I remember the time when I was writing the Mindfulness Activities for Kids #1 monthly lesson plan. Now, after 8 months, here I am writing the 9th lesson plan of the academic year. Wow! Throughout the year, I have learnt a lot. Not just by reading, watching or listening to amazing resources; but just by doing mindfulness activities in the classroom with my babies.
This month we will focus on some yoga poses with the help of a great story: Hello, Sun! And I will be sharing a super cool craft activity that is gonna be perfect for this story or any kind of yoga related activity!
The cool part is this craft activity can also be used independently. Which means, it is not attached to the story. You can use it whenever you want. I’m explaining it in detail below.
May Mindfulness Lesson Plan
Last month, Mindfulness Activities for Kids #8 lesson plan included a book about “breathing”. We studied and revised “breathing techniques” and also practiced a good amount of vocabulary related to feelings. So this month, I want to go on with a Yoga story which will help us to revise some yoga poses and also remind us of our own Morning Routine. This story is all about having a lovely morning routine which will make you start your day by saluting the Sun. Written and illustrated by Sarah Jane Hinder, “Hello Sun! A Yoga Sun Salutation to Start Your Day” will definitely be one of my kiddos favorite books.
“The first picture book to introduce young children to yoga’s beloved sun salutation flow. Sarah Jane Hinder’s wonderful new picture book guides kids through a morning sun salutation yoga flow. Hello, Sun! gives children a great way to connect with their bodies and calm their thoughts before jumping into the adventures of a new day.”
As always, we are reading and listening to the story, then I stop and ask questions, stop and make them repeat what I say, stop and do the actions… The reading flow, our routine is simply following this pattern. But the most important thing is: as we are language teachers we should always simplify the sentences of these story books. Because these books are not written as EFL or ESL resources, the level may not be suitable for our students’ English levels. So, feel free to retell the story in your own way as a language teacher. Use familiar structures, words to reshape the story for your students’ needs and good.
One of the tricks I use when I include a non-EFL resource in my program is: I create and use visuals. I use as many visual materials as I can, either to simplify or embody the unknown – abstract concepts of the story books. I have written many things about it in my previous lesson plans, especially about “How and why I use story puppets.”
Yoga Poses Puppets Craft
This time I’m not creating story puppets for this book, but I will definitely use something that will follow through this lovely yoga story. Once I saw a brilliant idea on Pinterest which was shared by Krokotak. They were sharing these lovely puppets for yoga poses which was a great inspiration for me.<3 I had to use it! 😀 So here it is:
The image tells it all, right? Simply, get a copy of it, color, cut, fold and stick your yoga character on a piece of cardboard. That’s it. If you want a girl, keep the hair on her head; if you want a boy, cut it off.
I’m planning to use it like this: We will do the morning routine from this month’s reader “Hello, Sun!”. Then, I will ask kids which one of the yoga poses are their favorite. I’m gonna introduce them the yoga puppet craft that I’ve done before the lesson and show them how to do it. Whenever everything is clear, I’m gonna give them a copy of it and ask them to create their favorite yoga pose and stick it on the cardboard. We can create a yoga poses display in one of the corners in the classroom or even have a mini exhibit! Why not? 😀
Have you seen our Mindfulness Bitmoji Classroom? You can check it out and / or download a copy here: 7 different bitmoji classroom designs.
You can visit my Linktree and see all the other freebies I’ve uploaded <3
or you can visit it in preview mode to view the latest changes without downloading a copy to your computer.
That’s it for now. Thank you for being here. <3
