The Holidays December 21, 2007

I can remember being a kid and thinking that the time from Halloween to Christmas seemed to take years! And now I’m realizing that I haven’t made a single post since before Halloween and now it is almost Christmas, and the time seemed like a few days!

So here are some holiday things that I’ve taught for the last few months…

Halloween- Spooky Yoga

I love Halloween yoga! Here are some things we did:

• We talked about bones  and skeletons
• Made scary faces while stretching the muscles in our faces
• Black cats- Meow!
• Pumpkin squats (Sit in squat and make a Jack o Lantern face)
• Gate pose- with lots of Squeaks
• Work as partners back to back and move arms and legs to become spiders

Thanksgiving- Thankful Yoga

There are so many wonderful things to do for Thanksgiving because being grateful for what you have in the present moment is such a huge part of yoga. I always start off a Thanksgiving class with going around the circle to ask what the kids are thankful for (”my parents”, “my cat”, “trains”, “chairs” and lots more things). Here are some other things we do:

• Strut around like Turkeys
• Make apple pies to Kira Willey’s Making Pie
• Table Pose
• Chair Pose

This year I also read I wonderful book recommended to me by another YogaKids teacher, Heather Wurtzle. The book was Thank You World by Alice McGinty.

December Holidays- Peace on Earth Yoga 

I love December and the holidays during the month. I celebrate Christmas, so many of the things that I include in the class are Christmas inspired, but we always do candle pose for the lighting of the  menorah. Here are some other things we do:

• Christmas tree decorating- Kids work with partners. One stands in tree while the other decorates the “tree” with tinsel or garlands

• Pass the present- Similar to hot potato, but when the music stops, the person holding the present comes up with a yoga pose for us all to do
• Star Pose
• Acting out carols- Like 12 Days of Christmas!

I also always talk lots about peace- we send out peace to the whole world  during December. Did you feel it?

So, I know that it is probably too late to use most of these ideas, but save them for next year!

With love and light,

Happy Holidays,

Carolyn

www.sdyogakids.com

Giving the World a Big Hug September 13, 2007

I recently bought a Hugg-A-Planet. It’s a giant stuffed earth. We had so much fun in yoga class with it. It was so inspiring to see each child hug it- it’s like each child could grow up to save our hurting earth… It made me feel better that the world is in these fresh new hands.

Find it on: http://www.peacetoys.com/

We also read Whole World and acted out the song with yoga poses. This book by Chris Corr and Fred Penner has great pictures and changes the emphasis from the traditional religious song of “He’s got the whole world” to “We’ve got the whole world in our hands.” This makes it more appropriate for a public school setting. A wonderful book for empowering children to take action and change the world. This book also has a CD so you can easily act out the song with yoga poses.

Namaste,

Carolyn Clarke
www.sdyogakids.com

A Rumble in the Jungle July 12, 2007

Yesterday I taught a fun class at a summer camp at a Montessori school. The theme was the jungle, and we had such fun romping around like animals. We read Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae. This is a great children’s book about all the different animals in the jungle. We became Elephants, Chimpanzees, Zebras, Giraffes, and more. Lion was especially fun since we listened to the Lion Sleeps Tonight song.

Easter Egg Shakers April 11, 2007

I had a feeling the day after Easter that kids in my preschool class would be hyper from the excitement of  Easter and jacked up on sugar…. So I planned an active class for Monday. As they say, if you can’t beat them, join them!

Brought some plastic Easter Eggs and some dried beans to my Preschool class. The kids filled the eggs with the beans to make musical egg shakers. We shook them as fast as we could, then we practiced shaking them one time, two times, three times, four times, five times. Then we had fun with Laurie Berkner’s I Know a Chicken song. We stood in chicken pose (wings out, strutting like a chicken), and then laid our magical shaker eggs. Then we shook along with the song. BIG HIT! I love using props like this in class. We had a lot of fun, and they were able to practice fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and rhythm.  Once they were able to get out all that energy, we transitioned to some breathing and quieter poses on the floor.

You can buy fancy egg shakers, but I like having the kids make their own. They seem to enjoy it and it is cheaper!

Kid made shaker

Fancier egg shakers for purchase

Have fun!

Namaste,

Carolyn
www.sdyogakids.com

New Music for Yoga for Kids February 9, 2007

I just discovered a wonderful CD that I can’t wait to use in my classes.

Here’s the blurb from CD BABY:

KIRA WILLEY: dance for the sun

http://cdbaby.com/cd/kirawilley

A totally unique album of kids’ yoga songs - with a little doowop, a bit of jazz, and some African tribal music - that’s great to listen to, as well as fun to use with the illustrated booklet for musical family yoga.

I listened to all the samples on CD BABY and it sounds like such a great CD for yoga with the kiddies!

I’ll keep you posted as I start to use it in my classes!