Resources for Teaching Yoga to Kids
(ages 2 - 6 years)

  • Cover of a children's book titled 'My First Book of Emotions for Toddlers' featuring colorful illustrations of six children expressing various emotions.

    My First Book of Emotions for Toddlers

    Teach the basics about emotions: how to feel them in their bodies, talk about them to others, all to increase a kids’ emotional intelligence.

  • Cover of a children's book titled 'Mindfulness for Little Ones' by Hiedi France, EdD. The cover features children lying on a grassy hill under a sky with white clouds and a sun. The book is aimed at children ages 2 to 5 and includes playful activities to foster empathy, self-awareness, and joy in kids.

    Mindfulness for Little Ones

    Provides brief descriptions of how long activities should be for each age group, and details a variety of activities to teach body awareness, calm and kindness.

  • Children's book cover titled 'Listening Time' by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by Marieke Heinlen, featuring a young girl with dark hair cupping her ears and smiling, with colorful borders and a pink patterned background.

    Listening Time

    Help the little lil’ ones learn to listen. Use the parts of their body to engage in listening to teacher and to one another.

  • Illustration of two children, a boy with red hair and freckles and a girl with dark skin and black hair, smiling and holding hands in a park with trees, grass, and swings in the background. The text reads "Right now, I AM KIND."

    I am Kind

    A sweet, to-the-point book written by a psychologist about why it is important to be kind and how we can show kindness.

  • Colorful illustration of a green caterpillar with yellow eyes and red head, positioned above the word "CALM" and the phrase "WITH THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR" in white text on a blue background.

    Calm with the Very Hungry Caterpillar

    Framed in the context of the popular story, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, this book mentions our “monkey mind,” counting the breath, feeling anxiety, and more.

  • Children's book cover titled "Listen Like an Elephant" from the Mindfulness Moments for Kids series, illustrated by Anni Betts, featuring a colorful, smiling cartoon elephant with closed eyes, surrounded by musical notes and pink flowers on a green background.

    Listen like an Elephant

    Cute book that cues to listen to external stimuli and invites kids to turn inward to listen.

  • Book cover titled "Leaves" by David Ezra Stein featuring a watercolor illustration of a bear looking down at fallen leaves on the ground, with trees and leaves in autumn colors in the background.

    Leaves

    Teach littles (age 2-4) how to experience the Fall season with our senses, and to notice how change can bring about big emotions.

  • Children's book cover titled "Fletcher and the Falling Leaves" with an illustration of a fox standing on a tree stump, reaching for falling leaves, set in an autumn landscape.

    Fletcher and the Falling Leaves

    Longer story for kids age 5+ to teach how change can be hard and we may experience emotions in response, but change can also be beautiful.

  • A young girl playing with a colorful spherical structure made of interconnected plastic rods and joints.

    Expandable Ball

    Fun, tactile tool to show a physical representation of breathing in and out.

  • Two children playing with colorful fabric scarves in a playroom.

    Scarves

    Dance & use them to get their wiggles out. Put them over their eyes/head in savasana to see the world through a different perspective. Or have kids throw them overhead and use their big exhales to play “keepy uppy.”

  • Young girl blowing bubbles outdoors in a park.

    Bubbles

    Blowing bubbles requires big, slow exhales through pursed lips (like the pranayama crow’s or straw’s breath.

  • Person holding a yellow toy cheese with round holes, with pastel-colored toy cheese slices on a textured surface below.

    Kid-Friendly Worry Stones

    Textured and big enough to not be swallowed, kids’ worry stones are a great way to teach about the senses and be used as a source for calm.

  • Set of yoga-themed activity cards with illustrations of yoga poses, including mountain, tree, seastar, and rock, along with a box labeled 'Y oga Pretzels' and a card with yoga instructions.

    Yoga Asana Cards

    I like this specific deck because it has kid-friendly names for lots of solo and partner poses, plus adjectives describing a possible feeling in each, and instructions for how to enter them.

  • Three children lying on a carpeted floor, looking upwards, with plush toys, one of a frog, in a room with a green carpet and a blue play structure in the background.

    Weighted Stuffed Animals

    Have your little place a weighted stuffie on their belly in savasana and view how stuffie moves up and down with their breath. Encourages breath awareness and belly breathing if you instruct them to push the stuffy up as much as possible.

  • Set of six yoga mats in blue, green, light blue, pink, yellow, purple, orange, and red stacked in a pyramid.

    Yoga Mats

    Seems obvious enough, but giving kids dedicated space to do yoga will enforce a routine and encourage proprioceptive skills.

  • Three images of a girl in white workout clothes performing different stretch poses against a pink background.

    Linking Songs to Asana

    Slowing down a instructional song like “head, shoulders, knees & toes” or associating a song like “I’m a little teapot” with a pose like triangle or side angle, is a fun way to teach asana and body awarness.