Kids Yoga

Why get a 200-Hour Yoga Certification As A Kids Yoga Teacher

How can a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification help you as a Kids’ Yoga Teacher?

If you want to level up in your kids’ yoga teacher career, you might have considered registering with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher (RCYT).

Yoga Alliance Requirements for Kids Yoga Teachers

To register with Yoga Alliance as a RCYT you need these two training requirements:

200-Hour Adult Yoga Teacher Certificate (with an RYS)
95-Hour Children’s Yoga Teacher Certificate (with an RCYS)

Plus these Teaching Requirements

Has at least 30 hours of teaching experience in children’s yoga since completing training with an RCYS

Yoga Alliance sets standards for Yoga Teachers to voluntarily meet.

You can see by these requirements, you do not need to have your RCYT designation to teach yoga to children. If you did, you’d never be able to get the 30 hours of experience.

5 Reasons People get the RCYT Designation:

5 Reasons to get the RCYT Designation explained

To feel proud of having the highest most recognized qualification for children’s yoga teachers.
To deepen your understanding of yoga with both the 95 our children’s yoga training and the 200 our adult yoga training.
When the children you teach become tweens and teens, you can give them a more age appropriate yoga experience.
To get discounts on your insurance and other younger related perks only available to those with the qualifications.
So you can become a children’s yoga trainer and open your own yoga school with yoga Alliance.

Consider the 200 Hour Training

The trainers talk about what happens in this training and the doors the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training can open for you as a Children’s Yoga Teacher. We will be the lead trainers for the upcoming Certification starting in September.

You can watch the replay here:

Yoga Alliance’s online training provisions extend until Dec. 31, 2023. This gives you enough time to get your 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification over the next year.

Registration is now open for the 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification. Check out all the details here:

Become a 200 Hour Trained Yoga Teacher

5 Activities for Kids Yoga Summer Camps

It’s finally summer! A perfect time for a Kids Yoga Summer Camp.

I remember the first time I offered a full day/full week kids yoga camp, it was not what I expected.

The biggest learning curve was not the yoga part. I had taught a lot of kids yoga, it wasn’t hard to think of activities.

No, it was sorting out the washroom routine! There were no public washrooms at the playground so if one child had to go, that meant the end of the playground visit for everyone.

If you’re planning a summer camp for kids, don’t forget to plan these details and if you also want kids yoga ideas, we’ve got that covered here too.

Mini Training Highlights: Summer Camp Activities

Here are some of the key takeaways from the topic of Kids Yoga Summer Camps from our free mini-training that happened in June 2022:

There are many wonderful activities that take too much time for a regular kids yoga class so camps are the perfect time for them,
Choosing an activity that is age-appropriate is key! We talked a lot about the age for each activity.
A one week camp with 10 kids can be a good cash injection, you just have to make sure you don’t burn yourself out.

Check out my 5 Favourite Camp Activities and the discussion around them in the video replay in the June Free Mini Training because some of you might be looking for activities to do during your camp.

These 5 activities will enhance your camps. Some are of my favourites because with a camp you have a lot more time to do activities that you can’t fit into a one hour class.

Preview: Kids Yoga Summer Camps

Here’s a preview of the video with the first 3 activities from our YouTube channel:

Watch the full video in the June 2022 replay in the free course here.

5 Kids Yoga Activities to Enhance Your Camps this Summer

1. Chakras

If you’re doing chakras for children, try presenting them over a series of classes.

If I was teaching the chakras to children, I would limit this to a yoga studio. That’s because if you’re doing chakras in a school or a daycare, they may be a little too esoteric, some people might mistake it for some kind of religious teaching. You just don’t want to have any problems in that department. I really recommend this for a private camp, yoga in the park, in a yoga studio or in your home studio.

Here’s what the activity could look like if presented at a camp from Monday to Friday:

Monday: What are Chakras (see April 2022 Mini-Training for Lesson Plan). Introduce the concept of the chakras.
Tuesday: The Lower Triangle (Chakras 1, 2 + 3)
Wednesday: The Heart Centre (4th Chakra)
- You can include all kinds of social-emotional learning and empathy lessons into that one lesson plan.
Thursday: The Upper Triangle (Chakra 5, 6 +7)
Friday: Your Chakras are your talents, how will you use them? For those who have the workbook from the chakras for children training, you can do use the questionnaires in those worksheets. Or the kids can reflect on which of the talents are associated with the chakras

Watch the April 2022 Free Mini Training – Chakras for Children here.

Consider getting the 4 hour Chakras for Children Certificate here.

2. Mandala Activities

These Mandala activities can take a while to complete so they are great for camps.

This activity requires some big paper, some stamps, and stamp pads.

One of my colleagues tried doing this at home but she said her mandala turned into an oblique shape. The secret to stamping a mandala is very similar to why we meditate. It about starting in the center and moving from the centre to the outside.

If you start at the outside, trying to make a circle, its will be a lot harder to make it look even the way a mandala does.

The idea is that you meditate you check in with yourself, this is what my meditation teacher used to say to us. If you want to love yourself, the way you do that is to know yourself.

We start in the center and then from there we create our vision for our life based on what we want to achieve and what we can do. Whereas if you’re always trying to create your life from what other people are telling you to be, that is a very difficult existence because it’s really hard to please everybody.

We should create a mandala just like meditation, from the inside to the outside.

Then you can move this activity into yoga by making a group yoga pose in Mandala shapes as pictured in the image above.

3. My Song

The My Song activity is where you ask the children to share a song that is meaningful to them. Each child can say their song and talk about why they like that song. Then everyone can listen to the song.

When I started doing the My Song activity, I actually had an iPod!

My Song - Kids Share Why They Like Their Favorite Songs - part of the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training

One bonus of this activity is it’s a great way to discover songs to add to your music playlists. I don’t listen to pop music very often so this is one way to find out the songs that are popular with children.

When it comes to music, I use a lot of playlists when I teach classes, to sort the music by the mood.

When I’m teaching classes I’ll have relaxing songs, warm-up songs or songs with the moves built right into them. When the time comes and we’re ready to relax, I can go to the relaxing songs playlist and find a song.

A little back story about the My Song activity, I did this for the first time when I was in high school and one of my teachers did it with our class. I still remember people’s songs to this day. It was a nice way for us to get to know each other in the class.

People chose all types of songs so not only did it expose us to different genres of music that we might not listen to, it also gave everyone a way to talk about something that was meaningful to them without it being too risky.

4. Eye Pillows

This is a very simple activity that can be done a number of ways.

When I have a lot of time we sew eye pillows in class with a needle and thread and rectangles of material. We sewed an outer pillowcase that we can wash and an inner pillow that we filled with rice.

The class of students, mostly over six years old, really enjoyed it. They were amazed that they can just make their own thing.

I remember one camp we did sewing, and I helped a student sew up a hole in their sock. They were both amazed and happy that the sock was fixed.

When I have the time, I like to sew with kids, but if I don’t there is another option. You can buy socks from the store and use fabric markers to draw on them to make a colourful pillow case. You have to set the drawings by putting the sock in the dryer or pressing with an iron.

Kids Making Eye Pillows using socks filled with rice and Pillow Cases coloured with fabric markers. - part of the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training

Then you fill the inner sock with rice and tie the end with an elastic.

You can incorporate scents if it is appropriate, like lavender or other herbs, or essential oils, to add to the eye pillows. Make sure to check first if that’s okay with the kids because not everyone likes scents. I would advertise the use of scents in the class description so there are no surprises. ikm

You can use the eye pillows for the rest of the week. There are more activities with the eye pillows in the Inclusive Yoga Certificate.

5. Yoga Names + Names

We developed the Frog Yoga Alphabet especially to help keep kids busy during kid’s yoga and yoga camps. You can print and play all kinds of games with them.

Sometimes people think a Yoga Alphabet is just for children learning the alphabet, but with a little imagination, those letters become words and the words become games and stories!

In this activity, we used the Frog Yoga Alphabet to spell children’s names. Every letter has its corresponding pose and children can colour different letters each day.

We also do yoga for the letters.

In the picture above, we had an afternoon camp that was about three hours. Lauren finished colouring her letters and we also did the yoga poses. Then we came back to colouring and do another person’s name.

Lauren stapled her letters in the corners after she coloured in the pictures. She got to take home a name banner that day to put on her wall.

I like Lauren’s idea for a banner. I had been stapling the poses like a book.

If you were in a studio where you could hang up all the names and leave them up throughout the week, you could inspire others with the activity.

Then, when kids arrive they could to their own name, or a friend’s name, and do all their poses as a warm-up.

Kids Yoga Summer Camp

Yoga and fun go hand in hand. So when you’ve got the extra time in a Yoga Camp let these activities inspire you to enhance your camps.

Watch the full June 2022 Free Mini Training here or click the button below.

watch the Kids Yoga Summer Camp – jUNE 2022 free mini training

The Science of Mindfulness

The May 2022 monthly mini-training was so interesting we decided to put it up on YouTube for everyone to see. Check out The Science of Mindfulness with guest Parampreet Singh here.

Parampreet has been involved in meditation communities for over four decades meditating, writing, storytelling, and teaching.

He created the Meditation Questions Podcast and the Science Meditations Podcast as a place for those interested in meditation from a scientific perspective.

Discover how meditating can affect our brain and improve its functions.

Video Highlights:

00:00 – Intro
01:39 – What is Mindfulness?
04:30 – History of Mindfulness
11:36 – Mindfulness and Contraindications
16:55 – Recommended Reading
18:32 – The Brain Changes
31:07 – The Science and Mindfulness
34:43 – 3 Important Terms

Recommended Listening

Science Meditations Podcast with Parampreet Singh

Meditation Questions Podcast with Parampreet Singh

Free Monthly Mini Training

Get the presentation notes and find more great talks like this one at the Free Monthly Mini-Training

Structure for Teaching Adult and Tot Yoga

Let’s talk about family yoga, more specifically, adult and tot yoga.

I taught an adult/tot yoga class for over a decade at a community centre. Back then it used to be called Moms and Tots, fortunately, we’ve learned to name this class in a more inclusive way. I’ve seen this class called Adult and Tot Yoga, or Big Yogi, Little Yogi, or any of the other creative names you can come up with.

When?

The class took place in the afternoon, for many attending the timing was after naptime and before the school pickup time. It was 45 minutes long and the goal was for parents/caregivers and their children to enjoy yoga.

This timing meant that children who attended were either home-schooled or were too young to go to kindergarten. All the kids could walk, and they were under 4 years old.

Planning a Series with the Seasons

Each session included about 8 – 12 classes, they were planned around the seasons:

1 sessions from fall till around Thanksgiving
1 session after thanksgiving to December holidays,
1 session from January to spring break,
1 session from spring to the last week of school,
We didn’t run during the summer (which I liked).

What to Focus on in an Adult/Tot Class

Over the years I had opportunities to try different teaching methodologies for each session. One series I focused on getting the children moving as much as possible. Another session I included more time for children to watch the adults do as much yoga as possible.

Over the years I taught almost every combination and focus.

Each style had its pluses and minuses and to this day, I don’t have a favourite. Each parent had a favourite style though, based on their personal preference. So write your class description to let people know what to expect for the class so people will sign up for the type of class they like.

When I taught at the community centre, the only description was: Moms and Tots Yoga. People didn’t expect a certain type of class.

If you are was writing the class description, let people know how much of the class is geared to the children, the adults, and how much to both children and adults at the same time.

There is no right way, but you will attract different students based on the description.

Let Your Students Know what to Expect

Whatever you do, make sure people know what you expect of them in the class.

For instance, for these community centre classes I told people they could arrive late because I knew with this age, a person could be completely ready to leave for a class and then a poop or a barf happens, and the plans change.

I ran the class like a drop-in, people could join at any time because we were never doing difficult poses. Even if someone arrived after the warm up activity they would be fine.

I also let them know what was expected throughout the class:

During Yoga: I asked the adult to do the yoga and let the teacher give the kids instructions
During relaxation: adults rest or do the moves to the song, and the teacher makes sure their children don’t leave the room.
Emotional Support: But if a child starts crying, the parent soothes them and can even take them out of the room if needed.

In general, I want the parents to model the activity we are doing, especially during the first few classes when the tots were a little shy. Children were more likely to try what they see their parents were doing.

Routine for an Adult and Tot Yoga Class

Whichever way I taught the class, I followed the same format each week of the session because that’s what works best for tots.

Story time in yoga class for the whole family — Using Felt Board Stories for story time in class.

Established a structure for your adult and tot yoga classes:

Welcome + Warm up: Start every class with a child-friendly song or activity for everyone to do together.
Yoga Poses: at first I got both adults and children moving. As we got to the later weeks of the series, you can start to focus on getting adults moving while the children watch and play, or focus on getting the children moving while the adults get to connect as described below.
Relaxation/Story: We closed with a relaxation activity, then maybe a story, activity, or game. In the 45-minute class we had about 5 – 8 minutes of relaxation time with some beautiful mantra music and participants could either lie down or do some movements to the song with me. This power rest was greatly appreciated by the adults.

The time in the middle was the opportunity to try different strategies. It was about 15 – 20 minutes in the middle of the 45-minute class.

Option to Teach to the Children

Family Yoga with parnter yoga. — Try Bicyle Legs for partner yoga in family yoga class

Teaching to the children gives the adults a chance to get to know each other and connect with other adults, which is something many new parents crave. Parents are often a little bewildered about the change their life is going through as a parent, especially if it is their first child. New parents aren’t used to spending so much time with an infant and miss the adult connection that they may have had when they were working or going to school, in their lives before children.

Focusing on the children helped create time for the adults to connect as adults.

How this looked in a class series is we started with a whole group activities then I would set up a row of mats side by side. Then we would move to children’s activities. The children walked down the mats pretending to be dogs, dinosaurs, or kangaroos etc. The adults could join in, but more often they watched their kids from the side and got to talk to each other.

Option to Teach to the Adults for Part

I also experimented with focusing on doing yoga with the adults to give them a chance to move more vigorously.

I set up a play area for the children. We had lots of mats at this location and it was a big room, so each adult had their own mat, each child had their own mats, and we had some mats put out in a play area in the middle of the circle as well.

I would lead some adult-style poses. The kids could sit on their mats and watch or try to follow along, or they could go explore the toys in the play area if they were not interested in doing yoga.

This let the adults do a little more yoga.

Teach the Class to Create Community not to Do Yoga

family yoga, families doing a rowing arms pose that can be used in an Olympic themed lesson plan — Teaching Family Yoga Classes builds community and creates healthy bonds.

This Adult and Tot class was new so I got to experiment with all kinds of fun styles. Some worked better than others, but there was always care and joy at the heart of it.

If you’re teaching an adult and tot class, it is not going to be like an adult yoga class and it doesn’t have to be completely like a kids class.

My goal with the class was to create a community with the people attending.

This is a really valuable time to connect parents with each other and help them find a support network.

In the end, Family Yoga is not about getting a workout, it’s about being together and creating bonds within families and between families.

Family Yoga Certificate

Find out more about the Family Yoga 4 Hour Certificate here.

FAMILY YOGA 4 HOUR CERTIFICATE

Aruna with her family at the campground!

How to Explain Chakras to Children?

Chakras for Children

Explain the chakras to children by looking at the Sanskrit word Chakra that is translated as meaning wheel of energy. Comparing chakras to wheels helps children understand how energy is like a wheel, that can flow, go too fast, or get stuck!

Let’s look at the idea of a wheel. Where do you find a wheel? What does a wheel do? Do wheels have energy? What happens when a wheel is stuck or goes too fast? What does wheel of energy mean to you?

Then explore each chakras as a type of energy wheel.

Compare the Chakras to What Kids Already Know

Here’s the type of discussion you might have on the aspects of a wheel.

Let’s name things that have wheels. Youth will name a bicycle, a car, an airplane, a Ferris wheel, a skateboard all these things have wheels.

Let’s look at the example of a car that has wheels. The car can move forward and it can also go in reverse. The car also has a steering wheel and a gas pedal, and other parts to help it move fast or slow or to the left or right.

But without the wheels, the car can’t move very far. It is stuck.

A wheel is different when it is still or when it is spinning. Why? Because of the energy behind it.

When a wheel is moving, it does its job. But sometimes the wheel needs to be still so it can be fixed or repaired.

Wheels of Energy in Ourselves

It is the same with our bodies. Our bodies are mass. They’re solid. We have arms, we have legs, we have a torso. But without energy, for instance when we’re sleeping, the body doesn’t do much.

We use our energy when we are awake to do all the things we want to do.

When our body is filled with energy it can move in all kinds of ways.

Chakras are energy spots in the body that is moving around like a wheel.

How do you decide how to move your body? How do you decide whether you’re going to run or jump or sit at a desk and work?

We guide our energy with different tools, the same way the car has all the tools to guide the wheels. These tools are known as chakra centres in the body. We use our head, our heart, our stomach to guide us.

Lesson Plan on Wheels and Chakras

Here is a lesson plan that you can fill in depending on the age group that you are teaching to help you introduce the chakras to children.

For a Chakra warm up, you can ask the children to name things that have wheels.

Then you can do poses or movements that go with these things.

If children name a bicycle, the children can lie on their backs and pedal their legs as if they were riding a bicycle in the air.
If children name a car, they could come on to hands and knees as in tabletop pose and lift alternate arm and leg, pretending their car is moving forward.
If they name a skateboard then they can pretend to skateboard in warrior two pose.
They can jump in the air and do tricks on their skateboard, squatting down or coming into back bends as in dancer pose.

a group sits in a circle in yoga class making a wheel with their legs and arms pointing inwards and exploring the Chakras as wheels of energy through group yoga poses. — Exploring the Chakras by Creating Wheels of Energy in group yoga poses in Kids Yoga Classes

Chakra Lesson Plan Make Up a Story

For the body of your Chakra lesson plan, ask what happens when a wheel gets stuck.

Imagine a bicycle with a flat tire, do moves to pump the tire full of air.
Bow pose can be a spare tire to change the wheel on a bus.
Sun salutation and make up a silly story about pulling parts off a shelf and fixing a car. Kids love making up stories.

Spinning Your Wheels in the Chakra Lesson Plan

Have you ever heard someone say they are “spinning their wheels” as another way of saying they are thinking?

Even thinking about something is moving your energy.

Sometimes we think about something too much. For instance when we’re worrying. We need to adjust that thinking energy to be able to relax.

Sometimes not thinking enough can cause problems if you can’t focus on what you need to think about. You may need to spend more time thinking about how to organize the things we need or our routine for going to school or doing homework.

Relaxation and Reflection on Chakras for Children

For the relaxation part of the lesson plan, consider using soft music and invite the class to let their mind slow down during this time.

Let the wheels in their mind stop turning for a while as they relax.

For many youth, relaxation is difficult. So I also offer them the option to draw a picture, maybe something with wheels to connect to chakra theme, or how to take care of energy, or whatever they want to draw.

You could draw a bicycle, and equipment to check the air in the tires and the chain.
Or draw a skateboard with tools to check that the wheels are well lubricated.
Then add themselves and the things that help to balance their energy.

Download the Chakra Wheels Lesson Plan Template Here

download the PDF Here

Help Children Make Connections to Teach the Chakras

Connecting Chakras to Wheels is a very simple way to explain the Chakras to children. It helps children to understand a concept by connecting it to something they already know and helps you explore how wheels can be in balance and also unbalanced.

The same way our energy can be balanced and unbalanced.

Just like the Chakras.

Once you explain the concept of the Chakra, you can go onto focusing on each individual Chakra in your next classes.

Activity Pages from the Chakras for Children Manual from the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Traiuning — Activity Pages from the Chakras for Children Manual in the Young Yoga Masters Certificate

Chakras for Children Certificate

Find out more about the Chakras for Children 4 Hour Certificate here.

Chakras for Children 4 Hour Certificate

Easter Basket Kid’s Yoga Lesson Plan for Spring Theme

When Spring is in the air, a lesson plan with a spring theme is a must!

There are so many opportunities to tie in movement, breath, and nature themes with this time of renewal and rebirth.

Here is a fun idea to teach a spring yoga lesson plan for school age children or younger.

Warm Up: Seed to Flower

Warm up by pretending to be a seed that grows to become a flower.

Warm up by pretending you are seeds growing into flowers or trees.

Start child’s pose, hands together like a little sprout. Then they sit on your heels in rock pose. Kneel up as you grow. Eventually stand up.

Once standing you can hang forward in rag doll pose, pretending that the rain is drenching your plant.

Then the sun comes out and you straighten and grow into a flower or tree.

Children can tell you what colour or type of flower or tree they are.

Yoga Poses for Spring Theme

There are so many opportunities for yoga poses with a spring theme, because spring is the time everything comes out of hibernation, including people!

This Basket activity page has a number of little critters that can become yoga poses.

Easter or Spring Basket Activities

Can you spot these animals on the basket activity page?

bees (buzzing breath)
butterflies (cobbler pose)
birds (squatting or flapping arms)
bats (warrior one – bat hanging from the ceiling)
trees growing leaves again (tree pose)
lizards (plank pose)
snakes (cobra pose)
beavers (bow pose)
crickets (locust pose)
snails (child pose)
make sure to finish with a relaxation before you look inside the basket!

How to Fill the Basket

Bring the basket to class, the children can colour their own at the end of class. The add your own special message inside the egg to finish the class.

I filled the basket with a large plastic egg that contained a message.

Ending Your Kids Yoga Class

Inside your plastic egg, put a closing message. Here are some examples:

Choose the next activity: good for doing more yoga poses,
Play your favourite game: when you have a longer class and time for a game, you can pay it after the poses are done.
Affirmation: You are beautiful inside and out! or add another message to bring a smile to a child’s face.

Using the Basket in a Series

If you are teaching a regular class series, or as a school teacher, or daycare provider, you can make this an extended activity.

Class One: Give them the activity sheet to colour in. They add their name and favourite pose to the bottom of the basket. Then hand them back to you.

Class Two: The next class the children cut out the baskets and tape or glue them into shape.

Class Three and Beyond: Filling each basket with an item, like a plastic egg with a personal message, or a chocolate kiss to use for a mindful eating activity, a feather or foam ball for a breathing activity, or another treat appropriate for your environment.

Each day, the children can find a new activity in their basket, until Easter is over.

Get the PDF of the Spring Easter Basket Yoga Activity

a spring activity card page pdf that children can colour and cut out along the dotted line. The four cards include frogs doing activities. The four position are tree pose, bow pose, plank pose, and warrior one pose.

a spring basket activity page pdf that children can colour and cut out. Each side of the basket had frogs doing activities. The four position are tree pose, bow pose, plank pose, and warrior one pose.

Get the PDF of the Easter yoga basket and activity cards

A Kids Yoga Class you’ll teach over and over!

Spring comes every year for many regions. Test out this class this year, you just may have found a yoga lesson plan you can use over and over again for years to come.