The Benefits of Stretching and Doing Yoga for Kids
Although stretching and yoga have been used for thousands of years as tools to build strength, aid in relaxation, and increase heartrate, it seems that for the most part (in Canada), neither activity has necessarily been associated with children’s health and wellness in prior years. Thankfully, things are changing as more research shows that kids greatly benefit from specialized stretching poses. Yoga is a great tool for building physical strength and endurance in your kids, as well as helping them work on their concentration, increase self- and body-awareness, and to build an inner strength and confidence.
It’s important to be aware of the differences that kids’ stretching and yoga will have in comparison to adult yoga; mainly that children have a shorter attention span and really enjoy playtime and socialization throughout the activity—all of which is perfectly fine! Yoga and stretching for kids are malleable, transformable activities, and brands like Gaiam offer a variety of tools to ensure that your child’s yoga experience is enjoyable.
One of my favorite offerings from Gaiam is their Yoga For Kids: Dino-Mite Adventure DVD, which travels “back in time” to the days of dinosaurs while teaching three exciting yoga practices tailored especially for kids aged five and up. This DVD is educational, fun, and is a great way to instill your little ones with the importance and useful tools offered by yoga at a young age. Here at our house, my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and five-year-old son love the Gaiam DVD, and we pop it into the player regularly and do the poses as a part of our regular routine. We also like their Yoga for Kids: Outer Space Blastoff DVD – which takes you on a galactic adventure!
Gaiam also stocks innovative items like their Gaiam Kids Printed Yoga Mat, a three-millimeter-thick mat sized especially for kids aged five to eight. Available in whimsical colors like Pink Zebra and Green Camo, these lightweight mats are ideal for transport, are extremely easy to clean, and are completely latex-free.
With so many options to enable your kids’ stretching and yoga practice to be exciting, informative, and beneficial, I encourage every parent to get a couple yoga mats, some informative, kid-friendly DVDs, and get “yoga-ing!”
The Best of This Life is passionate about helping you and your family live the best life possible, and kid-tailored yoga and stretching are two easy and effective ways to do that!
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The kids start doing yoga stretches in kindergarten and we do it at home now and again. They really enjoy it.
my daughter loves dancing and stretching!
It’s great to teach the kids when they are young to be healthy, and to stretch and exercise, and it’s great to do it along with the kids for some mommy and child time togetherness and plus make it fun too!!
Stretching is the best for the body! Cutest pictures!
My kids adore yoga! They show off their poses everyday. Stretching is one of the things they do first when they want to start moving (in the morning, after watching a movie). They run to the rug and start bending every which ways, their favorites are downward dog and “downward dog with one foot on the ground and one foot in the air and two hands on the ground” as Isabel calls it ?
I don’t have children of my own, but I am a therapist who encourages yoga for children who have experienced trauma. It’s amazing for regulation and emotional processing. I think it should be mandatory in ALL schools!
Great to teach the kids from a early age how to stay healthy and fit.
I get excited about the fact that my daughter will love it and make me do it.
I love Yoga and we have Yoga in the park here, and children are welcome, this year they have something new, they will have a teacher for your children too write beside the parents. Yoga is fun to do with children, it’s important to stretch!
What excites me about doing a fun yoga DVD workout with my daughter is
the fact that it’s healthy for both of us and gives us a fun time together.
Our kids love to do stretches and yoga. I am excited about doing it with them to help relax us all 🙂
I love yoga! It is so relaxing!
Great way to stay healthy!
knowing my kids are getting off the coach and exercising
My girls enjoy stretching and dancing. They probably would enjoy doing yoga with me.
My daughter loves doing yoga and stretches! We like to keep fit and have fun doing it!
It would be a lot of fun for my daughter and is important to teach her about being healthy and exercise. It would give me some motivation as well.
it will be something we can do together
My daughter loves doing yoga with me and would be SO excited to get her very own mat.
My 9 year old loves yoga! I signed her up for a kid’s yoga class at our local community centre last year when she was 8, and she loved it so much she took 2 back to back sessions. This year the times conflicted with other activities so she was not able to take it, and she keeps asking when she can take yoga again. I would love the video at home so that we could do it together. She gets a lot out of yoga – body awareness, fitness, and calmness. When she has a bad day I catch her doing her yoga breathing and some simple poses to calm her mood down – she really benefits from yoga!