the pose unless they are hurting themselves) and be ready to be led by their imagination. They can teach us so much. And most important: enjoy yourself!
Idea for a sequence at home
- Start with some mindful breathing with the chime
- Then share about how are you feeling or what you would like to explore (animals, countries, adventures…)
- Use cards to build a sequence of 5 to 10 poses; take turns to teach the pose to one another
- Game (describe a pose and they guess what it is, musical yoga statues…)
- Story time in savasana and relaxation
- Gratefulness ritual and closing with mindful breaths with the chime
Connect with a group
- Join us live. We are offering yoga classes live, 3 times a week, from our home studio, 3.30 – 4.15pm
- Mondays: 4-6 year-olds
- Wednesdays: 7-10+ year-olds
- Fridays: family yoga
My favourite kids’ yoga props
Chime:
- You can use a singing bowl or a chime when you start and end your practice. You can take a turn with who is using the chime
Eyes pillows:
- These can be a great tool for relaxation either placed gently over the eyes or on the belly to bring awareness of breathing from the abdomen
Hoberman sphere:
- A structure that resembles a geodesic dome and it is fun for children to use for understanding the movement of the breath. I encourage to take a deep breath before sharing something
Yoga cards:
- Children love to see pictures of yoga poses so these cards work as great visual props. A fun activity is to have your child choose a card and then allow them to teach that yoga pose. Children love to be the teachers and it also makes them very mindful of how to get into each pose
- Enchanted Wonders A-Z cardsby Ayala Homossany
- Yoga pretzels by Tara Guber and Leah Kalish
- Mindful kids Whitney Stewart and Mina Braun
Music:
- Sun salutations with “Dance for the Sun” by Kyra Wiley or “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles
Books:
- Stories for relaxation: Relax kids – the Wishing star by Marneta Viegas
Games:
- Musical yoga statues
- Mandala coloring as a mindfulness practice
- Pompom toes: pickings marbles or pompon only with their toes while listening to music
Click her to view our online schedule of classes, including Camille’s kids and family yoga classes.
