Pilot Program Updated 2018 hey dee ho P/L
The Pilot Program is an Introductory Course for all new centres. Its purpose is to prepare the children s body and refine their awareness. It allows a gentle progression and development for children. Start with the Pilot Program at any time of the year. Jump back in to join that term s themes once completed. If the children complete the program with ease you could start the term classes at week five. If the children are younger or still struggling with some of the exercises you can start the term at week one after completing the pilot program. 1. Namaste and Opening (2-3 mins) 2. Mindfulness (4-5 mins) 3. Warm-up (3-5 mins) 4. Poses within story (10-15 mins) 5. Namaste and Closing (2-3 mins) Class Structure Contents Wk Theme Props Page 1 Spring Singing Bowl / Magic Stones P 5 2 Summer Glitter Bottle / Magic Stones P 13 3 Autumn Bean Bags / Magic Stones P 20 4 Winter Breathing Ball / Magic Stones P 26 2 P a g e
fun-key yoga is an active mindfulness program for pre-schoolers. Research shows that children who do yoga in a playful but structured environment begin to develop better body awareness and the initial tools for better concentration, co-ordination and balance. Mindfulness is when you are deliberately aware of something and is achieved by relaxed concentration. Teaching Mindfulness We teach mindfulness using elementary techniques using the 5 senses ; Sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. How does it work? Have children concentrate on one sense at a time and discover whatever they can (commonly called state of open awareness ). Over time, the state of mindfulness: Decreases emotions that originate in the amygdala part of the brain (fear, anxiety and other stress-related emotions). Increases the occurrence emotions that originate in pre-frontal cortex part of the brain (focus, empathy, emotional stability and other wellbeing related emotions). Yoga as a scientific system of bodywork works on the. Poses have a sequence or flow that works with the bodies endocrine system; starting at the base glands at the bottom of the body all the way through to the master glands in the brain, optimising the secretion of hormones and balancing the hormones in the body. Category and Order of Poses Spinal twist: Rotation along the axis of the spine Hip openers: Rotate the top of the thigh bones in or out Forward bend: Fold along the hip joints Balancing: Activate deeper layers of abdominal muscles Lower back bend: Back bend pulls from navel downward Upper back bend: Back bend pulls from navel upward Neck and shoulders: Movements in the region Inversions: Any pose with the head lower than the heart 3 P a g e
Some important things to remember when doing fun-key yoga: Note that some poses are repeated but using a different name, for example Mouse pose and Child s pose. Focus on having fun with movement, not on practicing perfectly aligned poses. Cater to their energy levels and different learning styles. Be creative and enjoy yourselves, but please be safe. Wear comfortable clothing and practice barefoot. Room Set-up: Ideally lay out mats in a circle so that there is one for each child and one for you the Presenter, with nobody in front as everyone is equal. If this is not possible because of space limitations or large numbers, lay mats within area provided, so that mats are not touching, and that each child has enough room to move around on their mat without touching another child with you facing them. Everyone has their shoes off, with shoes placed out of the way to one side of the room. Have soft relaxing background music on for entire session except when you are playing specific songs for opening/warm-up etc as per script. 4 P a g e
Week one Spring Opening: Namaste everyone and welcome to our Fun-Key Yoga class. Let s greet each other with our Namaste song. Play Namaste music track by Kira Willey. Point to yourselves as she sings me, point to each other as she sings you, and bow to one another for Namaste. Do deep breathing, raising and lowering arms during instrumental breaks in between verses. Mindfulness: (of sound using a Singing Bowl ) Mindfulness for children is the act of deliberately bringing the children s attention completely to the immediate experience as perceived through the sensory organs. This can be achieved through focusing in a relaxed way on what is being perceived through one of the senses. 1. Focusing on the sound of the singing bowl Sit in a circle with legs crossed and pull up through the top of the head like a string puppet. Ask them to turn on their listening ears so they can hear the bowl sing. Let them know that they can only hear the bowl sing if they stay quiet. Once they are watching intently, either rub a mallet around the rim (as one might play a crystal glass with a finger), or gently tap the side of the bowl with the mallet. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. Slowly lift the mallet away and wait for the sound to stop. Then ask them to close their eyes, listen intently again. This time, ask them in advance to quietly raise their hand when the sound stops. Repeat one more time. 5 P a g e
2. Opening to the ambience sound Ask the children to keep their eyes closed (or close their eyes again), and listen carefully to the sounds around them. It can be sound in the room or outside. Have them identify 3 sounds they can hear. When they open their eyes, have them share the sounds they heard, distance and location. Repeat. 3. Playing with the bowl If you have extra time, pass the bowl around the circle for each child to have a tap. Warm-up: I can hear something, can you? Oooh aah. Did you hear monkeys? They sound like they are having lots of fun, can you pretend to be one too? Let s do our warm up today with the help of those friendly monkeys, and make lots of monkey sounds! Play Monkey Yoga music track by The Amazing Drumming Monkeys. Follow the actions in the song and have fun. Story with Poses: Perform every pose 3 times unless specified. Poses that have 2 sides (right and left) be repeated at least 1 more time on each side unless specified. Inversions are usually not repeated unless specified, but stay longer than other poses. Do at least to the count of 10-20. 6 P a g e
Play Wonderful Chill Out Music music track throughout this section. I love the weather and how it changes with each season. Spring is my favourite, with the weather starting to warm up after the chill of winter. On windy days I love to pretend that I am a huge windmill, like the ones that they have in Holland. Spinning around with the wind. Dutch Windmill (Neck and shoulder roll) Sit on floor with legs crossed Look down to belly Roll the head in half circle, swinging from the right to the left, repeating at least 3 times. Look up, down, right and left. Rotate at shoulder joints in circle, bring elbow forward, up, back and down. Repeat at least 3 times. Reverse the direction. Repeat 3 times. Shrug shoulders as high towards the ears as possible and hold for 2 seconds. Release and repeat 3 times. Finish up with stretching the arms and legs out in front of you and shake the limbs out and wobbling them up and down. Spring is also the time of awakening, when creatures that have perhaps been sleeping or hidden over winter emerge and new plants and animals come to life. You may start to notice caterpillars in your garden. Do you know something amazing about caterpillars and what they can do? They can turn into butterflies! Let s pretend that we can do that too! 7 P a g e Evolving Caterpillar - Start by pretending to be a caterpillar lying on tummy and rest on elbow to lift the upper back, eating leaves. Once the caterpillar gets really big, curl into a cocoon (balasana or child s pose). Resting in silence for a few seconds. Move the body slightly to pretend the butterfly within is waking up. Stretch the right arm (wing) out horizontally, flapping the wing to try out the air outside. Then reach up to the sky, twisting the body to the side and look up to the sky. (Parivritta balasana)
Curl back into the cocoon. Repeat on the left side. When the butterfly is ready, reach both arms out of the cocoon and flap the wings to come up to sitting on the heels. Continue to flap the wings and come up to standing on the feet. Now that the butterfly is out of the cocoon, it needs some nourishment for its body. It needs nectar from flower. Butterfly - Sit with soles of the feet together and knees open to the side. Hold onto the toes and flap the wings (knees) up and down slowly and then faster. Once the thighs are warmed, hold the ankles and roll from knee to knee across the sitting bones. Pretend to fly from right to left a few times. Hold back onto the toes, open the chest and extend the spine from the crown. Holding the soles to the feet against each other, bend down towards the toes to drink nectar from flowers. Repeat 3 times. Not only do animals come to life in Spring, but so do plants and trees. New shoots begin to grow in the soil and flower buds begin to show on fruit trees. If you were a tree, what type of tree would you be? Tree Standing on the feet, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the hips. Lift the right foot slightly off the floor. Then place right foot on the side of the left thigh leg. Either have foot on the side lower leg, below the knee, or (easy) On the inner thigh, above the knee. (advance) Never on the side of the knee itself. Reach hands up towards the sun. In the mountains the snow is melting now that the warmth of spring has come, and the melted snow fills the streams and rivers, making waterfalls flow stronger and even more magnificent than before. 8 P a g e
Waterfall Standing with legs wider than hip-width apart. Lift through the crown and chest. Stretch hands up as high as possible. Pretend that the fingers are the crest or top of a waterfall. Now wriggle the fingers and wave the arms gently like the water falling down to form a waterfall, all the way to the ground. Stay with hands on ground. Let the neck, body, head and arms head droop for a few seconds. Come up slowly and repeat 2-3 times. Insects start to emerge in spring and if you listen carefully you may hear them calling out to one another or even spot them in your garden. Grasshoppers are tricky to spot as their green bodies look just like the leaves that they sit on! Grasshopper Lay on the tummy. Tuck the arms under the body, if possible. Or clench two fists and place the arms and fists alongside the body. Lift one leg off the mat towards the sky. Encourage the children to lift the thigh off the mat. Gently lower the leg and repeat on the other side. Lift both legs off the mat at the same time. Encourage the children to lift their thighs off the mat. Gently lower the legs and repeat 2-3 times. With the warmer weather of Spring, creatures that have been in hibernation start to wake up. Let s pretend to be a sleepy cobra, stretching it s long body out after it s huge winter sleep. 9 P a g e
Cobra Laying on tummy. Get into alignment by asking children to tap the sides of their body (ribs area) with their elbows. Then tap shoulders with fingers before putting palms down on the floor. (Ideally, elbows should be close to the ribs and hands on the just to the outer side of the shoulders). Fingers are spread wide. Look forward and curl back slowly as if curling up a piece of paper into a roll. Reach up with the heart. Make hissing sound to encourage children to stay up longer. Lay body down slowly as if taping the body down to the floor. Repeat 2-3 times. Spring is when the sun and the rain work together in harmony to encourage the plants and flowers to grow and bloom. Listen, I think I hear the rain coming again now. Can you hear it? Child Tell the children the rain is coming, we are going to curl up. Sitting on heels, place the forehead on the floor. Curled up in child s pose. Go to every child and gently drum your fingers on their back, pretending that they are rain drops on their back. Relaxation: (Magic Stones) Play your choice of either How many Stars? by Justine Clarke or Just the way you are by Bruno Mars, or even just continue with the Wonderful Chill Out track played during poses throughout this section. Ensure the music is audible but soft enough so that the children can hear your voice. 10 P a g e
Hand each child a magic stone. Start by explaining to the children that the stone is a Magic Stone. When you firstly touch it, it is very cold. But if you put it on your body and stay really still, the stone will warm up and it can carry your wishes and love to anyone and anything in the world. Now repeat this guided mediation to them as they lay down either holding the stone in their hand or ideally lay with the stone resting on their forehead. Lay down and feel your body soft and relax. When you breath in, imagine that you are a beautiful flower. What colour are your petals? When you breath out, feel your whole body fresh like a flower. The sun is warming your petals. The earth is supporting you. Breath in, you are a flower. Breath out, you are fresh and beautiful. You are a flower. You are fresh and beautiful. Flower. Fresh. Now feel the magic stone on your forehead. Think of something or someone that makes you happy. It can be your favourite toy, your best friend or pet. Someone or something very special to you. Send them love, lots and lots of love. Say I love you, and thank you to them for making you so happy. Now take a deep breath. Hold your stone in your hands and open your eyes and slowly sit up. Say thank you to the stone for sending your love and wishes to the special something or someone. 11 P a g e
Closing: Thank you for joining me today for Fun-key Yoga as we marvelled at the wonders of Spring. Who can remember some of the yoga poses that we did? We became windmills; caterpillars that turned into butterflies; trees; waterfalls; bright green grasshoppers; a stretching cobra; then turned ourselves back into children to listen to the rain! Goodbye for now and namaste. Play Namaste music track by Jenny Wilkinson, either singing song together with the children using backing track (lyrics below), or playing track with vocals and just bowing to each other for goodbye. Namaste, Namaste, the light in me sees the light in you, Namaste 12 P a g e
Week two Summer Opening: Namaste everyone and welcome to our Fun-Key Yoga class. Let s greet each other with our Namaste song. Play Namaste music track by Kira Willey. Point to yourselves as she sings me, point to each other as she sings you, and bow to one another for Namaste. Do deep breathing, raising and lowering arms during instrumental breaks in between verses. Mindfulness: (of sight using a Glitter Bottle ) 1. Have the children come and sit in a close circle. 2. Explain to the children: The jar is like our mind, and there are lots of things in our mind, like these glitters. When we wake up, things are pretty settled, quiet and calm. (Show how all the glitter has settled on the bottom of the jar). But soon, things start swirling around. We come to kinder (or childcare or school depending on where your class is) and see lots of people, hear lots of noises, see lots of new things in the room etc. All these begin to spin inside our mind. (Swirl the jar in a circle). Then something happens like we didn t get our favourite toy, we fell down and hurt our knees etc. (Shake the jar). Now we don t feel very good. What can we do to feel better? We sit quietly and let all the things in the mind settle, just like the glitter in this jar. Now let s try it together. 3. Swirl and shake the jar and then have them watch the glitter settle at the bottom. 4. Pick up the bottle once the glitter is settled and ask them to see how clear everything is once the glitter settles. 5. Encourage the children to sit quietly next time they don t feel very good. 13 P a g e
Warm-up: I can hear something, can you? Oooh aah. Did you hear monkeys? They sound like they are having lots of fun, can you pretend to be one too? Let s do our warm up today with the help of those friendly monkeys, and make lots of monkey sounds! Play Monkey Yoga music track by The Amazing Drumming Monkeys. Follow the actions in the song and have fun. Story with Poses: Play Wonderful Chill Out Music music track throughout this section. The season known as Summer is the hottest of the four seasons. Not only does the sun shine stronger, the wind often blows warmer as well. Let s become windmills being blown by the warm north wind together now. Dutch Windmill (Neck and shoulder roll) Sit on floor with legs crossed. Look down to belly. Roll the head in half circle, swinging from the right to the left, repeating at least 3 times. Look up, down, right and left. Rotate at shoulder joints in circle, bring elbow forward, up, back and down. Repeat at least 3 times. Reverse the direction. Repeat 3 times. Shrug shoulders as high towards the ears as possible and hold for 2 seconds. Release and repeat 3 times. Finish up with stretching the arms and legs out in front of you and shake the limbs out and wobbling them up and down. 14 P a g e
There are places where it feels like it s summer all year round that are almost entirely made up of what looks like one giant beach! the desert! Although it seems hot, dry and with not much life, some animals thrive in the desert, loving the hot sandy environment. One of these is the cute little meerkats! Let s pretend to be meerkats together now, peering around their desert home, looking around to see who might be about. Meerkat - Sit comfortably with legs crossed. Hands on knees. Keep the sitting bones on the mat, draw a big circle with the top of your head in the sky by moving the chest forward, to the side, back and opposite side. Repeat. On a hot summer s day, there is no place nicer than the cool shade of a big tree. Tree Standing on the feet, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the hips. Lift the right foot slightly off the floor. Then place right foot on the side of the left thigh leg. Either have foot on the side lower leg, below the knee, or (easy) On the inner thigh, above the knee. (advance) Never on the side of the knee itself. Reach hands up towards the sun. Summer is also the season for picnics! Packing a yummy picnic and heading outdoors somewhere like a lovely park or the beach, to sit down and enjoy our food together. What kind of sandwiches will you pack in your picnic today? 15 P a g e
Sandwich Sit on bottom with legs stretched out in front, spine straight and tall. Use index fingers to slowly crawl your fingers from top of the thighs to the toes like you are slowing spreading butter on a piece of bread to make a sandwich. Lift arms up over the head to straighten the body and repeat 2-3 times (perhaps putting on other toppings). On really warm days I sometimes wish that I was a creature that could spend it s days in a nice cool pool or pond. Imagine being a frog! You could swim all day long, how lovely! Frog Stand with legs wide apart. Squat so hips are close to the mat. Arms between the legs and hands onto the mat, between the feet. Hop up and catch some flies. Repeat 3 times. Some frogs are green, can you think of another creature that is green? What about a grasshopper?! Grasshopper Lay on the tummy. Tuck the arms under the body, if possible. Or clench two fists and place the arms and fists alongside the body. Lift one leg off the mat towards the sky. Encourage the children to lift the thigh off the mat. Gently lower the leg and repeat on the other side. Lift both legs off the mat at the same time. Encourage the children to lift their thighs off the mat. Gently lower the legs and repeat 2-3 times. 16 P a g e
Did you know that there are even some types of cobras that are green? They are such a bright beautiful colour green that helps them to blend in perfectly with the leaves of the trees that they live in. Cobra Laying on tummy. Get into alignment by asking children to tap the sides of their body (ribs area) with their elbows. Then tap shoulders with fingers before putting palms down on the floor. (Ideally, elbows should be close to the ribs and hands on the just to the outer side of the shoulders). Fingers are spread wide. Look forward and curl back slowly as if curling up a piece of paper into a roll. Reach up with the heart. Make hissing sound to encourage children to stay up longer. Lay body down slowly as if taping the body down to the floor. Repeat 2-3 times. But one of my favourite things to do in summer is to head to the beach and lay under a beach umbrella in the sand and listen to the waves and summer sounds all around me. Child Tell the children to curl up and rest in the shade of their beach umbrella, and wait to feel and hear water splashing on them from a little wave that has rolled up onto the shore. Sitting on heels, place the forehead on the floor. Curled up in child s pose. Go to every child and gently drum your fingers on their back, pretending that they are water drops on their back. 17 P a g e
Relaxation: (Magic Stones) Play your choice of either How many Stars? by Justine Clarke or Just the way you are by Bruno Mars, or even just continue with the Wonderful Chill Out track played during poses throughout this section. Ensure the music is audible but soft enough so that the children can hear your voice. Hand each child a magic stone. Start by explaining to the children that the stone is a Magic Stone. When you firstly touch it, it is very cold. But if you put it on your body and stay really still, the stone will warm up and it can carry your wishes and love to anyone and anything in the world. Now repeat this guided mediation to them as they lay down either holding the stone in their hand or ideally lay with the stone resting on their forehead. Lay down and feel your body soft and relax. When you breath in, feel your body expanding like a balloon, and when you breath out, feel your body becoming lighter. Breath in, your body is expanding. Breath out, your body is getting lighter. As your body gets lighter and lighter, you begin to float up like a balloon, away from the floor and up and up to the sky. Floating in the in the sky, now think of someone you special to you, someone you love. It could be mummy, daddy, your teacher, your best friend Send them love, lots and lots of love. Say I love you, and thank you to them. Now take a deep breath. Hold your stone in your hands and open your eyes and slowly sit up. Say thank you to the stone for sending your love and wishes to the special person. 18 P a g e
Closing: Thank you for joining me today for Fun-key Yoga as we enjoyed the warmth of Summer. Who can remember some of the yoga poses that we did? We became windmills; meerkats; trees; made sandwiches; became hopping frogs; bright green grasshoppers; a stretching cobra; then turned ourselves back into children! Goodbye for now and namaste. Play Namaste music track by Jenny Wilkinson, either singing song together with the children using backing track (lyrics below), or playing track with vocals and just bowing to each other for goodbye. Namaste, Namaste, the light in me sees the light in you, Namaste. 19 P a g e
Week three Autumn Opening: Namaste everyone and welcome to our Fun-Key Yoga class. Let s greet each other with our Namaste song. Play Namaste music track by Kira Willey. Point to yourselves as she sings me, point to each other as she sings you, and bow to one another for Namaste. Do deep breathing, raising and lowering arms during instrumental breaks in between verses. Mindfulness: (of touch using Beanbags to walk on) 1. Lay the beanbags on the floor in a line. 2. Have the children line up. 3. Older children can have another bag on the top of their head (to balance). More advanced could even have bags on their head and both palms facing up. 4. Encourage children to walk on the bags like they are stepping stones to the other end, slowly. Warm-up: Have the children start to dance around with the Twinkle Twist track, then as vocals come on do actions as per instructions within music track provided. There are two instrumental breaks during the song, during these breaks, choose some different actions to do such as star jumps, jogging on the spot etc. Perhaps even have the children help choose what action to do. Play Twinkle Twist music track by Hannah Kane. 20 P a g e
Story with Poses: Play Wonderful Chill Out Music music track throughout this section. The season of Autumn brings us earlier sunsets and longer nights, and is the perfect time to take a look at the night sky and look in wonder at all of the stars and planets that you can see there. Let s pretend to take a look together now and tell me what you see. Stargazing Bring palms together in prayer position in front of the heart. Drop the head to look at the finger tips. Reach arms over the head to the sky, and follow with your eyes. Drop the head back and look to the fingers. Keep palms together, lower the hands to align with right shoulder. Turn head to right and look at finger tips. Raise arms over head and to the left in a half circle motion. Follow with the head and keep the gaze to the tips of the fingers. Draw the hands back to the front of the heart. Repeat 2 times. Autumn also brings more rain which means more muddy puddles for us to jump and splash in as we go for walks. I think my dog loves walking and jumping in muddy puddles almost as much as I do. He always gives himself a big shake afterwards to get all of the water off, and if I don t jump out of the way quickly enough, he gets me all wet too! Dogshake - Standing with feet slightly apart, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the shoulders. Let s get those drops of water off! now bend the body to the right, bring the right elbow to the right hip. Bend to the left, left elbow on left hip. Repeat 2-3 times. Rotate along the spine, spinning the shoulders and elbows in a half circle from side to side quickly for a few seconds. Slow down the spinning and eventually stopping. Close your eyes and enjoy the stillness. 21 P a g e
Some trees in Autumn change colour as their leaves turn red, brown, gold, and yellow. The leaves eventually fall off covering the ground all around the tree and blowing around in the wind. Tree Standing on the feet, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the hips. Lift the right foot slightly off the floor. Then place right foot on the side of the left thigh leg. Either have foot on the side lower leg, below the knee, or (easy) On the inner thigh, above the knee. (advance) Never on the side of the knee itself. Reach hands up towards the sun. Sometimes if a particularly big gust of wind comes along, many leaves will fall off the tree at once, making a golden waterfall as they flutter down to the ground. Waterfall Standing with legs wider than hip-width apart. Lift through the crown and chest. Stretch hands up as high as possible. Pretend that the fingers are the crest or top of a waterfall. Now wriggle the fingers and wave the arms gently like the water falling down to form a waterfall, all the way to the ground. Stay with hands on ground. Let the neck, body, head and arms head droop for a few seconds. Come up slowly and repeat 2-3 times. Autumn is the time when you might be lucky enough to see grasshoppers digging in the soil to lay their eggs, which will hatch once the weather becomes warm again the following Spring and Summer. 22 P a g e
Grasshopper Lay on the tummy. Tuck the arms under the body, if possible. Or clench two fists and place the arms and fists alongside the body. Lift one leg off the mat towards the sky. Encourage the children to lift the thigh off the mat. Gently lower the leg and repeat on the other side. Lift both legs off the mat at the same time. Encourage the children to lift their thighs off the mat. Gently lower the legs and repeat 2-3 times. As the weather gets cooler in Autumn, frogs start to search for places to burrow themselves down in preparation for hibernating over winter. Those autumn leaves often come in handy for this, let s pretend to dig around in the leaves like frogs together now! Frog Stand with legs wide apart. Squat so hips are close to the mat. Arms between the legs and hands onto the mat, between the feet. Hop up and catch some flies. Repeat 3 times. Autumn often brings on windy weather, not only making the leaves fall from the trees, but whipping up the sea creating choppy waves with whitecaps that make the boats out on the water rock wildly from side to side. 23 P a g e Rocking Boat Lay on the tummy with forehead on the mat. Legs are parted. Curl the legs back towards the body, hold the ankle, toes or wherever possible. Lift head and chest off the mat. Lift knees off the mat, pulling with your arms to make a bow shape. Stay for 2-3 seconds and gently lay the body down. Repeat 2-3 times. If the children are strong, ask them to rock the boat back and forth or/and side to side, rolling over the tummy and ribs area.
Sometimes if there are lit candles in the house at night time, the wind will blow in through an open door and cheekily blow the candle out like magic! Candle Lay on the back. Curl the legs in towards the chest and cuddle the legs for a few seconds (This neutralises the spine). Gently rock from side to side slightly in this curled up position. Lift the legs up towards the sky as high as possible. If the children are strong enough, ask them to lift their hips off the floor, but use their hands to support the back of their hips to keep the hips up. Relaxation: (Magic Stones) Play your choice of either How many Stars? by Justine Clarke or Just the way you are by Bruno Mars throughout this section. Bring out the magic stones and explain to the children that: o The stone is very cold. o They will each put it on their head when they lay down. o If they stay very still and not let the stone fall, the stone will slowly become warm. Ask the children to lay down in starfish pose feeling their bodies relax and letting their arms and legs flop out to the side like a starfish. Turn on one of the music tracks as per above. Place the magic stone on the forehead of each child asking them to lay as still as they can to keep the stone balanced on their foreheads. Go around during the song and if necessary help any child that may be having trouble. 24 P a g e
At the end of the song, ask them to open their eyes, grab hold of the stone, and sit up slowly. Have them hold the stone in their hands and feel the warmth of the stone. Cup their hands with the stone inside, close their eyes and make a wish. Then blow the wish into the stone so that the stone can keep their wish. Say thank you to the stone. Closing: Thank you for joining me today for Fun-key Yoga as we enjoyed the colourful season of Autumn. Who can remember some of the yoga poses that we did? We looked upwards and did some stargazing; we washed our dogs; stood tall like trees; felt the cool water of a waterfall; became hopping frogs; bright green grasshoppers; a rocking boat; then a flickering candle! Goodbye for now and namaste. Play Namaste music track by Jenny Wilkinson, either singing song together with the children using backing track (lyrics below), or playing track with vocals and just bowing to each other for goodbye. Namaste, Namaste, the light in me sees the light in you, Namaste 25 P a g e
Week four Winter Opening: Namaste everyone and welcome to our Fun-Key Yoga class. Let s greet each other with our Namaste song. Play Namaste music track by Kira Willey. Point to yourselves as she sings me, point to each other as she sings you, and bow to one another for Namaste. Do deep breathing, raising and lowering arms during instrumental breaks in between verses. Mindfulness: (of breath using a Breathing Ball - Hoberman Sphere) 1. Have the children sit in a circle and introduce the breathing ball. Show how the ball can expand and contract slowly. 2. Explain that we have a similar ball in our tummy, using the ball as a visual aid. 3. When we breath in, it grows bigger (slowly pull to expand the ball as you breath in), and shrinks smaller when we breath out (push the ball back in). 4. You can pass the ball around for each child to try it. 5. Put away the ball and have the children put their hands on their tummy. Ask them to breath in and pull their tummy ball to make it bigger and when breath out, tuck the tummy ball back inside. 6. Wait 2-3 seconds before taking another breath. 7. Repeat and practice these steps 2-3 times. Warm-up: Have the children start to dance around with the Twinkle Twist track, then as vocals come on do actions as per instructions within music track provided. There are two instrumental breaks during the song, during these breaks, choose some different actions to do such as star jumps, jogging on the spot etc. Perhaps even have the children help choose what action to do. Play Twinkle Twist music track by Hannah Kane. 26 P a g e
Story with Poses: Play Wonderful Chill Out Music music track throughout this section. Winter is the season with the longest nights, and is the perfect time for stargazing as we look up into the night sky in wonder at what we can see there. Stargazing Bring palms together in prayer position in front of the heart. Drop the head to look at the finger tips. Reach arms over the head to the sky, and follow with your eyes. Drop the head back and look to the fingers. Keep palms together, lower the hands to align with right shoulder. Turn head to right and look at finger tips. Raise arms over head and to the left in a half circle motion. Follow with the head and keep the gaze to the tips of the fingers. Draw the hands back to the front of the heart. Repeat 2 times. Winter is also usually the coldest season of the year, with temperatures dropping and rain falling more often. If you forget to carry your umbrella when outside, you may get caught in a rain shower, and have to shake all of the rain droplets off of yourself like a puppy dog before coming back inside! Dogshake - Standing with feet slightly apart, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the shoulders. Let s get those drops of water off! now bend the body to the right, bring the right elbow to the right hip. Bend to the left, left elbow on left hip. Repeat 2-3 times. Rotate along the spine, spinning the shoulders and elbows in a half circle from side to side quickly for a few seconds. Slow down the spinning and eventually stopping. Close your eyes and enjoy the stillness. 27 P a g e
Trees that have lost their leaves over Autumn will look bare and brown over winter, but don t worry, they are just sleeping and resting until spring comes when they will come back to life all over again! Tree Standing on the feet, lift up through the crown and chest open and lifting up towards the sun, place hands on the hips. Lift the right foot slightly off the floor. Then place right foot on the side of the left thigh leg. Either have foot on the side lower leg, below the knee, or (easy) On the inner thigh, above the knee. (advance) Never on the side of the knee itself. Reach hands up towards the sun. Another of my favourite things about winter is that on cold winter nights, it s so lovely to snuggle up toasty and warm in front of an open fire, watching the flames crackle and jump about. Sometimes I look into the flames and imagine that they are little fireworks, dancing about in the fireplace. Fireworks Standing with legs wide apart. Toes pointing out to the sides. Squat as much as possible until the legs are almost parallel to the floor. Make sure that the children s knees are pushing out to the same direction as the toes and not caved in. Keep the spine straight and upright. Stretch the arms out at a right angle at the elbows. Spread the fingers. Pretend to be a firework climbing high into the sky. We ve talked about frogs, insects, cobras and even trees hibernating or sleeping over winter. Can you think of something else that does? Tortoises sleep through winter as well! 28 P a g e
Tortoise Sit and bring the knees together. Cuddle legs in and then place feet on the floor wider than hips. Slide hands under the knees on either side, curl arms back to touch the toes. Let the knees fall out to the side. Curl the back and bring the top of the head to the toes. Repeat 2 times. As the tortoise, cobra and frog sleeps over the cold winter months, the eggs that the grasshopper lay in Autumn are developing and growing into baby grasshoppers deep in the soil where they are buried, ready to hatch once the chill of winter has passed. Grasshopper Lay on the tummy. Tuck the arms under the body, if possible. Or clench two fists and place the arms and fists alongside the body. Lift one leg off the mat towards the sky. Encourage the children to lift the thigh off the mat. Gently lower the leg and repeat on the other side. Lift both legs off the mat at the same time. Encourage the children to lift their thighs off the mat. Gently lower the legs and repeat 2-3 times. The stormy weather of winter means more frequent days of cooler, rainy and windy weather. If you happen to go out in a boat, hold on tight and make sure to wear your lifejacket, as it could get a bit rocky! 29 P a g e
Rocking Boat Lay on the tummy with forehead on the mat. Legs are parted. Curl the legs back towards the body, hold the ankle, toes or wherever possible. Lift head and chest off the mat. Lift knees off the mat, pulling with your arms to make a bow shape. Stay for 2-3 seconds and gently lay the body down. Repeat 2-3 times. If the children are strong, ask them to rock the boat back and forth or/and side to side, rolling over the tummy and ribs area. The earlier sunsets and longer nights of winter means we need to have the lights on in our homes a lot longer. If we are allowed, it s lovely to sometimes have candles burning to create a lovely atmosphere and so we don t have to have quite as many electric lights on in our homes. Candle Lay on the back. Curl the legs in towards the chest and cuddle the legs for a few seconds. (This neutralises the spine.) Gently rock from side to side slightly in this curled up position. Lift the legs up towards the sky as high as possible. If the children are strong enough, ask them to lift their hips off the floor, but use their hands to support the back of their hips to keep the hips up. Relaxation: (Magic Stones) Play your choice of either How many Stars? by Justine Clarke or Just the way you are by Bruno Mars, or even just continue with the Wonderful Chill Out track played during poses throughout this section. Ensure the music is audible but soft enough so that the children can hear your voice. Hand each child a magic stone. Start by explaining to the children that the stone is a Magic Stone. When you firstly touch it, it is very cold. But if you put it on your body and stay really still, the stone will warm up 30 P a g e
and it can carry your wishes and love to anyone and anything in the world. Now repeat this guided mediation to them as they lay down either holding the stone in their hand or ideally lay with the stone resting on their forehead. Lay down and feel your body soft and relax. Imagine your body is like a big snow man. There is snow everywhere. The sun is bright and warm in the big blue sky above you. When you breath in, feel the warm sun on warming your body. When you breath out, feel your snow man body slowly melting away little by little. Now feel the magic stone on your forehead. The stone is getting warmer and warmer too. When the magic stone is very warm, make a wish. Think of something you want to come true. The magic stone will carry your wish and send it up and up and up into the sun. Now take a deep breath. Hold your stone in your hands and open your eyes and slowly sit up. Say thank you to the stone for sending your wish to the sun. Closing: Thank you for joining me today for Fun-key Yoga as we enjoyed the cool season of Winter. Who can remember some of the yoga poses that we did? We looked upwards and did some stargazing; we washed our dogs; stood tall like trees; watched some colourful and exciting fireworks; curled up like a sleepy tortoise; became bright green grasshoppers; a rocking boat; then a flickering candle! Goodbye for now and namaste. Play Namaste music track by Jenny Wilkinson, either singing song together with the children using backing track (lyrics below), or playing track with vocals and just bowing to each other for goodbye. 31 P a g e Namaste, Namaste, the light in me sees the light in you, Namaste