Multiple benefits of Yoga for children
The benefits of yoga go beyond just exercise. Right now, we are living a stressful situation. This might be influencing our children negatively and could be leaving an impact on their innate happiness. Yoga exercises can help them ease this pressure. Yoga has multiple benefits for children.
- Yoga postures strengthen children not only physically but also mentally.
- Breathing exercises during yoga improve their energy levels.
- Yoga improves their behaviour and self-regulation.
- Yoga improves co-ordination and balance, while developing awareness of their body.
- Yoga increases confidence.
Here are some links to guide you in this journey, enjoy, Namaste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X655B4ISakg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4CaR0syf1g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlg052EKMtk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_0P5grVoyg
Act out stories
Creative story telling
Children love listening to stories. While listening to stories they create original images in their mind. This stimulates their imagination. Find time to read stories, with exciting adventures, to your child and encourage him/her to act out the story while you are reading it. Leave him/her free to listen to the story and have fun with movement.
While reading your book discuss the characters in the story and encourage children to act out the characters, they can:
- flap their wings like a butterfly,
- balance on one foot like a flamingo,
- walk like a crab,
- pretend to be a seed,
- walk like a bear with their hands and feet on the floor,
- stomp their feet like an elephant,
- stretch like a dog wagging its tail.
These are all yoga poses. You will be surprised how many actions turn out naturally and how similar they are to yoga poses.
During creative storytelling children practice listening skills and comprehension skills through physical activity.
Creating their own stories
You can invent a story yourself or encourage your child to invent his own. (Childen over the age of three can already invent stories of their own).
Choose topics your children find interesting such as dinosaurs, at the zoo, sea, outer space, in the jungle, a movie theme or a place you already visited. Children are motivated when they talk about their favourite themes. Help them expand the story by asking them questions to prompt their thinking.
Bring their stories to life by encouraging them to act it out and do yoga poses.
Ms Marita Cachia K2.3
St Ignatius College, Patri Ġużè Delia, Siġġiewi Primary 