Puppets work especially well in yoga class. Even the shyest child will engage with a puppet and they are a valuable way to introduce topic work or to vocalise feelings. Puppets are great for asking questions, for injecting humour, and for providing a ’safe’ place to interact. They are also wonderful at bringing stories to life and can be found in all shapes, sizes, and themes. It is best to choose puppets with a welcoming face, who can become a confidant, amabassador or friend. The key to being a good puppeteer is to make the audience believe the puppet is alive by looking at the puppet when talking to it, using gentle movements, and having the puppet display emotions.

• happy: mouth open while rocking side to side
• sad: head faces down/hands wipe tears
• shy: look up slowly , then away slowly, repeatedly
• worried: glance quickly back and forth
• angry: head tilts to one side away from puppeteer  
• tired: make the puppet yawn or move slowly

Aruna Kathy Humphries, of Young Yoga Masters, has these suggestions on using a puppet in kids yoga class from her experiences with Mr. Moo Moo.

Mr. Moo Moo: In case you haven’t guessed Mr. Moo Moo is a cow. But he is a very special cow because he loves yoga. He’s a black and white puppet that I’ve had for about 10 years.

 When I introduce him he hides his face in my neck (he’s shy). He often whispers things in my ear and then I’ll ask the kids, “He wants to know if you are kind?” “He’s wondering if anyone will grab him, he doesn’t like that.” If people are sitting quietly he will come over and whisper in their ear. If they are doing a yoga pose he may sit on them, under them, or go through them. He likes to wake kids up from their relaxation too.

If they are not quiet or doing the pose he doesn’t come. Great incentive to get kids (even 11 year olds) to pay attention and do what we’re doing.

Aruna Kathy Humphries is a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor whose teachings and life has been influenced by Tulshi Sen. She can be found on her website Young Yoga Masters.

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Summertime is for playing outside. These kids recently took their yoga out of doors and played with various props (rocks, statues, and benches) found along a river. The inspiration came from the gorgeous First Nations themed statues by Stewart Steinhauer found beside a local river: eagle pose, then bear walk. From there exploring some nearby boulders was a logical next locale for some yoga poses: tree pose, dancer, camel, rock the baby, downward dog, and lizard on a rock. Finally double boat on a park bench before heading off to the library to find some more great books for summer reading.

eagle pose

bear walk

tree pose

dancer pose

camel pose

rock the baby pose

downward dog

lizard on a rock

double boat pose

Be inspired to do yoga wherever, whenever the mood strikes. The park, the playground, the botanic garden, on the beach, or at the cabin…get your yogi on and strike a pose, or two, or ten. Happy summer!

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Guest post by Sarah Herrington.

Bringing out a bag of colorful soft feathers adds instant excitement to yoga class.   Feathers allow kids to see the breath, add a fun twist to bird poses of any kind, and make for some fun yoga games!  Feathers can even make savasana more special.

Pranayama Practice

Even the youngest of yogis can become more aware of breath and the connection between breath and emotions.  Simply holding a feather in front of your nose during kid-pranayama practice (which might consist of Bunny Breath to energize or Take Five Breath to calm down) makes breath visible.  Try blowing soft enough to move the fluffy part of the feather and then hard enough to move the stiff part of the feather.  Can you see your feather move, fast or slow, depending on how you’re breathing?  How does “fast” breath make you feel?  How does “slow” breath make you feel?  Practice Ujjayi breath by holding the feather under your nose and keeping your lips sealed like an envelope.

Floating Feather Game

Celebrate the power of breath by playing this game with yourself or a friend.  Using only your breath (no fingers or toes), keep your feather afloat.  Don’t let it touch the floor!  Try playing a little feather-volleyball with a friend.

Find the Feather Game

“Find the Feather,” is an intuition game.  Invite one yogi to be the “seeker”, and ask her to hide in the corner of the room, with no peeking.  Then, hide the feather under another yogi’s mat. Invite the seeker back and ask her to guess where the feather is hiding.  Talk about what it means to “go with your gut” and use your intuition.  You’d be amazed how many times the yogi will find the feather on the first or second try!

Bird Asanas

Feathers make learning our bird poses even more fun.  Hand out feathers when working on Eagle pose or Flamingo.  Let the kids be inspired to feel the source of their asanas even more fully given the feathers.  Decorate your pigeon with a feather or two or allow your swan to ruffle its feathers in movement.

Savasana

Feathers are great to use during savasana/ relaxation.  You can give your savasana-students “Feather Massages.”  As always, ask kids if they want to be touched.  (I have students put a thumb up in the air during savasana if they want an adjustment or massage.)  Lightly move the feather across the third-eye area.  Kids will lie really still in anticipation of a feather massage, so this helps in savasana management!  You can also gently place a feather on the belly or chest during savasana so there is an awareness of how breath effects the body when it enters and leaves.  You may even want to place several feathers around each relaxing yogi and lead the class through a “Bed of Feathers” guided visualization.  All of these techniques keep young yogis more still during savasana time.

Let your imagination soar as you and your students invent even more ways to use feathers in yoga class!  Even hanging some feathers in the yoga space can act as a constant reminder of this important, but invisible, part of the yoga practice.  Breathe deep, and let the feathers fly! 

Sarah Herrington is a full-time kids and Vinyasa yoga teacher in Manhattan.  For the past several years she’s taught 25 kids yoga classes a week in the public school and charter school system in NYC.  She has completed trainings through KarmaKids Yoga, MiniYogis and YogaEd, along with the training of teaching daily.  Her kids classes are infused with the joy and fun of yoga, and her Vinyasa classes with the power of intention, mindfulness, and breath.  She can be found online at: http://www.sarahherrington.com

YogaInMySchoolTV presents Kids Yoga with Stuffed Animals.

Today we’re here with Greer.

“Hi, I’m Greer. I’m 5 years old.”

She is going to show us how you can use stuffed animals to help you with your yoga poses. She has three stuffed animals beside her, so we are going to do three different poses.

The first pose we’re going to do is “Cat pose” and there is our cute little kitty cat. To do cat pose…

The next pose we’re going to do is “Downward Dog.” There’s our puppy dog. Lovely. Now, again we’re going to make a table with our body…

We have one last pose for today. What’s our pose Greer? “Lion Pose!” This is Greer’s favourite pose. To do lion pose you can start…

So that is how stuffed animals can help kids do yoga. I hope you have enjoyed our video today. And we’ll sign off with…”Namaste.”

Guest post by Karen Gilmour

Hula Hooping is also a great opportunity to teach children about heart rate. As hooping is a cardiovascular activity, have the kids take their pulse before and after hooping so they can see the way a constant rhythmic movement gets the blood flowing. Incorporate pranayama to slow down the breath even while moving. Take a deep breath to 5 rotations of the hoop and exhale to 5 rotations of the hoop. See how slow you can get the breath to go. 

Add some non-competitive group games to the mix:

A parachute is an ideal prop to involve a large group of children, teens and adults in cooperative, non-competitive activities and games. These games help reinforce turn-taking and sharing as well as develop listening skills, gross and fine motor skills, and coordination. 

Yoga Poses with Parachute

Space children evenly around the edge of the parachute. Perform various yoga poses while holding on with one or two hands. Some fun poses include: mountain pose, tree pose, warrior I and II, dancer and chair pose.

Popcorn

Place a number of balls (pingpong balls, tennis balls, beach balls, etc.) on top of the parachute. Everyone makes waves with the parachute and bounce the balls like popcorn. See if you can keep them all on the parachute or, alternatively, bounce them all off.

Mushroom

Everyone crouches down on the ground holding the parachute. On the count of three everyone stands up and raises the parachute above their heads. When the instructor says “Go” everyone brings the parachute down behind them to the ground and they sit under the parachute on the edge. You can tell a joke, riddle, or story while under the parachute.

Cat & Mouse

Pick two kids to be cats and two kids to be mice. Cats stay on top of the parachute, crawling trying to find the mice, who are crawling under the parachute. All other children are holding the parachute making waves to conceal the mice. Once the mice are found, it is time for new cats and new mice. Remind the cats that pouncing will end their turn.

Shark Attack

Chose 2-4 lifeguards and 2-4 sharks. Have the remaining children sit on the ground with their legs extended under the parachute and make waves with the parachute. The sharks crawl under the waves and try to drag children into the sea by pulling gently on their feet. When a child feels a shark attack he/she must yell for a lifeguard to save him/her. If the lifeguard gets there in time they can pull them out from under the parachute and they remain shaking and making waves. If the shark is successful the child becomes a shark. Remind children to not pull legs or arms very hard and to be careful under the parachute to avoid crashes.

The Grand Ole Duke of York

A song with actions

The Grand Old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill (Parachute Up)
And he marched them down again (Parachute down)
And he marched them to the left (Walk to the left)
And he marched them to the right (Walk to the right)
And he marched them up (Parachute Up)
And he marched them down (Parachute Down)
Oh what a silly sight (Shake the parachute really fast)

The Yogainmyschool.com Yoga Games page has a complete listing of fun and interactive games that will take your yoga class from good to great!