As our season slowly warms up and the cabin fever hits us, I am witnessing the children wanting to be outside more and more! The high energy level of children is amazing and they need room to move their bodies and express their minds. Our preschool classroom provides so many opportunities for the children to do these things. Expanding those opportunities by bringing the activities outside to the playground or around the school inspires the children to hit their creativity levels in many ways.
In the discovery room, I have decided to go with a Zen sort of feeling to introduce and expand the children’s knowledge of yoga and meditation. I believe it’s important for them to learn how to calm themselves down and take time to be in the moment. There is a poster with ABC yoga moves for kids and many peaceful words to encourage a vocabulary span in this area. At times, we will bring in the mats from the Kindergarten room and use books to help incorporate flexibility, patience, coordination, self awareness and much more! I’ve also laminated sheets of additional yoga poses to bring outside and feature these movements in nature.
The children had a blast looking at the pictures and listening to the names of the poses that they were trying out. Many of the children got into the sitting still meditation piece, which is brought up a lot by those children who practice yoga in their lives away from school. Some meditation can be done by listening to your breathing and sitting still, as other types of meditations may be through discovering and exploring the world around you.
Having a list of things to search for while on a trip engages the children to notice these moments right in front of them. It creates discussion and question followed by new opportunities of learning. During a group time this past week, where we were on a Mother Nature Treasure Hunt, I became aware that walking mindfully with the children to places close by like Bridge Walk Pond, supports their relaxation time.
Here is to more sunny days to come!
-Shannon