1. Home
  2. Activities

6 poses for yoga with kids that are fun and easy

By

Namaste! Yoga has been around for centuries and for good reason. The discipline has health benefits for both the mind and body. It’s so good for overall well-being that more and more physical education programs are adding yoga to the curriculum. Of course, yoga isn’t only good for kids in school.

Practicing yoga with kids at home helps with focus, improves muscle strength, and balance while relieving stress and anxiety. Doing yoga with the kiddos can also help with sleep issues. So, let’s slip off the socks, unroll the mat, learn some kids’ yoga poses, and get started.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yoga with kids

If you’re not a yogi already, no worries. Hop on a mat and do these six easy yoga poses with the kids. Yoga is a perfect pick for people of all ages. Wearing comfy clothes is best. Socks are typically off for yoga poses because it’s important to feel the ground with the soles of the feet. It’s also safer because socks can make you slip. Yoga mats are optional, but using one does keep hands and feet from sliding in the middle of a pose. Whenever doing yoga with kids, keep it light and playful. It’s okay to be a little silly when doing yoga with children.

Recommended Videos

How long should kids hold a pose?

Adults typically hold a yoga pose for 30 to 60 seconds. For kids, 10 to 15 is ideal. The more they practice, the longer kids feel comfortable holding a pose.

Kids yoga poses

Tabletop

This is a good place to start when doing yoga with kids because other poses incorporate tabletop. It’s also a simple pose for beginners. To do tabletop, get down on the floor on all fours, resting on hands and knees. Knees are about shoulder-width apart. Hands should be directly underneath the shoulders with fingers facing forward. The back is flat.

Cat/cow

Kids will love this basic yoga pose that builds on tabletop. Parents will too because it’s great for relieving stress. The pose starts in tabletop. While breathing in or meowing, kids round their backs like a kitty bringing the chin to the chest. From cat, kids move into cow by pushing the belly toward the floor and arching the back. As the chin moves up and the back arches, kids can release their breath or give a moo. Making the animal sounds helps make this movement pose silly and fun for the kiddos. Kids can repeat the pose going back and forth from cat to cow.

Downward dog

There’re a lot of ways to get to this popular yoga pose and tabletop is one. From tabletop, kids push up to bring their bottoms into the air. Palms stay on the floor as the body moves into the upside-down V shape. Feet stay shoulder-width apart while the head hangs down. Kids shouldn’t lock their knees or force their heels to touch the ground. Flexibility increases the more kids do this pose. Downward dog is excellent for overall stretching and energizing the body. It’s also just cool to go upside down for a bit.

Child’s pose

From Downward Dog, kids can sink slowly back to the floor, bringing their knees together. Kids sit back on their heels while bringing their forehead to the mat and resting their arms back alongside the body with the palms facing up. Child’s pose is a gentle hip, thigh, and back stretcher, but also helps calm the mind. For a relaxing variation of child’s pose, bring the folded legs about hips-width apart. This variation is helpful if kids have trouble getting their foreheads to touch the mat.

Bridge pose

Kids can move into this uplifting pose from Child’s Pose. Gently, lift up and bring the knees to the front of the body. Lay back on the mat with the knees bent and the feet flat on the floor. Legs should be shoulder-width apart again. Arm are at the side with palms down. From this position, kid push their behind and back into the air to make a bridge, bringing the chin to the chest. Bridge pose stretches the whole body and helps improve flexibility in the spine.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Tree pose

Tree is a wonderful balance pose kids enjoy. Standing poses are excellent for balance and strengthen the core. For Tree, kids stand on one leg while bending the other leg and placing the sole of the foot on the inner calf. Kids shouldn’t put their foot on the knee of the standing leg. When kids are comfortable, they raise their arms over their head to form branches. Arms can go out to the side or overhead. If the tree wobbles a bit, that’s okay. Remember, trees do sway in the wind.

There are so many fabulous yoga poses that are ideal for kids. These six only scratch the surface and are a wonderful place to begin a yoga journey with children. As kids become more confident with these yoga poses, they will want to try more. If kids are doing yoga in school, they may have some yoga poses to show you the next time you get on the mat together. Doing yoga with kids of all ages is great for the mind and the body. It’s a wonderful family-friendly activity benefitting everyone in the house. Just remember to keep yoga with kids fun. It’s okay to meow, moo, and even bark your way through cat/cow and downward dog. In fact, it’s recommended.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Dawn Miller
Contributor
Dawn Miller began her professional life as an elementary school teacher before returning to her first love, writing. In…
The best baseball movies for kids (parents will love them, too)
Go to bat with these baseball movies that always hit a homer

Batter up! It's time to swing for the fences and get the Great Hambino behind the plate because soon pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training. If you're looking to catch spring fever early, you don't have to build it so they come to Florida or Arizona. Just get the family together to watch the best baseball movies for kids that never strike out.

For sports-loving kids, baseball movies are a must. They're a perfect pick for parents and non-sports enthusiasts of all ages, too. So grab the popcorn, peanuts, and hot dogs, but skip the bleacher seats and find a spot on the couch to enjoy these don't-miss baseball movies that are a homerun any time of the year.

Read more
Keep little ones entertained with the best ‘Would you rather?’ questions for kids
Get a laugh with these fun questions

No one knows who exactly started asking those fun "would you rather" questions, but it seems like they've been around for ages. Little kids love them and so do tweens, but they probably won't admit it between eye rolls. Teens, too, will usually get involved in the off-beat question-and-answer game.

The entertainment value isn't lost on adults either, especially when there's quite a bit of awkward silence going on. "Would you rather" questions for kids are a perfect way to pass the miles in the car or get everyone involved in dinnertime conversation. If you're on the hunt for some laughter-provoking fun, "would you rather" questions are here to help, and we've got a list to get the brains and the fun going.

Read more
Need a fantastic theme for a fifth birthday party? Consider these
Birthday party ideas for five-year-olds they'll love

Turning five is fabulous. It marks the end of the preschooler stage, which makes it a milestone birthday. That first day of kindergarten is right around the corner. Planning a five-year-old birthday party is super fun. Kids at this age are pretty easy to please. They love running around and playing games. There is also a plethora of awesome five-year-old birthday party ideas that rock. In honor of five, let's take a peek at five fantastic themes for a fifth birthday that get the guests moving because that is what five-year-olds love to do.

5-year-old birthday party ideas
Since most of your guests will be four turning five or five already, an outdoor party or one at an indoor venue where kids can get active is a perfect pick. Having structured activities is key with this age set. If you do decide to hold your kiddo's fifth birthday party outside, be sure to build in a rain date. Always have extra hands to help keep the games and activities focused. Tweens and teens are great for this. Here are five fav five-year-old birthday party ideas that will be a huge hit with the guest of honor and friends.
Kick it
The four and five-year-old set need to be active, and many of them probably just started lacing up the cleats to give soccer a try. If yours is loving soccer, then a soccer party is a major score. Plenty of indoor facilities host soccer birthday parties, but if you don’t want to use a venue, you can certainly hold your own. If your backyard is large enough, you can turn it into a soccer field. Otherwise, look for field availability at a neighborhood park or high school. Sometimes, permits are required, so check with your town’s recreation department first.

Read more