3 Yoga Exercises To Help Prep Your Kids for Bedtime
We know how tough it can be to get your kiddos ready for bed! It’s like pulling teeth and hair at times, are we right? The good thing is that there are actually a ton of different yoga exercises you can try with your kids to help them settle down and calm their energy before bedtime. This list was put together by our very own children’s instructors and features three different exercises you can try to help them get into the sleepy-time mindset. We hope this will help bring more peace and ease into your bedtime routine at home! Let us know how it goes!
Pom Pom Maze
Grab some mini pom pom balls or mini lightweight craft balls, some books, pillows or toys, and give this one a try:
- Use books, pillows, or toys to build a maze on the floor
- Set up the pom pom balls at the start of the maze
- Guide your child to lay on the floor and blow the pom poms through the maze
- For an extra boost, play some bedtime or soothing music
- When your child makes it to the end of the maze, rearrange the maze, and give them another few rounds for a total of (3) - (5)
This exercise introduces breath work to calm their mind and anxious energies, before bedtime.
Feather Flying
This exercise takes less prep-work and involves only the use of a feather! Here’s how it works:
- Tuck your child into bed
- Play some soothing music
- Hand the feather to them and guide them to hover it over the mouth and blow on it without letting the feather touch the floor or bed
- Guide them to breath out heavier and heavier to make the feather fly as high as it can
- Allow them to play for about 5-10 minutes and they should start to get restless and ready to close their eyes
This is another great breath work exercise for them to calm their energies and deepen their breathing before bedtime.
Legs on The Headboard
A super easy and beneficial exercise for all ages-including all of you parents! Here’s how to do it:
- Allow your child to lay in bed facing the headboard
- Guide them to put their legs up towards the ceiling, resting on the headboard with their hips pressed all the way against the base of the headboard
- Have them hold their hands over their hearts and guide them to count their heart beats
- Play soothing music
- After about 5-10 minutes they should be good and gold for bedtime
This exercise helps to recirculate the blood in the body and calm the nervous system.
We recommend alternating these exercises to keep your child’s interest. You may even find that they will start asking to do them before bed-which is a great sign! This means that your child has finally accepted that it’s time for bed and that they get a little bit of playtime beforehand. Remember to be patient and positive throughout this experience. It might take a little bit of time before the results start to kick in. Good luck and keep us updated!
