“Rockabye Baby” bedtime yoga storytime

Opening – How I explain the rules of yoga storytime: stay on your mat, and keep your hands to yourself.
(Skip to my Lou –  from Jim Gill)
Clapping hands, one and two
Clapping hands, one and two
But if my hands were covered in glue
I’d stick to the glue, my darling
(hands in Anjali mudra, or prayer position)

Extend and Stretch
Frere Jacques
Extend and stretch (sit in sukasana – easy seated pose, or crisscross applesauce- and do seated side bends)
Extend and stretch
Twist and turn (seated twists)
Twist and turn
This is yoga, (hands overhead on “this,” then bring to prayer position on “yoga”)
This is yoga
Om sweet om, (hands in prayer, bow forward)
Om sweet om
Source: I got this from Kids Yoga Guide teacher training, but here is another from Be Grace Yoga 

star – five pointed star pose
sun – bring arms overhead in a circle
moon – standing side bends, both sides
day is done – uttansana/forward fold
Source: Oceans of First Grade Fun

The Moon Shines
The moon (bring arms over head) is shining all around.
It shines on land (standing side bend) and sea (standing side bend other side).
It shines on cars (dandasana/staff pose, pretend to drive car).
It shines on boats (navasana/ boat pose.) 
It shines on you and me.

Crown, Heart, Tail. I saw this when I observed a Kids Crave Yoga class. Ask the kids where their head or crown is. Then where is their heart. Then tail (or where their tail would be). Repeat. Shake up the order: Heart, tail, crown. Tail, tail, crown, heart. Go faster and faster, and then slow it down. I love that these movements correspond to the 1st, 4th, and 7th chakras.

Open the Book
Arms, legs, both
Close the book. Open the book. Turn the page.
Start seated with arms stretched out in front of you, palms touching. To “open the book,” stretch the arms wide. To close it, bring them back together. To “turn the page,” open just the right arm and close it, then the left arm and close it. Repeat “turning pages” until the kids giggle. Repeat the whole sequence using legs instead of arms. Then try arms and legs together. 

Book – Rockabye Baby by Jane Cabrera
rockabye baby – rock n roll pose
Robin – robin’s breath
butterfly – baddha konasana
owl –  seated twists, saying “hoo” like an owl on each side
spider – crab walk
snake – cobra/bhujangasana
mice – child’s pose/balasana
rockabye baby – happy baby/ananda balasana
*I paperclipped together and skipped the rest of the pages.

Forward folds
Forward folds are very calming and grounding. Here we moved from standing to sitting to folding in ourselves for even more of a centering effect.
– uttanasana
– paschimottanasana
– baddha konasana with fold

Savasana
Song: Kira Willey’s “When You Sleep” 

Peace begins with me
Hold both hands overhead. On the word “peace,” touch the thumbs and pinky fingers together. On the word “begins,” touch the thumbs and ring fingers. On the word “with,” touch the thumbs and middle fingers. On the word “me,” touch the thumbs and pointers. Repeat this four times, the first time loudly and hands overhead. The second time, bring the hands down a little and speak a little softer. The third time, bring hands lower and whisper. The last time, bring hands to knees and speak words silently to self.
Source: Kids Yoga Guide Teacher Training

Namaste!

Yogibrarian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

“There’s NOTHING to Do!” yoga storytime

Opening – How I explain the rules of yoga storytime: stay on your mat, and keep your hands to yourself.
(Skip to my Lou –  from Jim Gill)
Stomping feet, one and two
Stomping feet, one and two
But if my feet were covered in glue
I’d stick to the glue, my darling.

Clapping hands, one and two
Clapping hands, one and two
But if my hands were covered in glue
I’d stick to the glue, my darling
(hands in Anjali mudra, or prayer position)

Are you Ready for Yoga? 
Are you ready for yoga?
If you’re ready, then stomp your feet
Stomp your feet and make some noise.
Let’s stomp our feet and make some noise
And do it really fast
Then stop. Stretch your feet up, up, up
And down.
Repeat with arms then both. 
Source: Next Generation Yoga at the National Kids Yoga Conference

Song: “Crazy Monkey” – Kidding Around Yoga

Open the Book
Arms, legs, both
Close the book. Open the book. Turn the page.
Start seated with arms stretched out in front of you, palms touching. To “open the book,” stretch the arms wide. To close it, bring them back together. To “turn the page,” open just the right arm and close it, then the left arm and close it. Repeat “turning pages” until the kids giggle. Repeat the whole sequence using legs instead of arms. Then try arms and legs together. 

Book – There’s NOTHING to Do! by Dev Petty
Swim – shalabasana/ locust pose
Eiffel tower – extended mountain/urdhva hastasana
Rabbit – hop in circles, then paschimottonasana/ seated forward fold
Cat – I was going to do cat/cows here, but the kids all started pretending to lick their toes.
Owl – seated twists, saying “hoo” like an owl on each side
Sniff the mud – puppy pose/anahatasana
Empty your mind – sukhasana/easy seated pose/crisscross applesauce

Song: Kira Willey’s “Where is Your Breath?“

Hoberman Sphere Breathing Ball

Savasana 

Peace begins with me
Hold both hands overhead. On the word “peace,” touch the thumbs and pinky fingers together. On the word “begins,” touch the thumbs and ring fingers. On the word “with,” touch the thumbs and middle fingers. On the word “me,” touch the thumbs and pointers. Repeat this four times, the first time loudly and hands overhead. The second time, bring the hands down a little and speak a little softer. The third time, bring hands lower and whisper. The last time, bring hands to knees and speak words silently to self.
Source: Kids Yoga Guide Teacher Training

Even younger siblings enjoyed the storytime today!

Namaste!

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“Colors!” little ones event

For January, we decided to play with colors! We held this event at the library on a Tuesday morning, at an outreach event on a Thursday morning, and back at the library on a Saturday morning.

We purchased these river stones from a generous grant from the CO State Library.

I love that this mom put the colors into the color wheel and was asking her child, “What do yellow and red make?” before placing the orange stone in between the red and yellow ones.

We “walked the line” like this post from Hands On as We Grow.

We painted with ice cubes like post from Easy Peasy and Fun.

This boy thought it was fun to use all the colors at once.

We used our fingers to paint on foil like this post from Sand in my Toes.
 

Some people made prints of their color mixing.

We made tie dye coffee filters like this post from Kitchen Table Classroom.

We sorted colors with stickers like this post from Busy Toddler.

 

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