You may think yoga for babies is crazy — babies can’t do yoga! Originally when I was developing the YoGalore curriculum, I had preschoolers and school age children in mind. Not because I didn’t think YoGalore was for older or younger children, but mostly because I was more familiar with children in that age range. Recently I was approached about doing a class for babies/toddlers (15 months – 2 years). Always up for a challenge, I said, “SURE!!” And I’m so glad I did. I discovered that baby yoga is a little different than teaching children even just a little older. I think as a teacher it will help me think outside the box sometimes and also having the input of the moms, will help in the way that I teach children this age.

I came up with a loose structure for a lesson plan and we decided a “Mommy and Me” class would probably suit our group best. All the moms already knew each other and for our purposes, I think it worked really well. Last night was our first class and I learned a few things: 1. The yoga portion of the class needs to be first and it might just be the moms and me doing yoga poses by ourselves for awhile until the little ones decide they might want to join us. And they may join us, they may not. The most important element to that is this: It’s okay if they aren’t doing every pose with us or are just aren’t interested. That was hard for me at first, but the moms were great about it, so I became more okay with it too. It’s been a LONG time since I had or was even around a little one that young. For me, it’s relearning in a way. Chances are with repetition and maybe a few changes in the way I teach, the kids will pick up some yoga, even if it’s just a handful of poses.

I brought a super cute book that I think we will try to use regularly — It’s called Yoga Bug by Sarah Jane Hinder. It’s just a simple board book with poses for little ones. Perfect for us. I think next time I might try to bring/use animals (like the Fisher Price Barn animals) and talk about the sounds they make to get the children more interested. We’ll see how it goes. Once we finished the baby yoga portion, I had planned on us doing the sensory exploration portion of the lesson. Since the children weren’t really into the yoga, I made the executive decision to go on to sensory bins, thinking we could come back to yoga later: 2. Sensory bins should probably be outside the room until right before we’re ready to use them. They were of course very popular, which was GREAT, but it only took a few minutes before I realized there was no going back to yoga for babies!!!! Thankfully this was okay with moms, and we just let the kids play and they really did have a lot of fun.

After reflecting on the class there were a few things that came to mind. I thought, “What did the children get out of the class?” As a teacher I have to feel like students actually benefit from my classes. If they don’t, then I’m not doing my job very well. These children were younger than my usual students, but there were some beneficial elements that came out of the class. Children this age need to learn to interact with each other, how to share and take turns. Learning to follow simple directions and rules is also a very important skill for babies and toddlers. Last night’s class was perfect for moms to get together and talk and socialize in a somewhat organized environment. They worried about making messes, but I wanted the kids to have fun and play and do what kids do. Cleaning up the mess was no big deal. All they have to do is bring their children and leave the mess behind! I realize it’s difficult to have activities like water beads, beans, popcorn and rice in your home and let the kids play freely (even if that involves making a mess). Not only do you have to have all the items to create the sensory bins, but its also very hard to let the children play and make a mess and then have the time and energy to clean up that activity.

Creating an environment of a class, with a loose structure was a wonderful way for parents to interact with their children with some great one-on-one quality time without any distractions of cleaning up dinner, getting ready for bed, washing clothes, or even cleaning up the mess from the activity later. In class they were free to play and let their child make a little mess and visit with their friends. Now that I have had time to reflect back, I feel a lot better about how things went. I also know that once I make some adjustments things can go a little smoother. I’d like to incorporate some more hands-on activities and gross motor play along with our baby yoga and sensory play, but for a first class, I’m thrilled with how everything went. Our class really was about so much more than yoga for babies. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.