Instructor: Jocelyn Van Hee
Community: Ages 3-6, Setting?, 45 minutes
Plan Creation Date: February 25, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Strength (and Community)/Winter Olympics theme
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Intro – Discuss what the spirit of the Olympic games and how, many people like to go to the Olympics to compete, as well as to support loved ones in far away countries. To be a great athlete, athletes need to be strong emotionally and physically and have the support of their communities. Share how you are going to bring the kids on an Olympic adventure to mountains far away so they can experience what it is like to be a strong Olympian.
- Seated Volcano Breath – Discussed theme and adventure for the day. In order to go to the Olympics and have lots of strength and focus we need to bring a lot of oxygen and breath into our bodies. Have student lead volcano breaths if it is an ongoing class.
Activate
Have students take turns mirroring in the front of the class.
- Opening Ceremony Parade – Have the kids walk around the room in a parade and have them walk with strong and proud legs as they will be competing for their country. You can have students pick a country they would like to compete for.
- Mountain/Warrior 1 – Help guide through a series of winter sport poses focusing on strength. Mountain Pose, Warrior 1 – Ski Jumping – Feel grounded in the four corners of your feet. Power up and shoot laser beams into the sky.
- Warrior 2 – Snowboarding, Feel the strength in your legs as you power down the mountain.
- Airplane or Warrior 3 – figure skating – feel grounded in your standing leg and place the other leg down if you get tired.
- Chair Pose – Alpine Skiing, Standing forward bend-Swing arms back and forth like a speed-skater.
- Staff Pose – Bobsled-pretend you are racing down the mountain with a tall spine.
Calm
- Relaxation-Corpse Pose – lay on your back and pretend you are in a luge speeding down the mountain and then relax at the end. Repeat the series if kids want to do it again. Weave in themes of strength and community in each pose. Being strong for each other on a team, working together on a bobsled to make it down the mountain, ect..
- Relaxation – Visual Imagery – Have the students lie on their backs and relax as you lead them through a story about the Olympics where they are picking their favorite sport to be a part of. Are they soaring high off of a ski jump, twirling on the ice, racing down the mountain, shooting into the hockey goal? Ect…. Have them visualize cheering on their team mates and what it feels like to see their friends succeed and also how they can lift their teammates up even when they may not win. Have them say goodbye to the event and the festivities in their minds as they fly back to their mats.
*Some inspiration found on www.kidsyogastories.com