Jungle Story from My First Yoga makes learning yoga fun and easy for pre-schoolers.

I was thrilled to read and use in #kidsyoga class Abbie Davies most recent contribution to yoga books for kids. Building from her delightful first book My First Yoga: Animals Poses, Abbie now takes us on an active adventure through the jungle in search of a monkey.

Attracting and keeping attention throughout with the colorful, uncomplicated illustrations, readers are asked if each animal they meet along the way is a monkey. They respond ‘No’ and tell us what animal it is (lion, flamingo, elephant, etc), then perform the accompanying pose. The three step instructions for each yoga pose keep them simple enough for even the youngest yogi.

From one animal to the next, children are invited to ‘March, March, March’ while seated. Ingenious! Kids love watching the train of explorers grow as each new animals is added, smallest to tallest. They don’t even realize that they are building mental and physical health and wellness.

From a literacy and learning point of view, the deliberate rhythm and repetition found in the book are ideal for emergent readers and young children. This provides wonderful opportunities to echo and practice language skills, building a firm foundation of ability and understanding.

Kudos to My First Yoga on producing another sweet, vibrant and well thought-out children’s book that improves strength, balance, flexibility and focus. I’m looking forward to your next addition to my #kidsyoga library.

Here are two coloring pages to accompany the book: Lion  and Flamingo

How to Enter the Give Away

We’re giving you four ways to enter and win a copy of My First Yoga: Jungle Story.

1. Leave a comment below about your favorite place to go for a yoga adventure – already been there or hoping to go someday
2. Like My First Yoga on Facebook - let me know you did this in a comment
3. Share this giveaway on Facebook with an @yogainmyschool.com mention – limit one per day
4. Share on Twitter with an @DonnaKFreeman tag – limit one per day

Contest closes May 25, 2012 at 9:00 pm MDT

Winner will be contacted via e-mail and their name will be posted. You’ll have 24 hours to claim your prize before another winner is chosen. Winner’s snail mail address will be needed to mail you your prize and will be shared with My First Yoga for administrative purposes only.

Get your own copy of the Jungle Story on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Disclaimer: I am in no way reimbursed for this review. Product was generously provided for the review. The opinions expressed here are completely my own.

Related posts:

1. Elahi Yoga Resources Ideal for Preschool Yogis Meet Buzz. "Buzz is a curious little bee" and he...
2. Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle Soars Inspired by Ryley's song about eagles, Flying Eagle encourages children...
3. The Pet Store: Interactive Kids Yoga FlipBook Enjoy imitating animals found at a Pet Store - kittens,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Adaptive yoga for children with special needs is a fabulous resource for parents, aides, teachers, physical therapists, OTs and more. Yoga is available to everyone and is easy to adapt to meet individual needs and requirements. It is a powerful form of physical and mental self exploration with tremendous benefits.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you develop and engage in yoga classes for those with special needs such as autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, FASD, Down syndrome and more.

To learn more register for the Yoga for Children with ADHD training webinar (May 8, 2012) for tons of tips to develop focus & attention. One hour packed with fabulous information, plus a live Q&A. CLICK HERE.

1. Focus on Fun: Approach yoga with a sense or curiosity and play. It’s fun to move your body, see what you can do, explore the world. The benefits of yoga are profound but children will lose interest if its not fun and joyful.
2. Engage with child friendly themes: Build yoga sessions around topics that interest children. Maybe its superheros or princesses, the jungle or a trip to The Pet Store. Yoga can also be used to reinforce classroom themes and provide a kineasthetic learning modality. This allows children to improve their health while increasing their understanding of the themselves and their world. See Dinosaur Yoga, Shape Yoga and Bug Yoga.
3. Provide challenges & repetition: Challenges are important to help children grow & push themselves. For many children with special needs standing on one foot (Tree Pose, Dancer Pose) is challenging. However as they practice this skill (repeating often) they become better at it until soon they have no problem. This works for all skills including relaxation and breathing exercises. The first time you may only be able to engage the students for a few moments. However, as you persist, repeating often, the children will gain valuable physical, emotional and mental skills.
4. Encourage with positive feedback: Focus on what the children are doing right and reinforce it . i.e.: “I love your downdog.” “You’re really good at sitting quietly and listening.” “Wow, you’re great at balancing on one foot.” “What wonderful yogis you all are.” “Thank you for your happy participation in class today.” With children its so important to focus on the good and not worry too much about what is incorrect form, as long as it is not hurting themselves or others.
5. Teach breathing & relaxation: In our hectic world it is vital to know how to calm, center and soothe. Yoga is a valuable mind-body tool which will help alleviate anxiety and stress.
6. Keep yoga sessions short & ability appropriate: For many children their attention span maxes out at 5 minutes, often less for younger ones and those with special needs. This means lots of different activities to engage interest. Yoga is ideal because there are so many poses, each one an activity in and of itself. Keeping little ones engaged for 20-30 minutes is possible but you do have to be creative, energetic and focus on fun.
7. Use props and visuals: Visuals, such as flash cards, stuffed animals, books, plastic figurines, etc., help students stay on task, provide visual support, and kids love the opportunity to pick from the bag/card deck to see what pose is coming next. They also provide opportunity for turn taking and reinforcement of appropriate social behavior.

Enjoy this video from Spiral Movement Centre to see many of these tips in action with a group of six special needs youth.

Related posts:

1. Successful Adapted Yoga for Youth with Special Needs An innovative adapted yoga approach is proving highly successful in...
2. Yoga for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Discover how yoga helps individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder....
3. Yoga as a Therapeutic Aid for Children with Cancer It is heartbreaking when children are diagnosed with cancer. Yoga...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Teaching Shapes with Yoga

Using yoga as a tool to learn shapes is fun, kinaesthetic learning at its best.

Children are able to become the shapes in various forms and sizes, using their hands, their bodies and their friends. This is an ideal way for children to experience and explore the world and move from non-verbal, physical understanding to abstract, mental comprehension. Performing shape yoga helps children grasp, internalize, and retain concepts in a creative and informative manner. In addition, using yoga to teach shapes improves communication, cooperation, problem-solving, creative thinking, analysis, observation and other skills key to success in school and life.

Learn Shapes Easily with Kids Yoga

The booklet, Shapes: A Kids Yoga Class, is ideal for pre-school, kindergarten and elementary school classes. I have taught this class with children aged 2-12 in schools, day cares, kids and family yoga classes, and at yoga summer camps. There are lots of ideas for various ages so use what works best for your group.

Have fun and play shape yoga today!

Shapes: A Kids Yoga Class

Shape yoga makes learning playful, novel and enjoyable: exactly what young children love. The 15 page booklet is packed with ideas on how to create shapes using yoga including mudrās (hand gestures), individual, partner and group poses, breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques, and a guided visualization. There are also numerous additional resources (games, music, crafts, books, flashcards) to support your shape yoga experience. Have fun and play shape yoga today!

Price: $7.93

Shapes: A Kids Yoga Class includes mudrās and poses for:

• circle
• diamond
• triangle
• star
• crescent
• rectangle
• zig-zag
• heart

Additional resources:

• Yoga Games including – What Shape am I?, Lost My Shape, Shape Tumbling, Shape Patterns, Star/Black Hole
• Music suggestions
• Numerous links to crafts, printables, worksheets, mandalas
• 10 Children’s literature recommendations
• Guided Visualization (perfect for savasana)
• Shape Flashcards

Related posts:

1. The Pet Store: Interactive Kids Yoga FlipBook Enjoy imitating animals found at a Pet Store - kittens,...
2. Fun Kids Yoga Videos Now Available Yogainmyschool.com is thrilled to offer three downloadable kids yoga classes....
3. A Day at Kids Yoga Camp Children are often intrigued by the idea of yoga camp....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Kids Yoga Paradise of Pets

Yogainmyschool.com is thrilled to announce the release of The Pet Store, an interactive Kids Yoga Flipbook.

This flipbook is a wonderful way to share the joys and benefits of yoga with kids. Enjoy imitating animals found at a Pet Store – kittens, puppies, parrots and more – using yoga poses. With engaging full color photos and detailed pose instructions little yogis will be captivated and eager to participate in this child friendly yoga practice. Visiting the Pet Store will never be the same.

Enjoy this audio version of My Favourite Colour Guided Visualization - text accompanies corpse pose.

If you’re looking for a hardcopy, a PDF version is also available HERE for only US$1.97.

Discover how to teach yoga using children’s picture books during our upcoming teacher training webinar: Yoga for Literacy Pt 3: Ohmazing Children’s Literature, Tuesday, Jan 17, 2012, 9:00pm EST/6:00 pm PST.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the Instructor’s Guide for The Pet Store filled with additional information on the what, why and how of using thematic yoga adventure stories when teaching yoga to kids. You’ll also get monthly tips and updates on all the fabulous Yogainmyschool.com resources.

Related posts:

1. A Day at Kids Yoga Camp Children are often intrigued by the idea of yoga camp....
2. Fun Kids Yoga Videos Now Available Yogainmyschool.com is thrilled to offer three downloadable kids yoga classes....
3. Thanksgiving Playlist for Kids & Teens Yoga Class Bring a smile to your face and joy to your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Kids yoga classes are different from adult yoga classes. Before you decide to become a kids yoga instructor, or start doing yoga with your class at school, you’ll want to become familiar with these 8 dirty truths about teaching yoga to kids.

1. There will be tears – The trigger could be being overtired, or not getting to lead the game, or feeling overwhelmed, or that somebody ran into them during Yoga Tag, or they are frustrated at not being able to do their favourite pose precisely when they wanted. Tears are part and parcel of kids learning about their emotions and how to handle life. After school yoga classes are especially prone to this response as kids have already put in a full day of learning, may not have had an adequate after-school snack (low-blood sugar often causes emotional melt-downs), or may simply need a little TLC whereas the rest of the class wants to burn off excess energy.

2. Classes are noisy – Laughter, chatting, roaring, barking, singing, energetic chanting and more are part of a yoga class for kids. Once a Grade 5 teacher asked me how to get her students to be quiet during yoga. My response: “Don’t.” Kids need to express themselves using all their senses and they will at every opportunity. I believe that happy noise is productive to learning. One rule, however, when the instructor talks everyone else listens. That way explanations and instruction can be given, and then activities can be fully interactive. So have fun, make some noise!

3. You will be interrupted – Imagine half the adults in your yoga class expressing out loud the first thought that comes to mind every time the teacher begins to explain a pose or activity. Imagine being half way through a story only to be asked, “Can I go to the bathroom?” Imagine hearing all about someone’s fish that died on the weekend, a favourite TV show, the type of cake that was served at a friend’s birthday party, or the nasty comment that Mommy said to Daddy when he came home late from work…again. Now you are at a kids yoga class.

4. Classroom management is an essential skill – You will need to possess some classroom management skills to keep Bobby from constantly playing with the gong, Sue from cuddling with her best friend, Joey on task, and Beth from using her yoga mat like a sled. Kids generally know how to behave but will take advantage of any opportunity for chaos. Every kids yoga instructor needs to find their own style of classroom management so that the environment stays conducive to learning and growth. Remember you are in charge.

5. When you mess up, you’ll be told– Adults are generally rather polite when instructors make minor mistakes, stumble over their words, or fall flat on their faces. Kids – not so much! They love pointing out your shortcomings, faux pas, and inconsistencies. Instructors have two options: 1) achieve perfection 2) develop a sense of humour. Since perfection is a far way off for me, I find laughing about my blunders a lot more fun. In addition, the way in which adults respond to error helps kids to see how to handle their own mistakes in positive, life affirming ways.

6. Classes are similar to herding cats – Each group has a variety of ages, physical, mental and emotional abilities, and maturity levels. Add to that the fact that kids’ attention spans can be measured in minutes and you have an interesting challenge on your hands. Establishing a class routine and making sure the themes are kid friendly will lengthen the amount of time kids will spend on any one given activity. Kids yoga instructors, however, had better always have a few fall back activities & yoga games in mind to keep everyone engaged and having fun.

7. It’s not about you – Kids love classes which focus on THEIRinterests. WebKinz, Hannah Montana, Star Wars, Creepy Crawlies, Princesses, Spiderman, and more all come to yoga class. When the instructor incorporates a yoga inspired activity which plays off the students’ favourite things then you know you’ve got a great thing going. As well each holiday from Valentine’s to Halloween provides fodder for fun. So don’t be surprised if you spend time wondering how to incorporate leprechauns or superheros into your next yoga class.

8. Props, props, & more props– For an adult yoga class most instructors use a mat, an mp3 player, and if you are lucky an eye pillow. Iyengar classes will add a strap, a block, a blanket, and possibly a chair. For any given kids yoga class, take that basic list and add books, puppets, feathers, scarves, pompoms, parachutes, stuffed animals, musical instruments, hula hoops, card decks, hoberman spheres, rocks, balls, bean bags, craft supplies, colouring sheets, and more. Be sure to have some storage space available.

So there you have it: the inconveniences, traumas & reality of teaching yoga to kids.

There is a flip side however. If you take pleasure in providing tools for kids to be happy and healthy the rest of their lives, enjoy genuine sharing, approach life with curiosity and creativity, want to end each class with a sense of satisfaction, and love to receive spontaneous hugs, then teaching yoga to kids is for you.

Be sure to subscribe (RSS or e-mail) to Yoga In My School to receive fantastic content to keep your yoga classes for kids and teens fresh and interesting. If you are on Facebook, become a Fan of Yogainmyschool.com and receive additional links and updates.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.