Respect is the Character Development theme for the month of September in our School Board. Respect means thoughtfulness, consideration, honor, admiration, regard, esteem. All these words show what happens when there is respect. But with kids you need to give them more than words, you need to give them an experience of Respect for them to understand it. The Roots of Respect: Start a class about respect discussing the roots of the word: “Re:” when “re” is in a word
Read more →Worry is imagining all the things that can go wrong. Its like creating a personalized haunted house in your head. Worry is illusions, smoke and mirrors, things that haven’t actually happened for real. This game helps us learn to laugh at the tricks of the mind and put the mind in it’s rightful place.
Read more →Have you ever been teaching kids yoga only to find yourself with extra time at the end of the class? Here are three things to fill those last few minutes.
Read more →First off, take a look at this fun video of two Canadians, Rick Mercer (comedian/host) and Rick Hanson (Man in Motion hero/educator) blowing away all ideas of what one can and cannot do when one has a disability: Pretty Amazing, Eh! This Friday marks the beginning of the Paralympic Games in Vancouver. It’s another event that shows how ABLE all people are. The first Paralympics Games were held in 1976 in Sweden and this Paralympics has five sports: alpine skiing
Read more →A Gold Medal Week for Kids Yoga Lesson Plan Themes Those who work with kids know it can be a challenge coming up with themes for kids yoga classes. Often we turn to current events for ideas and this week we’ve hit the jackpot! Not only are the Olympics happening, but it is Valentine’s Day too. The Olympics are pretty easy to connect with yoga poses. You can ask the kids about their favorite Olympic sports and how yoga could
Read more →A Yoga Game: What Do You Want Under the Tree? I’m extending Christmas just a little longer to play a game with you. Imagine if for Christmas we could ask for presents, but we could also ask for other things, things that are less tangible. What if we could ask for a virtue or a quality from Santa? What if we could wake up and find happiness, faith, or love under the tree? What would kids ask for then? What
Read more →Mountain Pose a Surprising Favorite for Boys One of my favorite activities for the last class of a kids’ yoga series is to have a “Yoga Party.” It’s a great way to review all the fun yoga we’ve done through the session. Children like to show you what they know. I often hear, “look at me,” “look at this,” “Can I show you something.” Kid’s want to be recognized just like we all do. A Yoga Party is a great
Read more →Creative Movement in Yoga Class This week’s story about teaching kids yoga is from a 30 minute daycare class I teach to a junior school-age group (ages 5 – 7 years old). This class has an even mix of boys and girls. A few of the children also play other sports and are very active and there are a few children who don’t exercise much. So it’s a typical school class nowadays. Kids Yoga Teachers Get to Know the Personality
Read more →The Dead Body Test in Corpse Pose Take Yoga From March Break To Summer In Toronto, Canada, where I live, we’re getting close to March break where kids and teachers get the week off school. It’s a one week break and then everyone comes back for another ten or twelve weeks until summer holidays when school closes for most of June, and all of July and August. During March Break school closes down and the daycares get busy. I often
Read more →