yoga for children
Fun on the mat
Here’s a range of poses you’ll be familiar with from
adult yoga, with some ideas to bring them to life so
they work brilliantly for kids. By Jaime AmorHow to do
YOGA
- Surfer pose
Standing with your feet wide, bend your front knee and spread
your arms out wide as you surf the waves dude. Whoosh! We can
scissor jump our legs to swap sides or jump to face the other way
to surf backwards because we are so good at this.
Works just as well for skateboarding, snowboarding or even
hover boarding for those yoga adventures set in the future. Kids
feel really confident and cool in this pose and it strengthens their
legs and opens the chest and hips. I recommend singing a bit of
Beach Boys’ Wipeout as you do it. - Boat pose
Sitting on our bottoms, we lift up one foot, then the other foot, now one
hand and look...no hands! Give me a wave!
Kids are delighted when they can hold themselves up in this pose –
initially they will often roll onto their backs – but after a while, practicing,
their strength increases and one day – yes - they can hold themselves up. - Camel pose
We start by kneeling, staying low on our heels or coming up higher.
Then we put our hands round to our lower back and press our bottom
forwards, lifting our hearts to the sky, looking up we blow a great big
raspberry, just like a rude camel.
This pose stretches the entire front of the body and strengthens
the back. Kids have a tendency to hold their breath sometimes in this
pose (like adults), so encourage breathing by blowing a raspberry.
Camels do have a habit of spitting after all – so rude. This is also
good for kids who have been hunched over desks. - Aeroplane pose
We come to our knees and take our arms out wide. We drop down onto one arm
and wave at the sky. Then we bring our foot in front of our knee and shoot our back
leg out to the side, and we go neeeoooooow! First one way and then the other.
A beginner side plank in adult yoga. It’s definitely one of the more complicated
poses to get into for kids, but if you break it down it’s fine. Kids get a huge sense
of achievement in this pose. Start high on your knees, arms wide. Place your hand
down, organise your feet and lift your hip up. Don’t forget to make a neeeooow
sound for your aeroplane too.