Do you get a sense of glee when you discover new music? Music that is perfect for kids yoga? I know I do! Have you heard of Johnette Downing?

Here are two albums that are great for kids yoga classes:

Fins and Grins

Here are the songs (which you can tell are good for kids yoga just by the titles):

1. Rock Hopper Penguin

2. Amazon ABCs

3. Amphibians

4. Clamshell Clap

5. Circle of Life

6. L'ecrevisse

7. I Want to be a Frog Today

8. A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea

9. Moving Along

10. Stingray Shuffle

11. Camouflage

12. Most Fish Swim

13. Seahorses Listen

14. I Went to the Aquarium

15. Tooth Fairy

16. Turtles

This is a wonderful CD with an aquatic theme. I’ve found lots of songs about cats, dogs, and barnyard animals, but this CD has songs about penguins! Clams! Stingrays! Turtles! Sea Horses! Johnette’s voice is great, and the music is fun and lively. She reminds me of Laurie Berkner, but with a New Orleans style of music. Pretty much all of the songs are great for an ocean themed class!

The Second Line

Song list:

1. Introduction

2. The Second Line

3. Shake Your Scarves

4. Scarves Up and Down and Around

5. Water, Wind and World

6. The Sacroiliac

7. Thread the Needle

8. Scarves on Your Laps

9. Flitter Flutter

10. Crazy Eights

11. Wow!

12. Rhythm In The Scarves

13. Circus Parade

14. The Second Line Reprise

I like to integrate Music and Movement activities into my yoga classes. Is it technically yoga, maybe not, but I think it provides child-friendly body awareness and helps burn off some of their energy so we can do some calming yoga poses. And isn't everything yoga if you are doing it with awareness? These songs are really fun scarf activity songs. Sometimes when we use scarves, I have a few ideas on how to use them and then my mind draws a blank. With these songs you could do a whole class with them!

P.S. This isn't a formal review or anything... I just found something that I like and wanted to share.

Her work can be found at her website and at Amazon.

Namaste,

Carolyn

Carolyn Clarke

www.imaginationsforkids.com

Facebook

Twitter

The longer I teach yoga to kids, the more I look for fun ways for children to experiment and enjoy moving their bodies. Creative movement is such a wonderful way to make exercise and stretching fun! Here are some of my favorite creative movement activities (and although they aren't all exactly yoga poses, they are mind/body exercises):

Dance ribbons- cut long pieces of ribbon or tulle, and tie them onto the end of a stick, unsharpened pencil, or even chopsticks. Turn on music and twirl. You can lead the kids in poses too- arm circles, painting rainbows, etc.
Egg Shakers- one of my favorite props ever... Use Laurie Berkner's I Know A Chicken song.
Hokey Pokey- a classic, but uses balancing skills that help with yoga poses
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes- Touching toes is a forward bend.
Yoga Flows- Let the kids make up their own flows using yoga poses or their own movements

A find that "creative" time is a good balance to poses that require some attention to alignment (Like the warrior poses and Triangle). Reward attention paid to alignment with some creative time afterwards... Or, use creative time to release some energy before moving into poses that require some stillness.

Have fun!