Yoga for Kids and Tweens: Fostering healthy development
Yoga has become a powerful tool for promoting mindfulness, emotional regulation, and physical well-being, not just for adults but for children of all ages. From toddlers to tweens, incorporating yoga into children's daily routines can help them develop body awareness, emotional intelligence, and a sense of calm. As a family-friendly activity, yoga also provides a playful way to connect, further nourishing the family nervous system and fostering healthy life-skills.
As someone who learned breathwork and meditation as a child, I can first-hand say the incredible impact this has had on my life. This is why I became an Expert Registered Yoga Teacher, Registered Children's Yoga Teacher, and founded my own Registered Children's Yoga School.
In this article we explore the benefits of yoga for kids and yoga for tweens, ways to keep it engaging for different age groups, some fun children's yoga moves, and how you can further explore family yoga!
The Benefits of Yoga for Kids
Yoga offers children a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional benefits. By engaging in yoga regularly, children learn to connect with their bodies and minds in a way that supports overall wellness. Some key benefits of yoga for kids include:
Physical Literacy: Yoga helps improve flexibility, strength, and coordination in children. Unlike many sports that focus on competition, yoga emphasizes mindful movement and body awareness, helping kids develop motor skills without pressure.
Confidence and Body Awareness: Related to the above, this practice can support children’s positive body-image, particularly when we explore that each of our bodies is unique and capable of different things. Additionally children can challenge themselves to build confidence and learn ways to move through challenging emotions or experiences, further enhancing confidence!
Healthy Boundaries: This is an important part of how I practice and teach children, as we have systemic issues of crossing boundaries, and wonder why many children and adults feel unsafe or struggle connecting to their bodies, emotions, and even intuition. Exploring boundaries and what this looks like for our wellbeing and in healthy relationships is key to our health and safety.
Emotional Awareness: Practicing yoga encourages emotional awareness by teaching children ways to use their breath and movement to calm themselves, and you can even explore the science behind this on the gloWithin App! This can be especially helpful for children dealing with anxiety or stress, as they learn calming techniques they can use throughout life.
Healthy Coping Skills for Resilience: We know life can be challenging, and children are living in a world with even greater complexities that many of us adults also struggle with. Offering children healthy coping skills based on ancient intuitive and recently supported by science, can be life changing - it was for me!
Increased Focus and Concentration: Some aspects of yoga like balance and breathwork require attention and focus, helping children develop the ability to concentrate, which also enhances their confidence and ability to direct their attention in order to accomplish certain skills or tasks that might be challenging.
Social Skills and Cooperation: Group yoga classes offer children the opportunity to engage with others in a non-competitive environment. We explore teamwork, empathy, leadership, and communication, which are essential life skills.
Relieves Anxiety and Supports Sleep: Sleep and anxiety go hand in hand. If we experience anxiety, sleep can be challenging, and when sleep is challenging we are more prone to anxiety. Many of the practices we explore in yoga support both, to help foster a healthy nervous system and promote healthy development.
Encourages Creativity and Critical Thinking: Unfortunately this is an underrated skill-set, but ultimately this is one facet that sets leaders apart. In children’s yoga and yoga for tweens, my school emphasizes creativity and critical thinking, which further builds confidence.
FUN! Let’s not underestimate the power of FUN! Play is how children learn and a powerful tool to nourish the nervous system, as it engages connection and laughter. Play is critically important in our lives, and as parents an important tool in connecting with our children on their level.
Children’s Yoga Moves: Fun, simple yoga poses for kids
Children’s yoga is all about tapping into their natural creativity and energy. With playful and imaginative postures, children's yoga moves can make yoga a fun and engaging experience. These simple moves are great for helping kids get in touch with their bodies while learning valuable lessons in balance, patience, and focus.
Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana): A fun and simple way for kids to engage their spines and improve flexibility. Ask your child to imagine they are a cat stretching in the sun as they round and arch their back, following the rhythm of their breath.
Star Pose: Standing with legs wide apart and arms extended, children can imagine they are bright stars shining in the sky. This pose promotes a sense of expansion, confidence, and joy.
Butterfly Pose (Baddha Konasana): Children sit with their feet together, gently flapping their knees up and down like butterfly wings. This pose helps stretch the hips and promotes relaxation, making it a great way to transition from high-energy activities to calm time. You might even like to lay back and relax with the feet connected in this form to relax into breath.
Yoga for Tweens: A bridge to self-discovery
As children enter the tween years (roughly ages 9-12), they often face new challenges both physically and emotionally. Yoga can be an invaluable tool during this transitional period, offering tweens a safe space to explore their identities, emotions, and growing bodies.
Tweens are often navigating the pressures of school, friendships, social media, identity, independence, and increased responsibilities. Yoga for tweens provides an outlet for self-expression while promoting mindfulness and relaxation. Through yoga, tweens can build resilience and self-confidence as they learn to manage their changing emotional and physical states, establishing a healthy foundation for adolescence.
Here are a few simple yoga moves for tweens to encourage them to stay grounded and present:
Tree Pose (Vrksasana): This balancing pose helps tweens focus their minds and build confidence. Standing on one leg and bringing the sole of the other foot to the inner thigh, they can strengthen their sense of stability—both physically and emotionally.
Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II): Warrior poses empower tweens to feel strong and capable. This posture also helps improve concentration and body awareness, making it a great tool for stress relief.
Child's Pose (Balasana): This gentle pose offers a safe space for relaxation and mindfulness. It encourages tweens to take a break from overstimulation and simply breathe, helping them develop tools for emotional self-regulation.
Incorporating Yoga into Family Life
One of the greatest joys of yoga is that it can be a family activity. Family yoga offers an opportunity to bond with your children while promoting health and well-being. Whether you're looking for a fun way to connect on the weekends or want to establish a calming bedtime routine, family yoga can be easily adapted to fit into your daily schedule.
Here are some tips for making family yoga a fun and engaging activity for all ages:
Set Aside a Regular Time: Whether it’s in the morning or before bed, creating a mini yoga routine will help it become a habit. Even just 10-15 minutes a day can have a lasting impact on family dynamics and overall wellness.
Create a Calm Environment: Use soft music, dim lighting, or nature sounds to create a peaceful space. Check out our blog for soothing sounds for sleep. You can also make it fun by incorporating storytelling, or animal-themed poses to engage younger children.
Make It Playful: Yoga provides the perfect opportunity to explore different poses through creative storytelling. You can turn yoga into an adventure by naming poses after animals (like Cat Pose, Cobra Pose, or Butterfly Pose) or pretending to be different characters while moving through sequences, or even making up a story yourself.
Focus on Connection, Not Perfection: I believe the focus is not on the perfect pose, which is why I prefer to use the term form, but rather using the body as a form of expression. Yoga means to ‘unite’, so the focus is on connection with the self and others. Breathe, move, and enjoy connecting with each!
Family Yoga Games and Activities
To keep yoga engaging, especially for younger kids, you can turn it into a game. Here are a few fun ideas:
Yoga Freeze Dance: Play some upbeat music and have everyone dance around. When the music stops, each family member must freeze in a yoga pose. This game encourages body awareness, balance, and quick thinking.
Pose Challenge: Have each family member pick a favorite yoga pose and challenge the others to try it. This is a great way for kids to express themselves while also learning new poses, and challenge their balance holding it!
Breathing Buddies: Lie down with a small stuffed animal on each child’s belly. As they breathe in and out, they can watch their stuffed animal rise and fall, helping them focus on deep breathing and mindfulness.
Yoga for kids, tweens, and families offers countless benefits, from emotional to physical wellbeing. The shared yoga experience can foster stronger connections, helping to reduce overwhelm for both parents and children. By making yoga part of your family's daily routine, you can help your children cultivate mindfulness, resilience, and a love for lifelong movement. My suggestion is to always lead by example yourself, and they will want to join you… this is when you bring out the fun!
Enjoy and feel free to reach out if you have any questions,
Katie
Want to Learn More?
Children's Yoga Cards:These cards are designed for integrate play easily into your life to nourish the family nervous system
gloWithin App: Explore breath and more for the family on the gloWithin App!
Children's Yoga Teacher Training:This highly regarded program is designed for parents, educators, therapists and others who want to empower children and youth from 1 to 15 years with life-skills!
