Halloween Time Yoga Fun!

Halloween is always exciting, especially for children.  Holidays and special occasions are the perfect opportunities to incorporate fun and different activities during these times of year.  Yoga for kids naturally takes the form of playacting and pretending, so a Halloween theme is the perfect fit for a class of little yogis!

Here are 5 fun ways to make your yoga routine extra spooky:

1.  "Boo" breath Breathing exercises have always been calming and cleansing - now they can be fun!  As an opener for class, start this exercise with kids sitting in easy pose (criss-cross-applesauce, that is).  Have yogis take a deep breath in, then exhale with their favorite ghostly noises.  BoooOOOooo!

Lil' yogi witch

2.  Witch  Commonly known as Utthita Tadasana, or extended mountain, this will be an instant Halloween hit!  Have little yogis take a few deep breaths while making a tall, pointy witch hat with their hands.

3.  Spider pose  To us grown-ups: Ardha Purvottanasana, or crab pose.  To a bunch of spooky yoga kids: a fun way to creep out their yoga teacher!

Frankenstein!

4.  Frankenstein walk  Everybody's favorite Halloween personality, Frankenstein!  Have kids monster-walk from one side of the room to the other by trying to touch opposite hand to opposite foot with arms and knees held straight.  Monster noises are to be encouraged. (BONUS: Play Monster Mash and make this move into a full-blown Halloween line dancing routine!)

5.  Corpse pose  Halloween time is the only time that I will call Savasana by its otherwise morbid English name in a kids class - "sleeping vampire" works just as well, too.  After laying still, have kids "rise from the grave" by reaching their hands toward the ceiling, sitting up slowly.  Spoooky!

My favorite part about Halloween season is seeing kids wearing their costumes 24/7 for the entire month of October, but a close second is doing Halloween yoga!  Namaste, and happy haunting!