“The Boy and the Blue Moon” 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 

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. (hands at heart)

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
Inside the house the light was warm – house– extended mountain/urdhva hastasana
bluebells – flower pose
trees of the forest – tree/vrksasana
boy across bridge – bridge/setu bandha sarvangasana
lake – paschimottonasana/ seated forward fold, to see what you see in the water
boat – (navasana/ boat pose), row the boat
bathed in a wash of light – warrior III/virabhadrasana III
ran and jumped and tumbled and flew – happy baby/ananda balasana
*I paperclipped together and skipped the rest of the pages.

Animals Yawning
butterfly – baddha konasana
owl –  seated twists, saying “hoo” like an owl on each side
cat/cow 
puppy – anahatasana

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!

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“Splish Splash Ducky” 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

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 – Splish, Splash, Ducky! by Lucy Cousins
duck – malasana and flap arms
rain – uttanasana/forward fold
frog – frog hops with happy “ribbits”
worm – locust pose/shalabasana
bug – dead bug pose, wiggle arms like a bug on back
swan – cobra/bhujangasana with feet to back of head (Don’t worry – my feet don’t touch my head either!)
fish – matsyasana
bird – warrior III/ virabhadrasana III 
funny on tummy – happy baby/ananda balasana
mouse – child’s pose/balasana
butterfly – baddha konasana/bound angle

Song: “The Sun Dance” – Bari Koral

Hoberman Sphere Breathing Ball

Savasana
Song: Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow“

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.

“Kites and Wind” little ones event

This month we focused on kites and wind at our little ones event. We host this event at the library on the second Tuesday of the month and the following Saturday. We also hosted it on that Thursday at an outreach event.

We made windsocks like this post from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. 

They really liked running around the room with them.

We threaded beads onto pipe cleaner kite strings like this post from the Preschool Tool Box Blog. 

We drew the wind in a modified version of this post from Kids Steam Lab.

We blew pompoms through a block obstacle course like this post from Fun Littles.

We tested what the wind will blow like this post from Little Giraffes.

Most of the kids had fun, but some thought the event was a snooze. 😉

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