Bendy Bookworm Story Time: Nobody Hugs A Cactus

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“NOBODY HUGS A CACTUS” BY CARTER GOODRICH

Hank is the prickliest cactus in the entire world. He sits in a pot in a window that faces the empty desert, which is just how he likes it. When some desert “friends” visit and disturb his peace, Hank is annoyed.
Does someone prickly on the outside ALWAYS STAY prickly on the inside or is it okay to change?

In this video, children will move-to-learn through yoga as they practice the following developmental skills-
Cognitive Skills: vocabulary, auditory processing, and visual processing
Motor/Physical Skills: coordination, balance, and flexibility
Emotional Skills: wide range of emotions; facial recognition of feelings

To Purchase:
Amazon Link- Nobody Hugs A Cactus by Carter Goodrich

Want to pair this Bendy Bookworm Story Time with a cactus craft?
Click
HERE !!

Want to practice more move-to-learn rhymes, songs, and poses like the Video above? Join me for my weekly Yoga Class for Kids on Zoom!

Indoor Activities with Kids: Cat Craft and Story Time

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Hey all you cool cats and kittens: Reading stories aloud together builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, and promotes speech development. By adding a craft to the experience, you continue to build on story time learning; practicing motor skills and creativity, while reminding the child of themes and words from the story. It becomes active engagement, in the same way that the added movement of Bendy Bookworm’s yoga poses do, in order to benefit the child’s optimal ability to learn through play.

Need more things to do at home with your toddler? Purrrrrfect! This craft is for you. Ideal for ages 18 months - 5 years old. This craft, read along with the suggested book titles, is great for practicing cutting with scissors, drawing shapes, and using the proper amount of glue (yeah, we all know that one takes practice!!).

Cognitive Skills: vocabulary (learned from picture book)
Motor Skills: glueing and scissor practice
Emotional Skills: self expression and creativity (practiced during the craft)

Materials: 

  • Paper Plate OR White Paper

  • Glue

  • Scissors

  • Crayons

Optional: Colored Tissue Paper, Construction Paper, OR Washable Paint AND Yarn

Step One: 

* Cut 2 ovals for eyes, 2 ear triangles, 2 smaller triangles, 1 oval nose, and 1 arrow for the mouth.

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Step Two: 

* Paint, color, cover the paper plate (or a cut circle out of paper) with any cat color you want!

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Step Three: 

* Paint or color in your eyes and glue the smaller triangle to the larger triangle.

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Step Four:

* Glue it all together.

Draw in/ glue yarn to the face for whiskers!

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Pair With:

These titles can be found on overdrive/ hoopla, ebook catalogs
you may be able to access with your library card!

WANT EVERYTHING A STORY TIME CAN OFFER? ADD IN BENDY BOOKWORM YOGA; MOVEMENT YOUR CHILDREN CAN PRACTICE ON THEIR OWN. THEY WILL GAIN ALL THE BENEFITS OF A READ A LOUD STORY TIME PLUS PARTICIPATE IN ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH MOVEMENT!

Indoor Activities with Kids: Dinosaur Craft and Story Time

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Reading stories aloud together builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, and promotes speech development. By adding a craft to the experience, you continue to build on story time learning; practicing motor skills and creativity, while reminding the child of themes and words from the story. It becomes active engagement, in the same way that the added movement of Bendy Bookworm’s yoga poses do, in order to benefit the child’s optimal ability to learn through play.

Need more things to do at home with your toddler? Perfect! This craft is for you. Ideal for ages 18 months - 5 years old. This is a perfect craft with suggested book titles is great for practicing using scissors, drawing shapes, and using the proper amount of glue (yeah, we all know that one takes practice!!).

Cognitive Skills: vocabulary (learned from picture book)
Motor Skills: glueing and scissor practice
Emotional Skills: self expression and creativity (practiced during the craft)

Materials: 

*Paper Plate or White Paper
*Glue
*Scissors
*Crayons

Optional: Googley Eyes, Colored Tissue Paper, Construction Paper, OR Washable Paint

Step One: 

* Cut a paper plate in half so you have two equal halves.

One half will become the dinosaur's body.

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Step Two: 

* Draw the neck/ head along the edge of the second paper plate half and cut out.
* Tape or Glue "the neck" to "the body" behind the paper plate.

Step Three: 

*Use the left over paper plate half (from cutting out the neck and head portion) to cut out two legs and a tail. Tape or Glue the pieces behind “the body.”

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Step Four:

* Color your dinosaur: use washable paint, crayons, markers, construction paper, or colored tissue paper. Don't forget to give your dinosaur an eye!

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Pair With:

These titles can be found on overdrive/ hoopla, ebook catalogs
you may be able to access with your library card!

WANT EVERYTHING A STORY TIME CAN OFFER? ADD IN BENDY BOOKWORM YOGA; MOVEMENT YOUR CHILDREN CAN PRACTICE ON THEIR OWN. THEY WILL GAIN ALL THE BENEFITS OF A READ A LOUD STORY TIME PLUS PARTICIPATE IN ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH MOVEMENT!

3 Yoga Poses to get Yourself to turn off Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime....

I heard Netflix has taken away the “Are you Still Watching?” function, because we’re ALL still watching. Hopefully these poses help you to stop watching, just for a bit….

Step One:
Break Eye Contact with Chin Lifts

Roll your shoulders back and lift your chin to neutral.  Turn your head to look to the right, lift your chin as you gaze up towards the ceiling, then lower your chin back to neutral.  Move your head to center before turning your head to the left, lifting your chin to gaze up towards the ceiling, and lowering your chin back down to neutral.  Repeat slowly breaking your gaze from the computer screen.

Step Two:
Move from that watching the screen Sphinx Pose to Cobra Pose

From laying propped on the floor, resting on your forearms (with your legs extended behind you and your toes untucked): Move your hands back to plant, palms down, in line with your chest. Press down into your hands and the tops of your feet as you lift your head and chest off the floor. Keep your lower ribs on the floor. Open your chest, move your heart forward.


Step Three:
Take your dog for a walk

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Since you’re probably already on the floor just move onto your hands and knees. Place your knees in line with your hips and your hands in line with your shoulders. Tuck your toes under and lift your knees away from the floor. Keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lift your tailbone toward the ceiling (envision an upside down “V”). You can peddle out the legs; bending and straightening on the breath.

NEED MORE MOVEMENT? Why not try taking one of my live classes for Adults?

3 Yoga Poses to Help Your Kid SIT for Distance- Learning

Sitting for school is hard enough. Sitting at HOME for school, yikes! A little bit of movement might make things easier….

Chair Warrior

Stand behind your chair or table and hold on for balance.  Now slide your right toes back and tap your toes to the ground three times.  Now begin to lift your right foot up until it’s parallel to the ground. Keeping it lifted high: Can you move it to the right? And then move it back?  Now return back to start and try the left foot!

Air Chair

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Plant both feet firmly on the ground. Lift your bum off the chair just a bit: sit in an “air chair”.  Lower your bum to tap your chair and lift. For an extra challenge, do it on tippy toes! Keep lifting and lowering until you're tired and just want to sit and listen.

Chair Twists

Sometimes you just need to wind to unwind.  Start by sitting on the edge of your seat. Now twist to the right so that your right hand rests on your left knee and your left hand grips the back of the chair.  Try and look over your left shoulder? What’s going on back there? Come back to the center and now try twisting to the left.

NEED MORE MOVEMENT? Why not try taking one of my live classes?

Indoor Activities with Kids: Quit Calling Me A Monster!

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Reading stories aloud together builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, and promotes speech development. By adding a craft to the experience, you continue to build on story time learning; practicing motor skills and creativity, while reminding the child of themes and words from the story. It becomes active engagement, in the same way that the added movement of Bendy Bookworm’s yoga poses do, in order to benefit the child’s optimal ability to learn through play.

During this monster craft, paired with “Quite Calling Me a Monster” by Jory John children will practice-
Cognitive Skills: vocabulary (learned from picture book)
Motor Skills: glueing and scissor practice
Emotional Skills: self expression and creativity (practiced during the craft) and feelings (learned from the picture book)

Materials: 

*2 coffee filters
*Glue or Tape
*Googley Eyes (if possible)
*Crayola Washable Markers
*Scissors
*Color Construction Paper (if possible) or white
*Eye Dropper or Spray Bottle filled with water

Step One: 

*Place Coffee Filters on a coking tray.
*Use washable markers to color patterns onto coffee filters.

Step Two: 

*Use eye dropper or spray bottle filled with water to spray down both coffee filters.
*Let Dry. (This can mean air dying overnight OR you can heat the oven to “keep warm” and bake for 10 minutes. BUT you must keep the oven on it’s LOWEST possible setting!!)

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Step Three: 

*Cut fridges along the edge.
*Pick one coffee filter to be the monster face: draw or glue googley eyes and a mouth.

Step Four:

*Cut 4 strips of construction paper and accordion fold them.
*Glue/ Tape down the strips for arms and legs In between the coffee filters.
*Glue coffee filters together.

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Pair With:

These titles can be found on overdrive/ hoopla, ebook catalogs
you may be able to access with your library card!

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WANT EVERYTHING A STORY TIME CAN OFFER? Add in Bendy Bookworm Yoga; movement your children can practice on their own. They will gain all the benefits of a read a loud story time PLUS participate in active engagement through movement!

The Car Song

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The Car Song: A move-to-learn rhyme video intended to target developmental skills.
For Ages: 18 months- 6 years old.

In this video, children will practice-
Cognitive Skills: colors and cause and effect
Motor/Physical Skills: Flexibility and hand coordination

Want to practice more move-to-learn rhymes, songs, and poses like the Video above? Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for your child.

Indoor Activities with Kids: Bear Craft and Story Time

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Reading stories aloud together builds vocabulary, improves comprehension, and promotes speech development. By adding a craft to the experience, you continue to build on story time learning; practicing motor skills and creativity, while reminding the child of themes and words from the story. It becomes active engagement, in the same way that the added movement of Bendy Bookworm’s yoga poses do, in order to benefit the child’s optimal ability to learn through play.

Need more things to do at home with your toddler? Perfect! This craft is for you. Ideal for ages 18 months - 5 years old. This is a perfect craft with suggested book titles is great for practicing using scissors, drawing shapes, and using the proper amount of glue (yeah, we all know that one takes practice!!).

Cognitive Skills: vocabulary (learned from picture book), shapes (learned from craft), spatial perception (learned from craft)
Motor Skills: glueing and scissor practice
Emotional Skills: self expression and creativity (practiced during the craft)

Materials: 

*Paper Plate
*
Pink, Black, and Brown Construction Paper OR White Paper
*Glue
*Scissors
*Crayons
*Colored Tissue Paper OR Washable Paint

Step One: 

*Cut Out:

2 pink circles

3 brown circles

3 black circles

OR

8 white circles and color-in

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Step Two: 

*Rip and Glue  down pieces of brown tissue paper to cover paper plate.

OR

*Paint/Color- in paper plate.

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Step Three: 

*Glue it all together.

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Pair With:

These titles can be found on overdrive/ hoopla, ebook catalogs
you may be able to access with your library card!

WANT EVERYTHING A STORY TIME CAN OFFER? ADD IN BENDY BOOKWORM YOGA; MOVEMENT YOUR CHILDREN CAN PRACTICE ON THEIR OWN. THEY WILL GAIN ALL THE BENEFITS OF A READ A LOUD STORY TIME PLUS PARTICIPATE IN ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH MOVEMENT!

3 Yoga Poses to Find the Motivation to get Yourself Dressed in the Morning

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Let’s be honest, what’s the point of getting dressed when you’re staying in? Here are some poses to start the day with movement and motivation…. maybe you’ll even shampoo your hair? Nah… Let’s just all get on a shirt that doesn’t have a stain and call it a win!

Seated Sun Breaths

Begin by sitting in easy pose (criss cross your legs) and bring your hands to your sides.  Inhale and reach your arms around and up; gaze moves up to watch your palms touch above your head.  Exhale your arms back down to your sides; gaze lowers down to look at your lap. Repeat for several breathes; inhaling/ arms up, exhaling/ arms down.

Seated Cat/Cow

Begin by sitting in easy pose (criss cross your legs) and bring your palms down on your knees or shins.  Take an inhale and pull your chest forward, lifting your chin up to the ceiling (creating a “c” curve in your spin).  Exhale, round your back and tuck your chin to your chest. Move back and forth through this spinal wake-up for several breaths.

Seated Laced Finger/ Neck Stretch

Begin by sitting in easy pose (criss cross your legs) and bring your hands to your sides.  Inhale and reach your arms around and up; palms touch above your head. Exhale your arms back down and lace your fingers behind your back.  Pull the fist away from your back (maybe coming into a baby back bend). Move the laced finger fist to the right hip as you gently draw the right ear down to the right shoulder.  Squeeze the elbows together behind your back. Release the hands. Inhale and reach your arms around and up; palms touch above your head. Exhale your arms back down and lace your fingers behind your back (place the opposite thumb on top).  Pull the fist away (maybe coming into a baby back bend). Move the laced finger fist to the left hip, as you gently draw the left ear to the left shoulder. Squeeze the elbows together behind your back. Release.

You have officially won the Gold Medal for The Morning Routine. Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for a celebration prize for you and your child.

3 Yoga Poses to Get Your Kid Dressed in the Morning

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Because we all know quarantine or not, this should be an Olympic Sport….

Putting Your Shirt On
(Side Stretches)

Stand with both of your feet on the ground.  Wiggle and reach your left fingers towards the ground while you stretch your right arm up and over your head towards the left. Wiggle and reach your right fingers towards the ground while you stretch your left arm up and over your head towards the right.

Putting Your Pants On
(Standing Hand to Toe)

Stand with both of your feet on the ground.  Reach one foot up, stretch it straight out in front of you, and stomp your foot back to the ground.  Repeat on the opposite foot.

Buttons and Zippers
(Side Twists)

Stand with both of your feet on the ground.  Bring your arms up for goal post arms and then lower the forearms so that they are parallel to the ground.  Twist and turn all the way to the right and then twist and turn all the way to the left. Repeat a few times twisting back and forth.

You have officially won the Gold Medal for The Morning Routine. Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for a celebration prize for you and your child.

The Frog Song

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The Frog Song: A move-to-learn rhyme video intended to target developmental skills.
For Ages: 18 months- 6 years old.

In this video, children will practice-
Cognitive Skills: colors and vocabulary
Motor/Physical Skills: mouth muscles and sounds

Want to practice more move-to-learn rhymes, songs, and poses like the Video above? Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for your child.

Indoor Activities with Kids: Duck Craft and Story Time

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Ideal for ages 18 months - 5 years old. This is a perfect craft for practicing using scissors, drawing shapes, and using the proper amount of glue (yeah, we all know that one takes practice!!). It’s a simple craft for you and a challenging (but definitely do-able) craft for them!

Materials: 

Paper Plate or White Paper cut into a semicircle (preferably heavier paper like construction or cardstock)
Black Construction Paper (if available)
Glue
Crayons
Scissors
Colored Tissue Paper (if available)
Googley eyes (if available)

Step One: 

*Fold paper plate in half (or cut a semicircle out of white paper)
*Tear and glue down pieces of yellow tissue paper 
OR
*Color semicircle with crayons/markers

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Step Two: 

*Trace and cut out a circle on yellow paper (or white paper and color yellow) for the head.
*Trace and cut out a triangle on orange paper (or white paper and color yellow) for the beak.
*Glue beak to head.
*Glue on googley eyes OR draw eyes.

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Step Three: 

*Glue duck head to body.

Pair With:

These titles can be found on overdrive/ hoopla, ebook catalogs
you may be able to access with your library card!

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3 Yoga Poses to STOP Yourself from Screaming

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…when counting breaths isn’t enough, here are some yoga poses for you to release some of the anger and frustration; so it can leave your body in motion NOT in volume!

Swaying Palm- Tree Pose

Stand with your feet parallel and about hip-distance apart. Interlace your fingers and on the inhale, lift your arms straight up alongside your ears.  On your next inhalation, flip the palms up toward the ceiling; lengthen and stretch to the left. Return to center, exhale, and release your arms.. Repeat the pose on the other side.

Heavy Forward Fold

Stand with your feet parallel and about hip-distance apart.  Swing the arms forward and up; reaching the fingertips towards the sky.  Reach as high as you can, lengthen the entire body, you may even lift to tip toes.  Reach on the inhale and sigh out the exhale dropping your fingertips heavy towards the ground. REPEAT as many times as necessary.

Lion Pose (Bendy Bookworm Version)

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Kneel on the ground with your bottom resting on your heels.  Draw your hands up and curl your fingers into claws. Stick your tongue out (and if you’re comfortable: roll your eyes back to gaze up at your forehead).  Inhale through the nose and on the exhale HAHHHH! the breath out. OR if you prefer ROAR the breath out. Repeat as needed….until you’ve yelled yourself out or the silliness of the pose has you laughing!

Need a moment to yourself to practice the poses above? Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for your child.

The Fish Song

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The Fish Song: A move-to-learn rhyme video intended to target developmental skills.
For Ages: 18 months- 6 years old.

In this video, children will practice-
Cognitive Skills: counting, colors, and vocabulary
Motor/Physical Skills: crossing the midline, circular motions

Want to practice more move-to-learn rhymes, songs, and poses like the Video above? Fill out the form below and receive a FREE Bendy Bookworm Yoga Video for your child.

Good Night Books for Kids

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Dinner has been eaten, baths have been drained, and jammies are on. In my early days as a librarian, I tried out a “bedtime story time”…. it didn’t go well. I realized that the part that made bedtime story time so great, was being in your bed. These are some cozy titles to end the day; night time books for bed time reading:

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue

For Ages: 4-7

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Sleep Train by Jonathan London

For Ages: 2-5

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Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker

For Ages: 2-4

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Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Helen Berger

For Ages: 3-7

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A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

For Ages: 2-4

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Mr. Squirrel and the Moon by Sebastian Meschenmoser

For Ages: 4-8

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The Moon’s Almost Here by Patricia MacLachlan 

For Ages: 4-8

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Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker

For Ages: 4-6

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Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli

For Ages: 4-8

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Like these titles? Receive weekly reading suggestions when you sign-up for Bendy Bookworm’s mailing list! Fill out the form below:

Bendy Bookworm Story Time: Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

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LOVE THIS VIDEO AND WANT MORE!! Click here- http://bendybookworm.com/opt-in A move-to-learn yoga video intended to target developmental skills. In this video...

“Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle

Beep! Beep! Beep! Meet Blue. He likes beeping to his animal friends and driving down muddy country roads! This story is filled with truck sounds and animal noises to read aloud; a wonderful friendship story about helping others.

In this video, children will move-to-learn through yoga as they practice the following developmental skills-
Cognitive Skills: counting, colors, and vocabulary
Motor/Physical Skills: strength, balance, and flexibility
Emotional Skills: being a good friend, cause and effect

Want more move-to-learn yoga videos? Receive a FREE video from The Bendy Bookworm Developmental Skills Collection here:

Nobody Hugs A Cactus Story Time Craft

Ideal for ages 6- 9 years old. The children really loved this one!! It was perfect for a wide age range: the younger children were challenged with tracing their hand and practicing using scissors, while the older children were able to express their creativity with the intricacy of their cactus pot designs! Plus it’s a perfect at home craft since you probably have most of the materials already available.

Materials: 
White Paper (preferably heavier paper like construction or cardstock)
Green Construction Paper
Glue
Crayons
Colored Tissue Paper

Step One: Trace hand on green construction paper, cut out, and cut out pot.

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Step Two: Draw spines on cactus hand and color in cactus pot. Tape the cactus behind the flower pot and glue on tiny crumples of tissue paper for cactus flowers.
Options for cactus flowers: craft pompoms, stickers, or draw on flowers

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OPTIONAL Step Three: Tape a popsicle stick behind the hand and the pot to provide standing support. You may have to play around with the placement of the popsicle stick!

**Place the popsicle stick high enough to keep the hand lifted but if you place it too high, it will become top heavy and won’t stand.**

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PAIR WITH:
Nobody Hugs a Cactus By Carter Goodrich

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Yoga Games For 1st- 3rd Graders

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When teaching to 6 and ups, you can begin to flow a bit more; their attention will hold for several poses together, their memory ability is more advanced, and their motor skills are much more developed.  Yoga games can become a little bit more challenging; less about learning and more about recall. These are some favorites:

Yogi Says

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Simon Says with a Yogi Twist; call out and perform different poses while the children watch and copy ONLY the poses you do AFTER saying “Yogi Says”.  i.e. “Yogi Says Downward Facing Dog” (pose they will copy) / “Warrior I” (pose they shouldn’t be tricked into copying). They love this game! It’s a great way to transition between class sequences or to fill time at the end.  It can also be used to warm them up or slow them down (just alter the speed and pose choices accordingly).

Yoga Freeze Dance

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Similar to the game played with the 5 and under’s; play a song for free movement expression.  On the pause, for this age group, you will yell out a specific pose for them to try to remember and practice. 
***For a “musical chairs” variation: place pose cards on the floor, when the song is paused they have to land on a card and perform the pose. 

Sun Races

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I usually start class with this: We’ll do one or two Sun Salutation sequences together slowly.  Then we move on to one or two a bit faster, moving through them on breath.  Finally, I let them race the sequence with me. It’s challenging for them to remember each pose. They have a lot of fun trying to hit each pose and go as fast as they can.  It’s a great way to warm them up, get them laughing, and enjoying themselves. When we start the class with laughter, they are more willing to try different poses throughout the rest of the class time.

Hot Block (Hot Potato)

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 Have the children sit in a circle, in modified boat pose.  Place a foam block between the feet of several children (strategically spread around the circle).  Play some music and tell the students to pass the blocks from feet to feet (trying NOT to use their hands) around the circle….until the music stops! A ridiculous core exercise that will help them with balance, coordination, and stress (teaching them to breathe when the pressure is on).  Keep it fun… no one has to be out!
***For Added Level of Difficulty: Pass the block is full modified Boat Pose (HANDS OFF THE FLOOR)!!!

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Yoga Games For 5 Year Olds and Under

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Want to engage your toddler group?  Keep them focused and flowing for longer?  Break up your class structure! Add in transitions, change up the style, and keep it moving!  These are some best practices that I have experimented and adapted for best results:

Yoga Freeze Dance

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At this age children can’t be expected to remember specific poses.  Begin by playing some music for free movement expression, after a minute or two pause the song and demonstrate the pose you would like them to copy (mountain, star, tabletop).  Be PATIENT. The children will not transition as quickly as you: give them time to realize the song has paused and give them time to copy your pose. Once most (if not all) children are in the pose, begin playing music for free movement expression again.  REPEAT.
Optimal Engagement will last anywhere from 5- 7 minutes depending on the majority age of the class.

Songs and Rhymes

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5 and unders are easily engaged with rhymes and songs.  It is a wonderful way for them to process, learn, retain, and recall.  Using some familiar songs will promote participation and encourage memorization.  Some rhymes I find particularly easy to incorporate:
Old MacDonald Had A Farm- pick an animal, perform the pose, sing the song
London Bridge- Get into bridge pose, alternate lifting legs while singing the song, allow the children to tumble down and rest
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- Alternate between star pose and crescent pose, maybe add a little shimmering in there too!!

Picture to Pose

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This works like flashcards: Have a handful of images (that you can turn into poses I.e. flower, chair, moon, etc.) to show the children.  Allow them to name the image, tell you its color, multiple names (ie coat or jacket), the name in a different language, etc.  Guide engagement with each image and give them time to incorporate any new words and the image into their word bank. Then practice the pose associated with the image.  You can use words built around a theme or a letter.

If you’d like to practice some of these games with me, you can watch and move to my FREE toddler yoga video: “Good Morning!” Just fill out the form below, receive the link and press play!