spring

Spring Time Yoga Poses

girl in butterfly pose

Spring is such a magical time… and here in the Magical Garden, we LOVE IT so much! The weather gets warmer and flowers begin to bloom. It’s a time for bunnies, butterflies, and flying kites. Join us in celebrating spring with some of our favorite YogaKids poses!

 

Reach for the Sun

  1. Begin in by standing tall in Mountain pose.
  2. Breathe in and reach up high with an outstretched hand.
  3. Grab a piece of sunshine and pull the power into your solar plexus, your inner sun.
  4. Exhale with a “HAH” breath.
  5. Repeat with the other arm.
  6. Alternately reach with the left and right arms.
  7. As you practice, increase the force of your breath.

 

 Circle of Friendship Flowers

  1. Kneel in a circle with a group of your friends. Hold hands.
  2. As you inhale, reach your arms up, lift your buttocks off your heels, and stretch back arching your back and neck.
  3. As you exhale, continue to hold hands and fold down into Child’s Pose.
  4. Repeat a few times imagining all the different flowers that you could be.

 


Butterfly with Antennae

  1. Begin in L-Sitting pose, with your legs straight out in front of you.
  2. Bring the bottoms of your feet together, with your heels close to your body and your knees out to each side.
  3. Stretch your neck and the top of your head toward the sky and make your spine longer.
  4. Place your hands at the sides of your head and stick up your pointer fingers to make antennae.
  5. Pull your arms back like they’re your wings.
  6. Breathe in and out as you flap your wings forward and back, up and down.

 

Kite  

  1. Begin by standing tall in Mountain pose.
  2. Come onto your tippy toes and stretch your arms up and out to the side like tree arms.
  3. Lean to one side and stretch a leg out to the other side.
  4. Change sides.
  5. Play with your balance as you find your way and move with the wind.
  6. Feel your body flying like a kite!

 

Bunny Breath

  1. Get comfortable in a seated pose.
  2. Make your neck and back as long as you can, tucking in your chin slightly and letting your lower jaw relax.
  3. Take short, quick breaths in through your nose.
  4. Twitch your nose like a bunny. Then breathe out through your mouth with a long, smooth sigh.
  5. Repeat, increasing the number of inhalations and the length of your exhalations as your breath power gets stronger!

Learn more Spring Time poses as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Spring Daffodil Craft

Spring Daffodil CraftDaffodil Craft

We’re celebrating spring with a super easy and adorable daffodil craft.

What is Spring?

How do we know when spring begins? Spring falls around March 20 each year at the time of the spring equinox. An equinox happens when the duration of day and night are approximately the same length of time (12 hours day, 12 hours night) all over the world. So even though it might still be snowing where you live, the spring equinox will always happen at the same time of year, all over the world, because of the way the Earth tilts on its axis as it rotates around the sun.

Usually when we talk about spring, we are talking about the seasonal time when the browns and greys of winter begin to give way to colorful spring blooms, and new, green baby leaves and grass begin to unfurl on their branches and poke up from the ground. Even in places that do not reach freezing temperatures in the winter, and places that stay green all year ’round, spring brings big changes in weather.

Where I live now, in Southern California, it is green and cool most of the winter. It doesn’t rain in the summer here; instead, we have a monsoon season, in which most of our rain falls all at once during the winter, over just a couple months. It is mid-February here, and while some of my friends who live to the north of me are still getting snow, the fruit trees are already flowering here, and the weather is warm and balmy. Soon, there will be fields and fields of golden California poppies – the reason California is called The Golden State. Those poppies and many desert wildflowers are the spring flowers Californians enjoy, while you may see daffodils, tulips, crocuses, rhododendrons, or hellebore if you live further north. Do you know the names of the spring flowers where you live? The latitude of where you live affects what kind of winter you will have. Do you know how to find your latitude? 

In the summer here, it is very dry; so much that all the dried up grass in the foothills and mountains turns gold and remains dead until the first rains at the beginning of winter. When I was a kid, I lived in places like Texas and Indiana, where it rained throughout the year, and experienced what we think of as “traditional” seasons: an explosion of flowers in the spring after a long, colorless winter; hot, green, muggy summers; crisp autumns with changing leaves; and cold, sometimes snowy winters.

Those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere (North and Central America, Europe, most of Asia, and northern Africa) call March “spring,” and September “autumn.” Did you know that, in the Southern Hemisphere (Africa, South America, Australia, and some southern islands of Asia), it is completely opposite?  Australians celebrate Christmas in the summer!

What is the weather like where you live? What time does spring come, and how do you know (meaning, do you know because you see specific flowers or animals that you do not see in the winter)?

Colorful Daffodil Decorations

What you need: 

  • Yellow construction paper
  • Paper mini-cupcake holders
  • Scissors and adhesive
  • Wood craft sticks
  • Green paint or marker
  1. Cut out the daffodil shape from the yellow paper.
  2. Adhere a cupcake wrapper in the center, to look like a daffodil’s “trumpet.”
  3. Color your craft stick green on one side and glue it to the back of the daffodil to make a
    stem. You may use more than one stick if you want longer stems.
  4. Curl the edges of the petals forward slightly.
  5. Put your daffodils all around to chase away the winter blues!
  6. Daffodils come in many shapes and sizes. Can you figure out how to make some of the colors of daffodil, pictured at the top of this article?

 

 

Spring Daffodil Craft

We’re celebrating spring with a super easy and adorable daffodil craft.

Different types of daffodils

What is Spring?

How do we know when spring begins? Spring falls around March 20 each year at the time of the spring equinox. An equinox happens when the duration of day and night are approximately the same length of time (12 hours day, 12 hours night) all over the world. So even though it might still be snowing where you live, the spring equinox will always happen at the same time of year, all over the world, because of the way the Earth tilts on its axis as it rotates around the sun.

Usually when we talk about spring, we are talking about the seasonal time when the browns and greys of winter begin to give way to colorful spring blooms, and new, green baby leaves and grass begin to unfurl on their branches and poke up from the ground. Even in places that do not reach freezing temperatures in the winter, and places that stay green all year ’round, spring brings big changes in weather.

(click for big picture)

Where I live now, in Southern California, it is green and cool most of the winter. It doesn’t rain in the summer here; instead, we have a monsoon season, in which most of our rain falls all at once during the winter, over just a couple months. It is mid-February here, and while some of my friends who live to the north of me are still getting snow, the fruit trees are already flowering here, and the weather is warm and balmy. Soon, there will be fields and fields of golden California poppies – the reason California is called The Golden State. Those poppies and many desert wildflowers are the spring flowers Californians enjoy, while you may see daffodils, tulips, crocuses, rhododendrons, or hellebore if you live further north. Do you know the names of the spring flowers where you live? The latitude of where you live affects what kind of winter you will have. Do you know how to find your latitude? 

California poppies

In the summer here, it is very dry; so much that all the dried up grass in the foothills and mountains turns gold and remains dead until the first rains at the beginning of winter. When I was a kid, I lived in places like Texas and Indiana, where it rained throughout the year, and experienced what we think of as “traditional” seasons: an explosion of flowers in the spring after a long, colorless winter; hot, green, muggy summers; crisp autumns with changing leaves; and cold, sometimes snowy winters.

Those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere (North and Central America, Europe, most of Asia, and northern Africa) call March “spring,” and September “autumn.” Did you know that, in the Southern Hemisphere (Africa, South America, Australia, and some southern islands of Asia), it is completely opposite?  Australians celebrate Christmas in the summer!

What is the weather like where you live? What time does spring come, and how do you know (meaning, do you know because you see specific flowers or animals that you do not see in the winter)?

Colorful Daffodil Decorations

What you need: 

  • Yellow construction paper
  • Paper mini-cupcake holders
  • Scissors and adhesive
  • Wood craft sticks
  • Green paint or marker
  1. Cut out the daffodil shape from the yellow paper.
  2. Adhere a cupcake wrapper in the center, to look like a daffodil’s “trumpet.”
  3. Color your craft stick green on one side and glue it to the back of the daffodil to make a
    stem. You may use more than one stick if you want longer stems.
  4. Curl the edges of the petals forward slightly.
  5. Put your daffodils all around to chase away the winter blues!
  6. Daffodils come in many shapes and sizes. Can you figure out how to make some of the colors of daffodil, pictured at the top of this article?

 

 

Morning Glory

Happy spring, my bendy friends!

The first day of Spring is Friday, March 20, so I thought we could celebrate with a pose based on one of the flowers from the garden.

In the Yoga Garden game, you will see this pose listed as Morning Glory.

Morning glories are climbing plants that grow up, up, up toward the sun. At sunrise, morning glories bloom with delicate blue, red, white, pink and purple flowers. The beautiful blooms only last for a few hours before the edges of the petals start to curl up, and by late afternoon, most morning glory flowers will be closed.

Then they wake up and do it all over again!

Morning glory is one of my favorite morning time poses.

Instructions:

Start out in child’s pose, like this:

childs pose

Then, grow like a morning glory…

morning-gloryLift your face up to the sun, and sit upright with your legs still folded beneath you. Lift your hands high and wiggle your fingers like leaves in the wind! Take deep breaths and wiggle like a vine. This is a great way to wake up and energize in the morning before school.

Good morning, morning glory!

Morning Glory

Morning Glory Illustration

Instructions

  1. Begin in Child’s Pose.
  2. Lift your face up to the sun, and sit upright with your legs still folded beneath you.
  3. Lift your hands high and wiggle your fingers like leaves in the wind!
  4. Take deep breaths and wiggle like a vine.

 

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

This is a great way to wake up and energize in the morning before school!