Tykes Take Summer – Camp Week 2

Week 2!
We had so many new friends this week!

It was really fun to introduce new families to our class and I was so glad to see the school year students step up and be leaders, helping everyone through out the week.

Just like last week, each day I tried to keep the same basic structure, with the theme or specific activities changing each day.

*Opening Ritual
*Warm up – Voice, Breath, Body, and Mind
*Pose of the Day

*Game
*Craft
*Book
(^^Most days we only had time to get to 2 out of 3 of these so I’d try to gauge which would give us the most bang for our buck, or think of a way to combine elements of each into a new activity.)

*Relaxation
*Closing Ritual

 

And again, just like last week, We didn’t get to everything every day. Some lessons crashed and burned and others took off in ways I didn’t expect. This week taught me a lot, maybe even more than the kids.

Here are some of our favorite moments of our fabulous 10 hours.

 

 

 

 

Our Sensory Bottles are such a great way to start the class, they let us practice focus and observation and stretching our imaginations.

 

 

Day 1

The pose of the day was Mountain Pose. I love teaching this pose early and talking about how it looks so easy, but sometimes poses that are still and steady can be very hard.
We learned it on our own, and used our imaginations to see as far as we could off the top of our Mountains. Everyone saw such beautiful things like eagles, snow, their homes, pets, and even dragons!
Then we practiced with partners, standing back to back and feeling each others breath, and using each other to find steady feet and balance.

 

After that we read the book This is Not A Stick and practiced all the ways we could use our body to slay dragons, lead parades, and paint pictures. Then we colored our own “Not a Stick’s” to be whatever we wanted and everyone demonstrated how to use their new favorite toy.
This is one of my very favorite books to use in class, the kid’s always have such vivid imaginations when they get to make up their own use for the sticks.

 

 

Day 2

The pose of the day was Boat Pose and everyone did such a good job learning and balancing in this pose on their own and working with partners. I love taking this pose and seeing if we can hold it the whole time we sing Row Row Row Your Boat and adding our arms pretending to row.

I love seeing the pride and happiness on their faces once they are able to balance with and help support their partners.

 

After making origami boats, we read Where the Wild Things Are and let our beautiful origami boats sail “through a day, in and out of a week, and over a year” before having our very own Wild Rumpus!

 

 

Day 3

Our pose of the day was Bow Pose and with so many girls in the class, I had a hard time convincing everyone that a Bow could be something besides what you wear on your head.

But everyone did a great job and really threw themselves into trying this pose. It can be hard for a little one to take movement that involves their back body so heavily because it’s harder to develop a sense of spacial awareness to the parts of your body you can’t see. But these tykes all did such a great job!

 

This pose can be so wiggly and fun, but the real challenge is to find stillness between your ribs and hips.

We even tried to balance while keeping our forehead attached to a partners, this created a lot of giggles, but everyone was able to stay balanced on their bellies.

 

 

I also love that this partner pose also helps them work on eye contact and trust.

 

After that it was time to work on our motor skills and color with our Toes!

We practiced making circles, hearts, and writing our names. Then I let them draw whatever they wanted. Once all the pictures were done, I asked them to make up a story based on their pictures and share it with the class.

 

 

 

 

Day 4

Today’s pose was Star Pose and everyone did such a good job balancing on their own! Working in partners was a little trickier, but everyone tried their best and no one quit which I was so proud of. Once we tried the pose solo and duo, I asked them to make up their own version and make their body look like a star any way they wanted! We had some pretty creative ideas and lots of giggles along the way.

 

 

I love letting them explore their movement on their own terms.

 

For our craft today, we made our own shooting stars by coloring cardboard star cut outs and paint stir sticks and gluing them with streamers and sparkles. Everyone loved being able to see them fly through the air and taking time to make a wish on our stars.

 

 

 

Day 5

Our very last day of camp for  Summer 2017!

The pose of the day was Half Moon Balance!

Everyone always loves this one because you get to balance on one foot and be upside down! This is a great one to learn after Star Pose, because you can easily transition from one to the other. We worked on it against the wall for a little support and they were rock stars at it!

 

Then we played with our brand new Yoga Spinner Game and learned so many new poses like Plow, King Cobra, Triangle, and Wide Legged Forward Bend. Before the game started we had a chat about patience and waiting your turn and it was amazing to see everyone’s self control and focus as they watched and cheered on each of their friends during everyone else’s turns.

 

 

 

 

 

It was such an adventurous week for everyone and I can’t believe we are already done with classes for the summer.
We had so much fun this week, and I can’t wait to see all of our new friends at parties and classes during the school year!

Let me know what your favorite books, games, crafts, and poses were from this summer. What did your Tyke talk about most on the drive home?