Kid Yoga with Ocean Theme: A Fun and Educational Class for Kids
Are you looking for a fun and educational activity for your kids? Yoga is a great way to help your kids stay active and healthy, while also teaching them valuable life skills. In this article, we’ll share a kid yoga plan class with an ocean theme that’s perfect for children of all ages. This class was designed to be interactive, educational, and most importantly, fun! Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, or a yoga instructor, you can use these lesson plans to teach kids yoga in a creative and engaging way.
Going through Rainbow Kids training in Vancouver and spent a lot of time putting class lessons together. I believes that kids yoga needs to be fun, educational, and interactive. I came up with six different lesson plans, each with a different theme, that I wants to share. The themes are: “In the Garden,” “African Safari,” “Going into Space,” “Going to the Zoo and Farm,” “Going to the Beach/Ocean,” and “Weather and Seasons.” In this article, we’ll focus on the “Going to the Beach/Ocean” theme.
Before starting the class, it’s essential to talk about your expectations. When teaching little kids, it’s crucial to make sure that they understand the rules and expectations. The author recommends keeping hands to themselves, using words, saying “Excuse me,” waiting for their turn to talk, and, most importantly, having fun. The author also suggests setting up the class in a big circle with everyone’s yoga mats overlapping each other’s. This set-up creates a more interactive and community-oriented environment, which is perfect for teaching yoga to kids.
Warm-Up
To start the class, I recommends singing “Rub your hand” by Karma Kids Yoga. This song is a great way to get kids excited about the class and to help them get in the mood for yoga. After singing the song, it’s time to do some warm-up exercises. The author recommends doing movements like shoulder rolls, neck stretches (move head like yes and no), arm circles, and spine movements in flexion and extension. You can also add standing twists, standing swings, and side bends. The author suggests warming up to “Octopus’s Garden” by The Beatles.
Poses with Theme
To get the kids ready, you can start by pretending to dress up and pack all the beach gear needed. Everyone can pretend to dress up for a day at the beach, including bathing suits, sunglasses, hats, flip flops, sunscreen, and of course, bringing along buckets and shovels, beach balls and toys, beach towels, blankets, umbrella, water, and snacks. Once everyone is dressed and packed, it’s time to start the yoga poses.
- Easy Pose: Start by sitting cross-legged, looking out at the ocean.
- Beach Umbrella – Mountain Pose Variation: Stand tall with your arms reaching up, palms together, and your fingers pointing to the sky. Imagine that your arms are the poles of a beach umbrella.
- Swimming – Warrior 3 Pose: Warrior 3 is a pose that involves balancing on one leg while extending the other leg back behind you. For this pose, you can pretend to swim with your arms as you balance.
- Windsurfing – Triangle Pose: Triangle pose is a pose that involves standing with your feet hip-width apart and then reaching one hand towards the ground while raising the other hand towards the sky. For this pose, you can make a whooshing sound like the wind through your sails.
- Beach Chair – Chair Pose: This pose involves standing with your feet together and then bending your knees.
- Jellyfish – Standing Forward Bend (Sway your arms like a jellyfish)
- Sandcastle – Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Pretend you are a castle)
- Harbor Seal – Cobra Pose (Flap your arms like a seal. Arf, Arf!)
- Shark – Shark Pose (Lay flat on your tummy, with arms clasped behind your back) Sea Turtle – Turtle Pose (Come onto your hands and knees, bring your arms and legs in, and tuck your head under your arms)
- Fish – Bow Pose Variation (Lie on your tummy, bend your knees and reach back to hold onto your ankles, lift your chest and legs off the ground)
- Sea Gull – Pigeon Pose (Make the sound of sea gulls squawking)
- Urchin – Child’s Pose Clam – Seated Forward Bend (Arms forward as if you are closing up like a clam)
- Fishing Boat – Boat Pose (Rock on your buttocks like a boat rocking in the water)
- Anemone – Flower Pose (Balancing on your buttocks, sway gently like an anemone in the ocean waves)
- Crab – Table Top Pose (Waddle like a crab)
- Sea Otter – Happy Baby Pose Dig a Hole (Standing Forward Bend to Extended Mountain with imaginary shovel)
- Starfish Stretches (Arms, legs, and head are starfish arms. Sit down, open legs in a V. Stretch your arms overhead to one side, then the other side, stretch forward, and then stretch backwards until you are lying on your back.)
- Kelp Forest (Lying back, arms and legs in the air, wave them with the current.)
Shell Meditation (Pass around shells and listen to the sound of the ocean)
Games
- Jump the waves (Imagine you are jumping over waves staying on your yoga mat or have two kids hold the ends of a long piece of blue material for kids to jump over)
- Beach ball game (Pass the ball around the circle with your arms, then lying down with your feet.)
- Write beach stories from starter sentences like “I like the beach because…”
- Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ U.S.A.” will play, as we surf from warrior 2, to extended side angle, to peaceful warrior. We may jump off our boards if we see a shark (aka locust pose) or a dolphin.
- Row partner boats and bloom a group flower, while enjoying “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers.
- Whale breath with L shape straw and marble
- Under the Sea activity, the kids put on their wet suits and went scuba diving. They got their strength and swam or crab walked through the ocean finding treasures and gold. As they moved consciously through the room they found their treasures and then once they were finished, we met back in our circle. Within the circle, we shared what we found on our scuba adventure.
Songs
- Down by the bay from Rafi, album Baby Beluga
- Octopus’s Garden from The Beatles, album Abbey Road
- A Yogi went to Sea from Haris Lender, album Namaste’n Play
- Wipe out from The Surfaris, album Wipe out
- Surfin USA from Dean, album 100 Years of Surfing
- The sea from Morcheeba, album Big Calm
