Teaching yoga to children from 3 to 6 years old is not as difficult as you think

Teaching yoga to children from 3 to 6 years old is extremely interesting because this is the age when children are extremely adorable and imaginative. However, sometimes, you will also have to get tired because of the “hyperactivity” of the children.

Yoga is a very good subject for children’s health, so today, many parents intend to let their children practice this subject from an early age. Teaching yoga to preschoolers will be very different from teaching yoga to adults.

In the early days, you will be extremely surprised with the agility and energy of the babies. Here are 6 suggestions to help you teach yoga to 3-6 year olds that are both fun and interesting.

1. Quick and very fast change

Between the ages of 3 and 6, babies will be extremely active. Therefore, when teaching children’s yoga, do not try to “repress” this but take advantage of it to make the class more lively.

It can be difficult to get babies to sit still or hold one position for long periods of time. You need to organize a lot of games and switch poses continuously. Also, don’t stop too long between exercises.

Through games and yoga poses, you’ll help them release a little of their limitless energy. And when doing the relaxation pose at the end of the practice session, the children will be very happy and comfortable.

2. Promote children’s abundant imagination

Here are a few ways to unleash a young child’s imagination:

Arrange the poses into a story and guide your child along

Turn yoga practice into a journey and lead the performance of the movements according to a story. For example, you will lead children to explore the land of postures, from imitating, performing poses that simulate the shape of nature such as the pose of a tree, a mountain, etc., to the pose named after the children. objects such as cat, cow pose…

Because at this age, children are still not aware of the wonders of the outside world. When guiding, you can equip with pictures of places and countries, such as ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc. Make your story more vivid and engaging.

Let children tell their own stories

You can ask each child to create their own story incorporating yoga animal poses, or have each child tell a different part and add a different pose to the story.

3. Keep your own principles

This is the age when children love to break rules and regulations. Therefore, create and keep your principles at all costs. Also, never give instructions when no one is listening. If the child is distracted, get the child’s attention first and then give instructions.

4. Children are easily distracted

The age from 3 to 6 is the period when the concentration and attention of children only take place for a short time. Therefore, in class, you need to switch poses and games constantly.

Every time the activity is changed, the child’s attention will start all over again. To help your child focus and hold the pose longer, you can:

• Come up with interesting things about poses, for example in animal pose, you can ask them to imitate the sounds of animals.
• Animate the poses
• Use props, for example, practice balancing by putting a doll on your head…

5. Always looking to innovate

Young children at this age get bored easily with repetition, so keep activities varied! Never tell the yoga journey story twice. You can use some of the same poses, but the story you tell the children must be different.

Use a variety of tones. If you just speak in a monotone, children’s attention will drift away. You can sometimes whisper as if you’re sharing a secret or at other times scream out loud to show surprise.

Let your baby play and practice at the same time. Try to recall the games you played as a kid and incorporate yoga poses into them to make these games more rewarding.

You can create an obstacle course, for example, create a route with many stations, at each station the child will have to follow a specific challenge but do a breathing exercise, a pose or simply is to sing a song, jump rope….

6. Improve balance and motor skills

Between the ages of 3 and 6, children can already play more games and perform more poses than younger children. Babies can balance themselves, have more coordination, can keep quiet for longer, and understand instructions better.

Between the ages of 3 and 6, children can already play more games and perform more poses than younger children.

Therefore, try to help children gradually discover their limits. Always encourage your child to try and allow them to make mistakes.

7. Notes when practicing yoga for children

According to Yoga teachers, in order to practice Yoga at home for children to be safe and promote the best effect, parents need to note a few very important things as follows:

Should let your baby learn from the basics

If you let your child practice yoga at home, you should give him simple, easy-to-follow exercises, especially when he’s just starting out. You should not teach your baby difficult movements because it is easy to cause injury and adversely affect the development of the child.

Note, you should refer to the training videos of professional teachers to give your child the best way to practice.

Warm up before practicing yoga

You need to teach your baby to warm up the whole body before applying yoga exercises. Warm-up will help children get used to the intensity of exercise, helping to reduce possible injuries and improve training efficiency.

Create a fun atmosphere when practicing

Yoga for children is very different from yoga for adults in terms of atmosphere. Children come to yoga not only for health benefits, but also to entertain, relax and regain energy after stressful school hours. Therefore, you cannot force children to keep order or be absolutely serious. This will make your baby afraid of you and even practice yoga.

Do not ask too much from children

When you let your child participate in yoga, do not be too strict and force your child to practice correctly. Model and gently remind your child to follow his cognitive ability. We will slowly shape the baby to achieve a better posture in the next training sessions.

Children should not practice for too long

According to the share of teachers who teach yoga for children, for children under 6 years old, each exercise should only last about 60 seconds and the session lasts about 15 minutes. For children over 6 years old, each movement can last 90 seconds and the session lasts 25 minutes.

Prepare full tools

Yoga mat is an essential tool for all of us when participating in yoga practice. The practice mat has anti-slip effect, increases the smoothness when performing movements and helps ensure the safety of the baby in yoga poses.

Tip, you should choose to buy a yoga mat with a color that your baby loves to create excitement and stimulate children’s exploration.

Children should practice other subjects

Yoga is very dark but not enough, in addition to yoga sessions, you can also give children other exercises such as barbell exercises to help develop height or for children to practice boxing, basketball, swimming,… This will help children have more comfort, love for exercise sessions and also help them be healthier,…

Teaching yoga to children will require a lot of patience because children are very active, naughty and difficult to sit still. However, if you persevere, you will find this to be an extremely interesting job. And always remember to always be happy when teaching children because when you are happy, the children will feel happy when practicing.

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Reference source

6 Ways to Make Yoga Fun for Children Ages 3-6 https://www.doyou.com Access Date: 7/26/2020