Spice Up your Kid's Yoga Class
Any yoga teacher out there will vouch for the fact that teaching yoga is not an easy process. You require a great deal of patience, energy and creativity to get the best out of your students. This is doubly so when you teach younger kids yoga. At best, kids have an attention span of a few minutes at a time.
In order to get them to concentrate on what they are doing and make sure that they have fun as well can take some effort on your part. The good news is that you don’t have to start from scratch. If you find that your yoga classes for kids are getting a bit stale, all it needs is a few different things to improve the pace…
- Shake Things Up - While adults may welcome the calm of a structured yoga routine, you will find that kids rebel against the idea of repeating the same thing again and again.
Switch things around in your class to keep them on their toes. This could be something as simple are turning the yoga mats around to face another side of the room. - Teacher’s Pet - Give every kid a chance to teach a yoga pose. Choose one or two kids from your group to lead the class along with you and demonstrate a different pose. This will give the kids an added incentive to excel at their practice as well.
- Add Music - Children love music and respond instinctively to it. Play different music daily and set the tone of each class accordingly. Play soft soothing music for a calm meditative class and more lively tunes for a vigorous yoga routine.
- Develop a Challenge - Increase motivation in your class by adding small challenges in each session. Maybe you could make a chart or sticker board that tracks each child’s progress. Do not stress the poses but rather instill an appreciation for discipline, attendance, cleanliness and good behavior.
- It’s Theme Time - To really bring together all facets of your kid’s yoga class, you can develop a theme around each session. Make up an ongoing story and incorporate different yoga poses around the story. Different characters can be added in each class along with an introduction to different poses. Build up the excitement and interest and you will have your students clamoring for the next class in no time at all.
Most importantly, keep the class fresh and fun for yourself as well. When the kids see you – the teacher – enjoying herself it won’t be long before they have a blast as well.
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