

Hand and finger yoga

Hand and finger yoga

Let's be honest. Sometimes planning for a kids yoga class can take a little more time than you think.

Teaching yoga to children can at times present its challenging moments and as a teacher, it is always good to switch things up or to find different ways of teaching yoga to your students. Sometimes many of us get carried away with the bigger things, jumping head first into only working through poses with our students - forgetting that a kids yoga class is one where we can be inventive and creative.

We don't have to stick to the same routine, especially if that's the norm. We can find other more selective things to do in our kids' yoga classes that can really encourage our students to learn and understand their body and how to use it.

For us at iteachkids, one way we switch things, is by focusing on selective parts of the body - working through activities which relate to that specific body part. 

Since we are still working our way through the last couple yoga videos for our rain theme, we wanted this activity to be a bit more specific than the previous ones. We wanted to create a fun activity based on a falling raindrop. From the shape of the raindrop to the way it falls or where it falls from and to, we thought a nice activity using the hands and fingers would be exactly what we needed to portray these concepts to our students.

The focus of this activity is to work on articulation and supination of the arms, hands, and fingers. Students will sit in butterfly pose and move their arms, hands, and fingers in a specific yet repetitive pattern. Through the positioning of the arms, hands, and fingers the shape of the raindrop and movement as it falls is continually emphasized and portrayed throughout the activity. 

How did it go?

Really well. It was a calming and spot-on introduction to articulation and supination in our yoga class. Our students loved the simplicity yet challenging nature of this activity. Butterfly pose was easy for students of all ages to grasp, so sitting and holding this position throughout was not a difficult task. The movement of the arms, hands, and fingers did present its own challenges, but with repetition, we were able to work through our difficulties. This activity also required some sort of coordination and once our students understood how to achieve the coordination they needed, they were then able to grasp the entire thing as a whole. Additionally, it definitely added a nice change in the flow of our yoga classes and has now paved the way for the creation of more activities such as this one! 

Some suggestions we have to make things a bit more challenging would be to reverse the order of the finger movement. Once you watch the video you will have a better understanding of what the finger movement is. Another suggestion would be to have your students work through it with closed eyes. After running through the sequence a couple of times with eyes open, your students should be at the point where you can take it a step further. Closing their eyes will allow them to focus more on the activity and its components without any visual disturbances or distractions. One thing to remember; demonstration will aid success. So introduce it to your students so once you begin they will have a better idea of what they need to do!

Take a look!

If you are looking for a new activity for your yoga classes then we'd recommend watching our video. You will be able to watch and learn the activity while understanding why we chose hand and finger yoga to portray falling raindrops.

Make Those Raindrops Fall,

Tiva & Randa



Complex activities

Complex activities