Our learning groups are restarting June 10 with very limited availability and lots of new adjustments to create safety. Here’s what you need to know before joining us and options for how to join!
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Tag: kids yoga
Quarantine To-Do’s
Whew, is it getting real enough out there for you?
The days go by and we know that coming up with inspiring projects to keep your little one active is no small task.
That’s why each day on the Kids Yoga Garden Facebook page I have been sharing a resource that can be used as a part of your homeschool / unschool / or online schooling routine. Some of the shares have been activities we do at our learning center, and others have been more directed towards our parents and caregivers to offer extra support in this time of need. I’ve also tried to highlight teachers and communities that have a wide breadth of online materials available for use so you can use these projects as a starting point for online searches.
To keep things simple, I will collect all the project links here organized by category and update as this project continues. If you’d like to see something in particular, like more art projects or cooking recipes, please let me know so I can keep it tailored to your needs.
Quarantine PLAYlist:
Art Projects:
- God’s Eye Weaving Craft. Video
- DIY Play Dough with Kru Georgie of Chiang Mai Drama Centre
- Draw Along with Me “Happy Sun” with Deep Space Sparkle
- Magical Thailand Coloring book by Magical Thailand
- Crafting with Shabby Tree Paper Plate Hats
- DIY sidewalk chalk photobooth from Kids Yoga Garden
Yoga and Movement for Children:
- Rub Your Hands Yoga Warm-up Song by Karma Kids and Kids Yoga Garden
- Wiggle Like a Worm Sun Salutation Song by Yogiful
- Full free yoga classes with Cosmic Kids Yoga – Pokemon Episode
- Chair Yoga Video with Calm Classrooms and worksheets
- KidFit water bottle workout video and KidFit Easter with Reenie Brooking
- Sun Salutations for Kids Video by Kids Yoga Garden
- Gratitude Relaxation by Yoga 4 Classrooms
Cooking:
- Papaya Salad Recipe by Kids Yoga Garden
- Banoffee Recipe by Eco Logic Thailand
- Taste the Rainbow cooking class by Sunny Days Organic
- Tiny Green Chef Free Cooking Lesson
Science:
- Mystery Science Adventures with Doug. Mini Lesson on Viruses
- COVID activity book: “Why is this virus making me stay home” printable
- Daisy Creek Farms regrow your vegetables video tutorial
- Imagination Tree 5 Things to Do in the Rain activity list
- Bird Snacks by Sprouting Wild Ones
- Earth Day Printablesby Little Bins for Little Hands
Math & Music:
Storytelling:
- The Princess and the Pea with Fairy tales with Belle by Cascadia Cosplay
Parent Resources
- Free Adult Yoga classes by Yogamour
- Free Live Streaming Yoga Classes with Chiang Mai based Annie Bliss.
- Supporting Children’s Emotional and Mental health with mindful meditation, free 3 part online workshop by Divine Light Yoga.
- Parent and Teacher Resource Center by Dictionary.com
We’d also like to remind you that when all else fails and you are feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath and create some boundaries that create space for both you and your little. Maybe its a little play and dance break together, maybe its 20 minutes of “independent” time where you can both try something you love, maybe its learning how to fold clothes like Maria Kondo and getting some house work together. The biggest way you can support your child is by spending time with them, it doesn’t need to be completely structured and educational to aid in development. You are already doing enough. ❤
More to come! Take care out there and share your pictures with us, we’d love to see how they look through your eyes.
Sun Salutations
We often get asked by our parents, “What’s that song, the one with the sun in it that my child can’t stop singing.” It never fails to bring a smile to our lips as we know instantaneously exactly what they are referring to.
The answer?
It’s Dance for the Sun by Kira Wiley, our very favorite way to teach one of the most fundamental set of postures in traditional yoga asana in a fun and child-friendly way.
Sun Salutations are a part of both the Hatha & Ashtanga yoga lineages and have been incorporated into most schools of yoga today. They include a slightly variable set of yoga poses linked by breath to create a smooth circuit of prana (life energy) running throughout the body. Simply put, Sun Salutations help warm up the body, increase the heart rate, and create heat needed for deeper and stronger yoga poses that follow in the practice.
For children, Sun Salutations can be an essential landmark or focal point for the children to grab onto during a yoga class. Students who have heard the song many times before may feel comfortable singing and will link the movements automatically with ease while newer students may enjoy listening and following along their peers and the teacher.
It’s a fun and easy way to engage children in traditional practice without requiring a lot of teaching or modelling.
How to practice:
For a little context watch this video of one of our class practices.
- Do a light warm-up of the joints in the body especially the wrists and ankles.
- If students are new you can take a moment before to introduce:
- Mountain Pose
- Forward Fold
- Plank
- Cobra
- Down Dog
- Play the song: Dance for the Sun by Kira Wiley.
- Follow the movements as directed by the song
Benefits:
Yoga pose vinyasa: The sun salutation is a group of yoga poses linked together by breath to create a sequence of movement. It is the only traditional part of the physical yoga practice that traditionally promotes cardio-vascular health.
Sequencing: Learning postures in sequence helps develop memory function as well as coordination and problem solving.
Rhythmic breathing alleviates stress, oxygenates the brain, strengthen lung capacity and builds respiratory endurance.
Yoga poses: help build good posture habits, stabilize the core, strengthen the extremities and develop balance.
Try it out at home and let us know what you think!
Interested in learning more about sharing the practice of yoga for children? Learn more about our training programs here.
Visiting Chiang Mai
Each year we are visited by new students from around the world and this last year was no exception as kids from Korea, Spain, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Germany, the United States, Mexico, Canada, the UK, France and more came to join our programs.
Chiang Mai is a magical intersection of intersections and in recent years the offerings for children and families have risen substantially. Full day trips, new play-friendly cafes and an abundance of special course offerings help offer families creative options for education and childcare while travelling.
If your planning a trip to Chiang Mai we highly recommend these guides by local writers and long-time residents:
- Lonely Planet : What to do with Kids in Chiang Mai
- Chiang Mai Family Guide- 10 awesome things to do in Chiang Mai with Kids
- Cape Kantary V. 23 – Community Crossroads
Of course you are also welcome to come by and see us and we’ll have plenty of recommendations as well!
Weekly Pop-ups Around Town!
We know our families come from all around the beautiful city of Chiang Mai and want to make sure our classes are accessible and easy to reach! That’s why we are teaming up with Chiang Mai Drama Centre to bring you two weekday classes for early years yogis.
Tuesday evenings 5-6 pm is your chance to join our after school yoga club with 8 weeks of yogic learning and growth. Come in and join for a single session or sign up for a whole group of classes!
Wednesday morning is our class for little yogis 1.5-4 years old and their caregivers. Join us 9:30 am – 10:30 am for playful yoga, movement, chanting and lots of giggles and cuddles.
Send us a message to let us know you are joining in!
Homeschool meet up group back soon
Another session of Homeschool meet-up group is around the corner and we have spaces open. Students ages 4-10 are welcome to join our Tuesday and Thursday activities 9 am – 3 pm.
Summer of PLAY
This month we are open each and every day to give you lots of opportunities to try something new, hone creativity and enjoy movement. Our weekday activities are completely booked but we welcome you to come join our weekend workshops which will feature a blend of traditional Thai cooking, baking, crafting, tie dying and more. As this will be a busy time, please send us a message or email to reserve places for your children.
Click the photos to join our Facebook Events!
Family time for connection
We know that you are busy, between work, home life, school and after school activities. There’s a whole lot happening week to week to keep track of and with all the bustle, we often lose track of the connection that makes it all worth while. Family yoga is a great time to connect and share with your own family and build healthy traditions that can anchor your week. Check out this article in the Charlotte Observer for more benefits of practicing yoga as a family.
Our Family Yoga Circle is each Thursday afternoon 3:45 – 5 pm is the perfect chance come as you are for a laid-back playful circle created especially for families of 1-3 year olds. This is a no pressure environment for families of littles who are looking for a way to joyfully bond with their child and make connections with other families.
For families of older kiddos, we welcome you to our family yoga class Sunday evenings 5-6 pm. This class is suited best for families of 4-10 year olds and will teach yoga basics intertwined with themes and stories.
For families of younger and upper teens, we recommend booking private or group sessions on weekday or weekend evenings.
“Yoga emphasizes the power of connection; connecting movement with breath, connecting in with the self, and connecting with others.”
- -Margot Brinley-
A Weekend View
Creativity syncopated by the joyful beat of play, that’s what weekends in the garden feel like to us and what we hope to offer the 3 to 10 year olds who come from around the city and world to interact with us each weekend. Take a look and see what we are up to.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
―
Yoga at the Project World School Summit
Living in a small transient city demands a nature of flexibility necessary to ride the waves of hellos, goodbyes and bumping into dear friends in public places at every turn. Every season we get to meet new sorts of travelers in our learning space and offer them a place to connect with our community that is in constant practice of inclusion.
In fact, this has become a very audible practice as we end our yoga classes with a chorus of thank you’s from all the languages present. Among the languages are also different learning styles, those that attend traditional school and visit us on the weekend, those that are a part of our homeschool group, those that are parts of nomadic families and world schooling their way around the globe, those that are on school breaks. Yoga, along with our other creative workshops, helps us establish connection with our bodies and others in shared space. It’s a foundation on which we can encourage non violence, truthfulness, and other values that foster community.
This fall we were honored to team up with Project World School to bring some yoga into their week long kids camp and summit in Chiang Mai. Thanks to Sarah Lorimer Photography for these beautiful snaps that peer into the world of a kids yoga class with students from around the world.
Cleaning up our space
Om
Chanting
Finding body parts
Downward Dog
Sun Salutations
Leaves of the same vine
Monkey see, monkey do
Trees in the breeze
สวนโยคะเด็ก 