Yoga with

Stories and
Rhyme
How to incorporate stories and
rhyme into your yoga classes

YOGA4KIDS
 Story

YOGA4KIDS 2
How to create a yoga story?
• The first step in creating your yoga story is to check in with your own planning
and choose a theme.
• Decide what curricular subject you want to integrate your yoga class with.
• Then look at the glossary of yoga poses covered in this course. Choose the poses
you feel comfortable to use. (N.B. there are so many yoga poses that you can
choose from, if you need any further inspiration please find The Yoga Journal
pose finder at this link: https://www.yogajournal.com/pose-finder. This is a
comprehensive list of poses, step by step guidance and the listed benefits of each
pose for the body and mind. Choose appropriate poses for your age group. It is
best to steer clear of handstand poses as these types of poses will not suit all
children and it would be better not to practice these at school.)
• Begin writing your story!
• When you are accustomed to the process you will be able to throw a yoga story
together impromptu!

YOGA4KIDS 3
Tips and Tricks
• Yoga stories don’t have to be serious or make sense, of course they can but
they don’t have to.
• Yoga stories are a wonderful way to really give the children a very active
and engaging five minutes. They should be fast paced and fun.
• Yoga stories should incorporate as many poses as you can write into them.
The more poses, the more fun!
• Try to keep the children moving as much as you can by varying the poses
from standing poses to seated poses to lying down on the mat and having
to jump right back up again.
• This is an activity that lends itself to improving listening skills as much as
being a good work out so if you feel like adding in a game feel free to do so.
Create your own or refer to the section on yoga games for some ideas.

YOGA4KIDS 4
 One sunny summer day, I stood under a TREE. This TREE was at the base of a
large WATERFALL (forward fold). Beside me under this TREE was a large barking
DOG (downward and upward dog, alternate the poses and be sure to bark and
howl too) who had wandered down the nearby MOUNTAIN.

This DOG didn’t seem to have an owner so I decided to get in my BOAT and
Sample Story A bring the DOG with me along with my own CAT. As we travelled in our SAIL
BOAT down the river. The water flowed quickly because of the WATERFALL. I
This is an example of a silly story that you could
use for any yoga lesson. decided that changing to a ROWBOAT would be a better idea and that we
would get to the dock faster.

We reached the dock and got out of the boat. There was a house right on the
bank with a HAPPY BABY sitting on a CHAIR. She was eating a PRETZEL(lotus)
and throwing a ROLLING STONE into a nearby bucket. As we passed by the
HAPPY BABY smiled and waved to the DOG and my CAT. The DOG ran to the
HAPPY BABY and lay down by the CHAIR sleepily after its adventure in the
BOAT. The DOG was home and was happy to SLEEP (Savasana).

YOGA4KIDS 5

Sample Story
B • BULL Fight by Pablo Picasso (COW pose)
This is an example of a themed story. This
story can be used for an Art/History/Oral
Language lesson and is suitable for an
older age group.
YOGA4KIDS
This week we are studying some of the greatest artists of all time and
their paintings. Here is a list, find your pose:
• The STARry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
• FLOWER Garden by Gustav Klimt
• The BOAT Trip by Mary Cassatt
• The Japanese BRIDGE by Claude Monet
• Avond: The Red TREE by Piet Mondrian
• WINDMILL in the Gein by Piet Mondrian
• CAT catching Bird by Pablo Picasso
• Mother and CHILD by Pablo Picasso (CHILDS pose)
• Night FISHing at Antibes by Pablo Picasso
• The BENCH by Claude Monet (CHAIR pose)
• COW by Andy Warhol
• Once the children have heard the paintings and poses associated
with them, encourage them to create their own story using the
poses from the above list. It is possible to use visual cues for this
lesson instead of reading the names of the paintings aloud and
asking the children in groups to find the yoga pose in each painting.
6
 Sample Story C

• Theme: Conversation, link with rainforest, jungle lesson etc...

• One day a lonely MONKEY (bound angle pose) sat in the middle
of a FOREST (group tree pose). This FOREST (group tree pose)
was at the base of a beautiful MOUNTAIN. The MONKEY was
very sad because all of his beloved TREES and FLOWERS had
been cut down or destroyed by some humans in big MACHINES
(chair pose). He looked around to see if anyone could help and
he spotted a LION and a COBRA lazing near a WATER HOLE
(child’s pose). The MONKEY climbed the tallest TREE to keep
safe from the LION. He swung from branch to branch and
finally reached the WATER HOLE. The LION, COBRA and
MONKEY devised a plan to talk to the ZEBRA (table pose) TIGER
(cat pose) and BUFFALO (cow pose) to put some very large
DEAD BUGS (happy baby pose) in the big MACHINES (chair
pose) to frighten the humans away beyond the MOUNTAIN.

YOGA4KIDS 7
Tips and Tricks
• As you can see from the sample stories that I have included in this section of the course
that you can take liberties and get creative. For example in the conservation story I have
used Chair pose to signify the machine or Cow pose to represent the buffalo in the story.
Get creative with the poses and you will soon find it very easy to tell some tall tales. The
more familiar that you become with yoga poses the easier it is to create your stories.
• Also encourage the children to build their own stories to tell the class, perhaps a child a
week could undertake the task once they are familiar with the poses. Alternatively it
could become a little research project each week on a theme that you assign. This is also
easily transferrable to a creative writing activity. Give a list of poses and some that you
would like to teach in yoga that week, possible story ideas and let them put pen to
paper. The imaginations will run wild.
• Yoga cards are also an excellent way to inspire a good story. There are many available
online to buy but equally if you feel like making them yourself it is very easily done. Print
your poses, stick them on some card and away you go! Pinterest have plenty available.
Or even better ask your class to create a design for each pose and make your cards this
way.

YOGA4KIDS 8
 • https://www.kidsyogastories.com/kids-
yoga/
Useful • https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKids
Yoga
websites and • https://kiddingaroundyoga.com/blog/the-
links for yoga science-of-storytelling-in-yoga/
• https://kumarahyoga.com/how-to-use-
stories storytelling-for-childrens-yoga/

YOGA4KIDS 9
 Rhyme
Using rhyme to teach yoga

YOGA4KIDS
Tips and Tricks
• Yoga and Rhyme marry together very well.
• It is very easy to combine the two and create an energetic and fun
learning environment.
• I would usually use nursery rhymes and yoga together with my
younger yogis in junior infants, senior infants and first class.
• Composing rhymes and poetry using yoga poses is usually something
that the older children enjoy. Using limericks is a good option here to
start with, however acrostics and shape poetry are also really good
options too and lend themselves very nicely to yoga class.

YOGA4KIDS 11
Old McDonald
• This is a very simple application of yoga to
nursery rhyme plus there is the opportunity to
add in sound effects which always makes for
some fun!
Find some inspiration from Cosmic
Kids Yoga!
• Simply sing the nursey rhyme and every time an
animal is mentioned you strike a pose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
• This farmer can have any kind of animals you YKmRB2Z3g2s
like:
• Old MacDonald had a farm EE-I-EE-I-O
• And on that farm he had a cat, cow, dog,
dolphin, camel, heron, dead bug (happy
baby)etc…
• If you prefer the more traditional animals the
use a child’s pose for a pig, table pose for a
horse, butterfly for a chicken but use you the
arms to create wings instead of hold the feet. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
The possibilities are endless.

YOGA4KIDS 12
 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Twinkle Twinkle Little STAR (Star Pose)
• How I wonder what you are?
• Up above the world so high (flying bird pose/Upward salute)
• Like a DIAMOND (triangle pose) in the sky
• Twinkle Twinkle Little STAR
• How I wonder what you are?

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

YOGA4KIDS 13
Hey Diddle
Diddle
• Hey Diddle Diddle, the CAT (cat)
played the fiddle,
• The COW (cow) jumped over the
MOON (cresent moon)
• The little DOG (downward dog)
laughed to see such fun
• And the DISH (superman pose) ran
away with the COBRA (cobra)

YOGA4KIDS 14
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Picture Books
• I also like to use picture books with the younger children for story time during yoga class. There
are many books that lend themselves very nicely to a yoga session. My favuorite is Pete the Cat
and his Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly and James Dean which you can find on YouTube at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRr3EbnLlik
• When reading this story to the children, I use the following poses; CAT (cat pose) FROG (Butterfly
Pose but upright and we make a ribib noise like a frog) SQUIRREL (chair pose and use the hands to
make little claws at the chest while making a little tutting sound effect) TURTLE (Turtle pose)
ALLIGATOR (Crocodile pose) OWL (lion pose making a twit twoo instead of a roar sound)
• I would suggest that you use a LISTENING POSE as I like to call them when reading a picture book
as the children can get a little excited with all the action. To return them to calm choose a pose
like lotus or a straddle sit that is seated and ask them after each page to return to that pose to
keep their focus and attention throughout. Allow them to settle into their listening position
before you turn the page and continue reading. This also increases their active movement during
story time.
• A LISTENING POSE is a good trick to get the children used to for many activities where you can
always draw their attention back to you and the activity when you

YOGA4KIDS 15
Musical Rhyme

• There are some lovely resources to add a little music to your yoga and
nursey rhyme lessons.
• I have found The Speks, an traditional Irish music group, who specialise in
children’s nursery rhymes an excellent resource. Please find them at this
link: https://www.thespeks.com/
• You can also add some in some dance when using music with yoga or make
up some actions to go with the songs you choose.
• It is also great fun to encourage the children to listen carefully to the music
or the words and to find a yoga poses which relate to the music.
• Carnival of the animals is an excellent choice for an activity such as this
with the march of the LIONS (lion pose), AQUARIUM (fish pose) or
TORTOISES (turtle pose).

YOGA4KIDS 16
Disclaimer
Activities promoted by this material can be physical and demanding, and may, if not undertaken properly and with the correct
training, have inherent hazards associated with them. It is the responsibility of the individual/and or school (“programme user”)
ultimately delivering the programme to the children (“child user(s)”) to take all reasonable precautions to try and ensure the safety of
all child users.
Specific parental/guardian consent should be sought by the programme user from the parent or guardian of each child user. It is the
responsibility of programme user to obtain this consent.
The use of this material by the programme user is done entirely at the risk of the programme user for which the author shall not be
liable. It is the responsibility of the programme user to ensure the suitability of the material for the child users.
© Copyright Cathy O’Connor 2020

Usage policy:
This material has been produced and licensed to Schooldays.ie as a continuing professional development (“CPD”) programme for
primary and pre-school teachers (“programme user”). The material and any additional material provided for planning/classroom use
to the programme user may only be used for that purpose and may not be reproduced for any other purpose.
Each programme user agrees to use this material, together with any additional material provided for planning/classroom use, in line
with this policy and that of Schooldays.ie. Reproduction of this material otherwise than in line with this policy and that of
Schooldays.ie is strictly prohibited.

YOGA4KIDS 17