Photo by stux

It’s hard to believe the upcoming school year is already almost here! The start of a new school year can bring out a range of emotions for kids. Whether going back to school (or starting school for the first time) is a positive or negative experience for your child, it often brings excitement and anxiety. Today we’re sharing some of our favorite back-to-school yoga activities to help your child experience a calm and peaceful transition to the school year. All of these activities can be done at home or in the classroom!

Mindful Breathing

  • Taking deep breaths is a great way for kids to calm their minds and bodies. One of our favorite mindful breathing activities for back-to-school is blowing worry bubbles. Alex and Christine learned this breathing activity while receiving their Kidding Around Yoga trainings. Instruct your child to imagine they are chewing a special kind of gum. While they chew their gum, they should pick a worry to blow out into their bubble. Worries might include nervousness about their school, teacher, classroom, friends, homework, etc. Take in a deep breath, and pretend to blow your worry out into a bubble. Repeat for three breaths. Now that the worry is out of your child’s mind and body, count to three, and pretend to throw the bubble out the window. Check out our mindful breathing blog post for more mindful breathing activities!

Child’s Pose

  • Child’s pose is a great restful and relaxing yoga pose. Have your child rest in child’s pose for several minutes to relieve stress. Other benefits of child’s pose include stretching the hips, thighs, and ankles, as well as relief of back and neck pain. Your child can make this pose fun by pretending to be a mouse, rock, seed, shell, etc.

Visualization

Encourage your child to visualize a special place that makes them feel happy and peaceful. This can be done while seated or lying down. You can give your child examples of a special place to imagine, such as the beach, a garden, the park, their bedroom, etc. Kidding Around Yoga’s version of this is the Secret Garden, where children are encouraged to imagine that they are flying on a magic carpet that is taking them to their special place. When they arrive to their secret garden, they can be alone or they can invite a friend/relative/pet/etc. Try playing peaceful music in the background while your child spends a few minutes visualizing their special place.

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Loving-kindness meditation is perfect for back-to-school because it encourages kids to feel connected to themselves and others. They can send well wishes to themselves and other students for the new school year. They can send positive thoughts such as: may you feel happy, may you feel safe, may you feel peace, you are enough; may I feel happy, may I feel safe, may I feel peace, I am enough; I wish you/myself a great school year; etc. You and your child can be creative with the specific messages you want to send. Check out our Valentine’s Day blog post for more information about loving-kindness meditation.

Stop, Breathe, & Think App

  • We love the Stop, Breathe, & Think Kids app! Their easy-to-use app has a variety of “mindfulness missions” for kids. Topics include quiet, focus, caring and connecting, energizing, meltdown, open mind, sleep, and bedtime stories. Each mission has fun and kid-friendly audio and visuals. Just choose a mission and play it for your child. Educators – sign up and get a free lifetime premium membership to all of their kids’ activities! There is also an adult version for parents and teachers to use to practice mindfulness themselves.

We hope you and your kids enjoy these activities! Best wishes for a peaceful transition to the new school year!

Learn, Play, Namaste,

Alex & Christine

Categories: Kids' Yoga