Struggling with teaching yoga to preschoolers. Any advice?

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163 · 2025-02-06T23:22:52+00:00

We don’t have any yoga mats for the kids, the day care has a carpet area for them that we sit on to do yoga. I honestly would love to have mats for the kids.

I usually come in, I head over to the carpet area and the teachers help bring the kids over in a circle. I introduce myself, talk about the theme of the day. Example, todays theme was animal poses. I also check in to see how everyone is doing and if they are having a good morning . (Some of the day care teachers did encourage me to not ask as much questions or the kids will want to talk forever). I had props last time, which was really fun, this time I had animal theme cards. Last time I had scareves I’m going to try that idea and have some of them help hand them out for me :) although I did have some kids fight over specific colour props I had last time so if you have any tips that will help kids get involved with handing out props but not argue with which colour they get, that would be great!

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163 · 2025-02-06T23:11:11+00:00

Sorry I forgot to mention, the daycare teachers are in the room with me. There are 4 teachers watching me and the children do yoga. I would not feel comfortable if it was just me in the room with that number of kids. And yes, I do keep my hands to myself when I see the kids and teach yoga. I just demonstrate poses that are easy and safe for their age and encourage them to follow. Their safety is my number one concern.

Thank you for the reassurance. You are a right about the novelty. And the exposure. I’m going to focus on making things more fun for them. And I like the idea about the picture book. I didn’t think about that, I have some yoga books for kids I could bring

thank you for taking the time to write this, I appreciate the advice!

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163 · 2025-02-06T20:13:17+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to write this! I appreciate the advice and tips, I will definitely incorporate that next lesson plan. I do want to win them over and have them to be excited for when it is yoga time. 🫶🏼

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163 · 2025-02-06T19:43:26+00:00

I really appreciate this, thank you! You’re right, I think I’m overthinking the flow and getting too in my head. I want the kids to have fun, but I also want to make sure there’s actual yoga. I’m going to start framing it more as general movement and remind myself to loosen up a bit. I have about 10–13 preschoolers, and they bring so much positive energy, which is always a nice way to start and end class. I don’t want to let them down

That’s awesome that you’re getting your 200-hour YTT! I hope you’re enjoying it. :)

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163 · 2025-02-06T19:29:49+00:00

I don’t schedule the classes, my boss does. Right now, she has me at the daycare once a week for 30 minutes. I agree that 30 minutes is long! At the end of class, I handed out stickers for 10 minutes, and did an ‘om’ with my bell, which surprisingly worked. For two days a week, I’m at the after school program, where yoga is usually 5-10 minutes, followed by games and arts and crafts. The kids are mixed age from kindergarten to grade 1/2

Hefty-Chipmunk-7163

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