Week 1: Yoga Rocks!
There is no Children's Garden Yoga Summer Camp the summer of 2020 but you can make your own camp at home! Choose a theme, find books and poses and crafts that relate and play yoga, build confidence, create, find calm and have FUN!
THEME: ROCKS!
Strength, solid, confidence, mountains, volcanoes, magnificence, stillness
Books: Most of these and others are in London Public Library or available online. Check your personal library.
A Pebble for Your Pocket: Thich Naht Hanh
Everybody Needs A Rock: Byrd Baylor
The Memory Stone: Anne Louise MacDonald
A Stone Sat Still: Brendan Wenzel
The Worry Stone: Marianna Dengler
Stone Soup: Folktale – various authors
Milo and the Magical Stones: Marcus Pfister
Chucky the Lonely Inukshuk: Judith McMurray
Activities and Crafts:
Rocks are the best backdrop for crafts
YogaKids uses the term "Reading Comes Alive With Yoga". By integrating yoga into a storybook, the movement of the poses not only help to dramatize the story but also help with comprehension and retention. By reading the book of your choice, you will notice words that lend themselves to either traditional yoga poses or created poses. In the story, 'Chucky the Lonely Inukshuk', set in Northern Ontario, words such as waves, boat, tree, rock, rain, thunder, clouds, canoe, turtle, sun, to mention a few, are built in poses.
Practice the poses and then as the story unfolds, insert the poses as they appear in the story.
Sun: Reach for the sun - with hands in fists at the belly, stretch one hand up to the sun on the inhale and grab a piece of sun pulling it down to the belly area with a strong HA on the exhale strongly with "HA" Repeat with the other hand, and continue for a few breaths
Tree: Send imaginary roots from the bottom of your feet down into the earth. On the inhale stretch arms up to hug the sky. With one foot firmly on the ground, bring the other foot up to a comfortable place on the standing leg. Exhale into the pose. Hold while breathing naturally. Repeat on the other side.
Rain: (For young children) Bring hands overhead on the inhale, exhale as the children join you in
"Rain is falling down, splash (hit the ground with hands)
Repeat with upstretched arms exhaling down to the ground again
Pitter Patter, Pitter, Patter (wiggle fingers)
Rain is falling down, splash"
Clouds: Standing tall (or from seated) inhale arms over the head and reach hands back to the small of your back - or do the camel pose
Waves: From standing or seated inhale one arm above the head and exhale it over stretching to the opposite side of the body, Repeat on the other side. Continue. Also a seated twist makes a good rolling wave - inhale right hand onto the left knee as you exhale the left hand behind you. Repeat on the same on the other side.
Boat: seated with knees bent, feet on the floor. Inhale your feet up and out as you raise your arms parallel to each other. Singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, helps with breathing and balance
Thunder: In the same position as above, stomp feet and clap hands on knees to make a thundering sound
Canoe: Move onto stomach and bring arms and legs up in "Locust" Pose - canoes are shallow so the body is creating a hollow in the back with the bow and stern raising up slightly above the water.
Rock: sitting on heals, fold forward so head is touching the floor and arms are beside the body with hands near the feet as in Child's Pose
Turtle: move back into seated, with feet touching, exhale whole body toward the ground with hands weaving under the legs and moving back beside your back or continue with them forward whichever your flexibility allows.
THEME: ROCKS!
Strength, solid, confidence, mountains, volcanoes, magnificence, stillness
Books: Most of these and others are in London Public Library or available online. Check your personal library.
A Pebble for Your Pocket: Thich Naht Hanh
Everybody Needs A Rock: Byrd Baylor
The Memory Stone: Anne Louise MacDonald
A Stone Sat Still: Brendan Wenzel
The Worry Stone: Marianna Dengler
Stone Soup: Folktale – various authors
Milo and the Magical Stones: Marcus Pfister
Chucky the Lonely Inukshuk: Judith McMurray
Activities and Crafts:
Rocks are the best backdrop for crafts
- Write inspirational words on a rock
- Put Rocks in the oven and heat for 15 minutes or so on low; take a crayon and let it melt over the stone to create fabulous designs and colours
- Create Wish Stones by writing a wish (hope, love, joy, etc.) with an oil marker on the rock; take wool roving and scrunch, pull and squeeze in hot sudsy water. It will eventually look similar to wool felt when wrapped around the rock
- Paint the rock however you want!
- Make a pet rock – just the rock as is or create a little animal from it with paint or other stones or pieces of felt, pipe cleaners, fabric, etc.
- Make an Inukshuk
- Just stack rocks for balance, perseverance, a feeling of accomplishment
- This should be a rock that feels right to each person, small, larger, smooth, rough
- Hold the rock in your hand; close your eyes and listen
- Sit quietly and breathe into the rock and into yourself
- Listen to the story of where your rock has been before it was found on the beach or wherever it was found
- Each story becomes a fascinating meditation
- Some may have fallen from a ship, others may have been picked up from the beach by a seagull, another may have settled on the back or a whale or rolled onto a pirate ship
- All stories are worth listening to; all stories are worth developing quietly in the mind
- Tell others about your rock’s adventure
- Draw a picture
- Take 4 stones and put on one side of your body
- Take the first stone and hold in hand and sense that it is a Mountain – feel the strength and confidence of the mountain – once this feeling is embedded within, place the rock on the other side of your body
- Take each of the other stones and reflect on them with a different element with the characteristics of each, place on other side of the body one at a time after reflection
- Make a pouch for your stones – felt is easy and can be drawn on as well
- In Pandemic times if your camp is among your own kids without the benefit of friends, have each child decide what vegetable or item they would like to have in the soup – have them find in the garden if possible
- Take several rocks and draw a picture on them each
- Pick a rock one at a time and make a story with them
- Make the pictures yoga poses and make Yoga Rocks
- Do the pose on the rock as it is pulled from the pile
YogaKids uses the term "Reading Comes Alive With Yoga". By integrating yoga into a storybook, the movement of the poses not only help to dramatize the story but also help with comprehension and retention. By reading the book of your choice, you will notice words that lend themselves to either traditional yoga poses or created poses. In the story, 'Chucky the Lonely Inukshuk', set in Northern Ontario, words such as waves, boat, tree, rock, rain, thunder, clouds, canoe, turtle, sun, to mention a few, are built in poses.
Practice the poses and then as the story unfolds, insert the poses as they appear in the story.
Sun: Reach for the sun - with hands in fists at the belly, stretch one hand up to the sun on the inhale and grab a piece of sun pulling it down to the belly area with a strong HA on the exhale strongly with "HA" Repeat with the other hand, and continue for a few breaths
Tree: Send imaginary roots from the bottom of your feet down into the earth. On the inhale stretch arms up to hug the sky. With one foot firmly on the ground, bring the other foot up to a comfortable place on the standing leg. Exhale into the pose. Hold while breathing naturally. Repeat on the other side.
Rain: (For young children) Bring hands overhead on the inhale, exhale as the children join you in
"Rain is falling down, splash (hit the ground with hands)
Repeat with upstretched arms exhaling down to the ground again
Pitter Patter, Pitter, Patter (wiggle fingers)
Rain is falling down, splash"
Clouds: Standing tall (or from seated) inhale arms over the head and reach hands back to the small of your back - or do the camel pose
Waves: From standing or seated inhale one arm above the head and exhale it over stretching to the opposite side of the body, Repeat on the other side. Continue. Also a seated twist makes a good rolling wave - inhale right hand onto the left knee as you exhale the left hand behind you. Repeat on the same on the other side.
Boat: seated with knees bent, feet on the floor. Inhale your feet up and out as you raise your arms parallel to each other. Singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, helps with breathing and balance
Thunder: In the same position as above, stomp feet and clap hands on knees to make a thundering sound
Canoe: Move onto stomach and bring arms and legs up in "Locust" Pose - canoes are shallow so the body is creating a hollow in the back with the bow and stern raising up slightly above the water.
Rock: sitting on heals, fold forward so head is touching the floor and arms are beside the body with hands near the feet as in Child's Pose
Turtle: move back into seated, with feet touching, exhale whole body toward the ground with hands weaving under the legs and moving back beside your back or continue with them forward whichever your flexibility allows.
 Reach for the Sun |  Tree |  Rain  Cloud |
 Seated twisted wave |  Standing waves |  Boat |  Canoe |
 Balancing Rocks |  Turtle pose |
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