Here is a lovely story of a little dragon, who is bored with eating congee. He wants to taste something different and goes for a walk into the forest. Enjoy this funny story with twenty kids’ yoga poses!
There used to be a forest and rice fields at the foot of the big mountain (Mountain: Standing tall and perfectly still, breathing steady). A family of dragons lived in the small house very close to the forest (Dragon: One knee down, one knee up. Lift and join your hands up above your head and open your chest up to the sky / House: Standing with your legs wide, hands together above your head, making a pointy roof). One morning, they were having breakfast on the table (Table: Sitting on your bottom, with your knees bent, feet flat and hands behind you. Lift your hips up.). The little dragon did not touch his favorite food, congee. He said “Tomorrow is my birthday. I have grown up now. I want to eat something different.” He asked for permission to go to the forest. He took the picnic basket (Bowl: Lying on our tummies, flick our feet up towards our bottoms. We reach around with our arms and take hold of our ankles. Kicking our legs into our hands, we lift our chests up). He got out of the house (Door: Come to two knees, then stick one leg out to the side, reach up with one arm and tilt over towards your stretched leg to open up your door. Don’t forget to close it on the other side.) and walked into the forest.
He saw beautiful flowers while walking (Flower: Sit on your bottom. Bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together. Balance on your sitting bones and weave your arms under your legs. Hold your arms steady under your legs with your arms facing up). A little butterfly saw the dragon and flew away (Butterfly: Sitting tall, bring the soles of your feet in touch and flutter your knees up and down like a butterfly’s wings). Seeing the mouse picking strawberries just ahead, he thought he never ate a strawberry mouse (Mouse: We kneel down and tuck ourselves into a little tiny ball, like a mouse). Mouse frightened and hidden, “A mouse does not feed me” said the dragon and he continued on his way.
He saw the hedgehog picking blackberries in the nearby bushes (Hedgehog: Coming to our knees we lean forward, putting our forehead on the ground. We place our hands on our back like hedgehog quills). “I can put the blackberries on the quills of the hedgehog and eat it then” thought the little dragon. But when he thought the hedgehog had a lot of quills, he immediately changed his mind. The little dragon walked away to find another food.
He saw the rabbit picking carrots in the roadside field (Hare: Coming to our knees we lean forward a little then cross our hands behind our back. As we fold all the way forward our arms lift up to the sky like very long hare ears). He wondered “How can a carrot rabbit cake be?”. At that time, the rabbit disappeared. The little dragon also gave up his idea of the rabbit cake.
He walked and walked. He saw the duck sleeping under the orange tree (Tree: Standing tall, place the heel of your foot on top of the other. Bring your hands together at your heart and grow your branches up tall.). “Maybe I should cook duck with orange” he thought (Duck/Malasana: Bend your knees deeply, sinking down until your hips are lower than your knees. Bring your palms together at heart center. Push your elbows into your knees to open your hips). A huge flame came out of his mouth. As the duck jumped and fled with fear, its flying feathers fled into the mouth of the little dragon. Therefore, he gave up eating duck.
The little dragon was so hungry (Pat head/Rub tummy: Sitting with our legs crossed, we roll a hand round and round on our tummies, then we pat our heads at the same time). He suddenly saw a monkey collecting coconut in a tree far away (Monkey: Crouching down, we count 1,2,3 before leaping up like a monkey). He thought of having a monkey birthday cake with some coconut. As the monkey tried to hide among the branches, one of the coconuts fell on his head. The little dragon immediately gave up the idea of a coconut monkey cake.
“I am both thirsty and hungry. I’d better go home now” he said to himself. While walking wobbly, he tripped over the basket in his hand and rolled up to the shore of the lake (Rock ’n’ Roll: Sitting up we hug our knees into our body. We let ourselves rock back onto our backs and keep rocking so we rock all the way forward again to sitting up). All of a sudden, he bumped into the little elephant drinking water by the lake (Elephant: Standing with your legs out wide, stick one arm out in front of your nose to be your trunk. Lift your trunk all the way up to the sky; then swing it down between your legs as you make a huge elephant trumpet sound). The elephant sprayed some water to the dragon, who was starving. When the little dragon woke up, he apologized for bumping into the elephant. The elephant gave some more water to him so that his tummy was full of water now. He thanked the elephant and invited him to his birthday party.
The dragon thought he should return home now. He collected coconut, some oranges, carrots, blackberries and strawberries so that his basket was full (Bowl: Lying on our tummies, flick our feet up towards our bottoms. We reach around with our arms and take hold of our ankles. Kicking our legs into our hands, we lift our chests up). The duck, monkey, rabbit, hedgehog, mouse and butterfly were also invited to his birthday party on the way back home.
The next day, his mother baked a great birthday cake with the fruits the little dragon collected. The little dragon blew out the candles on the cake (Candle: Lying flat on your back, arms out wide, lift your legs and feet up to the sky. Your toes are flickering flames) and thanked his friends for their gifts (Namaste: Sitting with your legs crossed, hands together at your heart, bow your head).
Relaxation:
What a sweet story! How cute is the little dragon. He thinks that he is growing up. And he goes for a walk in the forest by himself. As we grow up, the number of jobs we do alone increases. We can do some work without any assistance. For some jobs we may need help even if we grow up. And that is okay. Now it is time to wake up.
When you feel ready, you can slowly start to move your fingers and toes. Pulling your knees to your chest, give them a big hug. Rolling over to one side, lift up to a comfortable sitting position. Bring your hands together in front of your chest. Thank you for doing yoga with me today. Namaste!