5 Poses To Get Kids Moving

Engage and Energize Kids with Creative Movements, Whether in Class or at Home! - By Samantha Knox

Reading time: 4 minutes

I have been working with kids for 10 years and teaching them yoga for 5. They love to move, don’t they? I can tell you; they do not need to be taught how to do it. Helping kids get their wiggles out with yoga inspired movements can not only benefit their physical and emotional health, but it can also be fun!

While it is tempting to share all the valuable lessons, we adults learn on our mats with the younger generations, I’ve found that kids are much more interested in being allowed to move freely in their own bodies with gentle barriers.

They spend a lot of time being told what to do, and a kids movement class is the perfect time to reinforce a healthy sense of trusting their own bodies to move and play in a way that feels natural to them.

These yoga* inspired movements have been modified to maximize fun and mobility and incorporate some familiar yoga postures as a very loose structure. Modern kids are in desks 8 hours a day and spend large chunks of their time interacting with screens or being asked to follow specific instructions.

Now more than ever kids need movement through play and to cut loose. When creating a kids movement class, try to pick four or five postures like the ones listed below to anchor the practice, repeating the moves throughout the class to offer familiarity, and to encourage a sense of mastery over the movements. Once the kids have done a pose a few times, you could really amp up the silly by adding breathing techniques like lion’s breath or bee breath, kids love sound effects!

When practicing these or any moves at home, just go with the flow, kids will surprise you with how they improvise. As long as the kids are safe in their bodies and respecting the bodies of others, let them move!

While these specific moves were used in movement classes created for ages 4-8, they can easily be adapted and enjoyed by kids younger or older than this range. Here are the 5 poses that have gotten my own daughter, and my students moving, and were the most popular among the kids I have taught:

Hopping frog (malasana)

Based on malasana, have students or child come into squat pose on their mat, leaving a lot of free space around them. Then tell them to pretend to be a frog chasing after a fly. They will take big hops into the air, landing back in a squat pose and can even take it around the room.

The more movement the better! If space is limited, start them at the back of the mat and ask them to hop forward to the front. If this move is done in a sequenced class setting or in the evening at home, it is best to follow it up with some more calming postures or breath practices. Encourage your frogs to ribbit and stick out their tongues to catch some delicious flies.

Train Cars(navasana)

This pose is another noisemaker. Kids can either stay on their mats or form a line on their bottoms. Kids will lean back slightly bringing their toes to the mat to come into a variation of navasana, or boat pose, their arms will be by their sides with elbows bent and they will move their arms by their sides in circular motions like the rods and wheels of a train.

This is a great movement to couple with breath as you can have the kids take in a deep breath and blow out “steam” like a train. Older kids may even challenge themselves by lifting their toes from the mat to engage their core muscles.

Kanagaroo (utkatasana)

Here’s another high energy pose to get kids moving and use some of that big energy they carry around with them. Have kids stand and bend their knees, forming the shape of utkatasana, chair pose, holding their hands in front of their chests. Have the kids take big hops while holding chair pose.

If space is not an issue, have them move around the room and take up some space. But if space is limited, this move can also be done by hopping from the back of the mat to the front of the mat. This is another chance for them to move around the room and take up some space. A lot of kids love the hopping movements!

Sledge or Surfboard (dhanurasana)

The name of this pose may change depending upon the season. In winter it might make the shape of a sled(sledge), or in summer it might be a surfboard but the inspiration for the pose is dhanurasana, bow pose. Toward the end of class, have the kids come to their bellies on the mat, reaching back to grab the tops of their feet and engage their bellies, lifting their feet with their hands to form the shape of a bow. Kids can rock gently side to side pretending either to be surfing big waves or sliding down a snowy hill.

Crack the Egg(apanasana to savasana)

Did you ever play crack the egg on a trampoline? If not, it’s a simple game. One person lies on their back in an egg shape and the others jump around them on the trampoline trying to make them lose their shape and spread out like a runny egg. In this pose, each kid will be the egg, and they can either crack themselves or you can give them a very gentle assist.

Have kids lie on their mat near the end of class and come into apanasana, knees to chest pose, curled up tight into a little round egg. This is also a good time to talk to them about gathering up any worries or leftover energy and holding it there to say “hi” and “goodbye” to it for now.

After a having them take a few breaths in their egg shape, you can either lightly tap their knees or simply have them imagine a big crack forming from their head to their toes, releasing their limbs, worries, or leftover energy onto the mat and slowly melting into savasana. Engaging their imaginations through visualization helps kids ease into relaxation a little more at the end of a practice.

So, whether practicing with your own children at home or introducing a bit more playfulness into a kid's yoga class, get silly and get moving!

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