Jungle Adventure

Hi there safari friends! We went on a jungle adventure in Yoga for Kids at Centered today. Here's what we got up to in case you'd like to use any of these things to play yoga at home.

Usually we learn a new breath at the beginning of our yoga class, but today we tried something a little different. We did a simple mindfulness activity, listening to the sound of the chime all the way through to its end. I invited the kids to close their eyes, listen to the sound, and then open their eyes back up when the sound was gone. We did this a few times, striking the chime with varying degrees of force. This would be easy to replicate at home with a simple pan and spoon if you don't have a chime.

We kept up the warm-up sequence we've been using the last several weeks, stretching the spine in all directions and then playing Jim Gill's "Jump Up, Turn Around" game. I'll probably bring in a new warm-up starting at our next class together, which will be September 14 (studio is closed for Labor Day on September 7 and I'm subbing for Lauren on September 14).

I brought out the flannelboard to introduce our jungle theme. We sang "Old McYogi Went to the Jungle." I'm guessing you know the tune! Here are the animals we met along the way:

• lion - standing lion's breath

• giraffe - extended mountain pose

• monkey - arm swinging with monkey sounds

• elephant - forward fold with hands clasped to make a trunk

• tiger - cat pose

From there we sat down for our first book, One Spotted Giraffe by Petr Horáček. This is a super fun pop-up book that introduces counting and some less common animal vocabulary. You all did a great job handling the book today! Knowing how to use books like this is actually part of a very important early literacy skill, print awareness.

Next it was time to move with some music, so we listened to “Rockin’ at the Zoo” from Kids in the City by Laura Doherty. We went right into our next song, this time starting to cool down a bit, with our "Dance for the Sun" by Kira Willey. 

Coming toward the close of class we read That’s Love by Sam Williams and repeated our chime listening activity. Then, as always, we took a rest, this time lulled by the sounds of the Amazon jungle. 

It was a treat to play yoga with all you wild animals today! Don't forget the studio is closed for Labor Day on September 7... I look forward to seeing you again on the 14th! NAMASTE