Yoga

Kindergarten Readiness: Conversations with Guest Experts #10

For each radio show on Learn and Play with Mrs A, I take notes because I’m learning so much about kids and kindergarten readiness from fascinating guests who are experts in a variety of areas. Each of them is passionate about kids and loves the work, or maybe that’s play? Here’s a play-of-the-day suggested from our play-of-the-week conversations and a little information about these awesome guests.

yoga for kidsWhen a recent radio show guest talked about kids and yoga, I shared the story of a young mom who was going out to yoga and her 3-year old daughter asked if she would see Darth Vader. While Yoda won’t be there, yoga can be exciting and imaginative for kids. Parent and instructor AJ Aiken shared how yoga can also help kids develop focus, flexibility, balance, confidence, awareness, and other skills, important for kindergarten readiness and beyond.

For a play-of-the-day, try some yoga poses with your child. AJ suggested some great resources, such as the story Daddy is a Pretzel by Baron Baptiste. There are yoga cards, posters, games, dvds, youtube videos and many websites, as well. Here is the link for the podcast on kids and yoga and a 3 minute video with 3 yoga poses, a cat, dog, and lion, complete with stuffies.

AJ Aiken, Kids & Yoga on Learn & Play podcast link

Chinese New Year for Kids

Being part of a community and participating in or just watching cultural events is also part of kindergarten readiness fun and learning. We all live in a space that we share with others, so we need to learn about others as we are learning about ourselves.Chinese New Year for kids

This weekend, many communities will have a Chinese New Year celebration. There may be appropriate activities for kids such as making lanterns, hearing a story at the public library, having a name done in Chinese writing, tasting some special foods, opening a fortune cookie, and watching a lion dance. The lion scares away bad luck and brings good fortune, spreading joy and happiness.

When you come home from a Lion dance or parade, little ones might enjoy trying the lion yoga pose complete with roar. Apparently, this particular posture or pose can help with sore throats, which are so common at this time of year. The little boy in the top picture needs more than a yoga pose. He needs a rest. Can you add some Chinese New Year fun and learning to your family’s weekend?

Kindergarten Readiness ABC’s – Y is for Yoga with Kids

The letter y is for yoga so today kindergarten readiness fun and learning gets to bend and stretch.

yoga for kids activitiesYoga for adults has many health and wellness benefits and even more so for children, including strength, flexibility, relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety, concentration, focus, self-control, cooperation, balance, body awareness, coordination, and confidence, to name just a few. At this age, movement activities are also building pathways in the brain that will be used for different kinds of learning, such as math and language.

While generally yoga for kids will also use body positions, breathing and some meditation, it may also incorporate games such as yoga tag, and pretending to be animals. In this photo, a ‘tree’ is reaching a root to stre—tch out.

There’s a wealth of books and youtube videos but here’s one for getting started. Y don’t you and your child try some yoga today?

Kindergarten Readiness – Body Position in Space Sense

In doing this month’s series of blog posts on brain development and kindergarten readiness, I learned that we have more than 5 senses. Apparently, we have 7. In addition to taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing we have the sense of movement and of our body position in space. In a way, would that mean … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Body Position in Space Sense