It’s that time of year again when the weather is cold and the kids are cooped up all morning in the classroom. What to do when there’s limited space? A great option is kid’s yoga! After a long day at school or even to get your morning circle going yoga is a great outlet for all that energy. There are some great resources on the web and you tube that you can use but it really only requires a little bit of imagination. In our preschool music classes, the children use their imagination to explore anything from sounds to sights. Using their creative energy and inspiring ideas is what makes our music and story adventures come alive. Since the cold weather and gloomy sky has been hanging on, we decided to add a colorful rainbow story to introduce the colors for Valentine’s Day but this can be used for any gloomy day.
We had the children use their imagination and find out what are the colors in their neighborhood and sang “What are the Colors in Our Neighborhood.” As the kids picked out each color I had them use colorful foam sheets to make a rainbow on the floor. We then took color ribbons and pretended to paint a rainbow while listening to our song called “Let’s All Paint a Rainbow!” By the time we used our imagination to pretend paint the room the kids had smiles on their faces and forgot about that gloomy day! Once we finished it was time to settle down and have a seat on a colorful foam piece that also happens to make a fabulous mini yoga mat.
Have each child then find their own space on their mini yoga mat and turn the lights down low. I played the “Rainbow Connection” version by Sarah McLaughlin and guided them through the steps of making a beautiful rainbow by stretching up and reaching for the clouds. You can then have the kids imagine the rain coming down and swaying in the wind. As the rain stops the kids stretch from side to side creating the sun coming up and creating a beautiful rainbow that reaches high in the sky. The kids loved it and so did the teachers! By the end of the class the children were mellow and the sun actually came out to brighten the room. AHHHHHH! Namaste.