Halloween is one of my very favorite times of year. I love it as a parent and as a kids’ yoga teacher. There are so many ways to combine yoga and mindfulness with celebrations and fun, especially through movement and stories. Let’s get into the Halloween spirit and enjoy the kid’s yoga poses, then!
Halloween Yoga Song for Kids:
It is the perfect kids’ song for Halloween, created for ages 3 and up. The time in between each character introduction allows you to do the yoga pose of that character. The song takes 5 minutes.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a ghost. I’m a little ghost.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a ghost. I’m a little ghost. (Flying/Ghost: Standing straight with your feet together, bend your upper body forward bringing it parallel to the floor. Balancing on your right leg, raise your left leg and stretch it behind you. Extend the arms out at shoulder level.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a cowboy. I’m a little cowboy.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a cowboy. I’m a little cowboy. (Horse/Cowboy: Step one foot forward and put your back knee down, tucking the toes. Sweep your arms up, palms to touch above your head.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a witch. I’m a little witch.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a witch. I’m a little witch. (Chair/Witch: Stand with your feet together or hip-distance apart. Raising your arms above your head, bend your knees. Bring your thighs as parallel to the floor as they can get.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a monster. I’m a little monster.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a monster. I’m a little monster. (Monster: Standing with the feet wide apart, bend your knees. Throw the arms out at shoulder level while bending the elbow and opening all the fingers to be faced in front. Lift your chest and open your shoulders.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a ballerina. A little ballerina.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a ballerina. A little ballerina. (Dancer: Standing tall, lift your right leg up towards your bottom and grab it with your right hand. Lift your leg up to the sky. Pull the right arm and leg up so that they form a bow behind the back. Open the chest and shoulders feeling the stretch.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a pirate. I’m a little pirate.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I’m a pirate. I’m a little pirate. (Pirate/Reverse Warrior: Step one foot forward and turn the back toes out to the side. Bend your front knee and extend the arms wide. Drop your back arm toward your back leg. Lift your front arm straight up, reaching your fingertips toward the sky. Gaze up at your fingertips overhead.)
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween.
There is also Part 2 of Knock, Knock, Trick or Treat song, continuing with a little mummy, an angel, a soccer player, a little astronaut, a vampire, and a superhero. In the second part, they can practice a pose that they think resembles the character. Remember that there is no wrong kid’s yoga pose. Do not focus on perfection. Make sure it is safe and fun!
Halloween Yoga Poses for Kids:
Do you know what today is? It is my favorite day of the year. It is Halloween!
It is time for the trick-or-treat carnival. What costume would you like to wear? Consider your favorite characters from books and cartoons. You might be a princess (Princess: Sitting on your bottom, bend your knees and swing the heels to the outside of your right hip. Place your left palm on your right knee. Twist the torso to the left, placing your left hand on mat behind your left hip. Gaze to the left.), or Frankenstein (Chair Arms Forward: Standing tall, bend your knees, slowly lowering the hips to go in a half squat. Take the arms out in front of you, parallel to the floor.). What about a cowboy or a superhero? (Cowboy/Horse: Step one foot forward and put your back knee down, tucking the toes. Sweep your arms up, palms to touch above your head. / Hero: Sit on the floor on your knees. Keeping the knees together, spread the feet and place them away from your hips. Bringing the hips to the floor, sit back completely. Sweep your arms above you. Interlock your fingers and flip your palms facing the sky. Keep your gaze forward.)
If you are ready, we can visit an old, haunted house (House: Open your legs wide but a comfortable distance apart. Lift your arms up over your head bringing your hands together.). Are you scared? I am shivering. Luckily, the moon sheds light on the path (Moon: Standing tall with hands on the sides, sweep the arms up overhead palms touching. Lean over to one side so that the biceps touch the ears.).
There, in a room with no sun, lives a green witch (Witch/Chair: Stand with your feet together or hip-distance apart. Raising your arms above your head, bend your knees. Bring your thighs as parallel to the floor as they can get.). “Check out my broom!” she says (Broomstick: Lying on your tummy, take your arms stretched out in front of you on the floor. Raising your arms, chest, and legs from the floor as high as possible, balance on the pelvis.). She has a yellow-eyed black cat (Cat: Hands and knees in tabletop position, round your spine. Let your head drop down, tucking chin to chest.). And in the same old haunted house, there are two monsters, stirring the cauldron (Monster: Standing with the feet wide apart, bend your knees. Throw the arms out at shoulder level while bending the elbow and opening all the fingers to be faced in front. Lift your chest and open your shoulders. / Cauldron Stirring: Crossing your legs, place your hands on the knees. Begin to make circles with your upper body by rotating your spine slowly from one side to the other.). In another room lives a mighty wizard (Wizard: Step one foot forward and turn the back toes out to the side. Bend your front knee and extend the arms wide. Drop your back arm toward your back leg. Lift your front arm straight up, reaching your fingertips toward the sky. Gaze up at your fingertips overhead.). “Abracadabra!” yells the wizard. And a silly ghost is shouting “Boo!” (Flying Ghost: Standing straight with your feet together, bend your upper body forward bringing it parallel to the floor. Balancing on your right leg, raise your left leg and stretch it behind you. Extend the arms out at shoulder level.).
Can you hear werewolf outside (Wolf: Lying down on your tummy, place the palms on the floor close to your chest. Raising the upper body from the floor, stretch the arms out by pushing the palms on the floor. Keep your shoulders away from ears.)? I think there is also an owl on a spooky tree (Owl: Standing up tall on your knees, raise your arms spreading your wings wide and long. Keep your palms downward facing. Gently move your wings as you fly up and down. / Tree: Standing tall, bend your right knee. Place your right foot on the inside of your left leg either above or below your knee joint. Bring your hands in front of your heart or you can lift your arms up to the sky.)
Let’s go back home and decorate our house with some creepy spiders (Spider: Squat with the feet as wide as shoulders. Place your hands inside your feet, walking your fingers around the back of your feet. Lock the knees around your elbows as you bring the ankles in front of you.), paper bats hanging from the ceiling (Bat: From standing position, open your legs wide. Placing your hands on your hips, fold forward from the hip. Move the head towards the floor looking upside down.). Who wants to continue with pumpkin decoration? Let’s carve our pumpkins (Pumpkin/Knee Hugging: Lie on your back. Feet together, bring your knees towards your chest. Clasp your hands around your legs as if you are hugging your knees.) and light a few candles (Candle: Lying down on your back, raise your legs up to the sky. Wiggle your toes as the flickering candle flames.) inside them.
At the end of the day, we can spend the night at the Scary Corn Maze at Scarecrow Farm (Scarecrow: Stand with the feet together, big toes touching each other. Open the arms at shoulder level while standing with the spine stretched up. Bend your elbows into cactus, hands up, palms open and facing forward.) and sleep on straw bales.
Relaxation:
Are there times when you can’t get rid of your worries? Thoughts swirling in your head… Thoughts can be quite compelling. They get involved in everything and think they know everything. This practice will teach you to get out of your head and back into your body by focusing on a point where your thoughts cannot reach. Now you can lie down. You can close your eyes. Think about what happened today. You may notice that thoughts immediately rush into your mind. These thoughts can make you a little nervous. Perhaps you think you are right about something. Or you may completely have different thoughts. Sad thoughts… exciting thoughts…
Now, how about you listen to these thoughts for a while? You can look at them from a slightly longer distance, see their transition, observe them curiously. What are you thinking right now? When there is complete silence, you can hear your flow of thoughts as if you have a storyteller in your mind. Your thoughts emerge, linger a little, and then go. Like leaves on a river, you see them pass by until they disappear. Then other thoughts come in their place. You may hear what they are about. Is it about today or yesterday? Is it a memory or about the future? It may be about something you should not forget…
You don’t have to do everything your thoughts tell you. Thoughts are just thoughts. They don’t know everything. If all these thoughts in your mind are making you tired, you can come down slowly like a spider hanging from your web. You can come down from your head to your stomach. You can place your hands on your stomach when you completely go down to your stomach. You can be where you feel your stomach with your hands. Here you feel the slight movement of your breath. Your tummy goes up and down slightly… Do you feel this slight movement in your belly? You don’t need to do anything. There is no thought in your stomach. Just breath and silence… Stay with the breath in your belly for a while. Feel the up and down movement. Do you feel that? Your breath moves on its own. Everything is so calm in your stomach. No worries, only breath…
When you feel ready, you can move your fingers and toes. You can pull your knees to your chest and give them a big hug. And you can get into a comfortable sitting position, bring your hands together in front of your chest. Thank you for doing yoga with me today! Namaste!
Halloween Breathing Activities:
Spider Breathing: It is a fun and simple breathing activity that you can set up for Halloween yoga. Blowing through the straws to move their little plastic spiders, the kids practice deep breathing as a calming technique. Besides, this breathing activity results in tons of giggles!
Monster Breath: It is indeed the same breathing technique as lion breath. Kneeling up, hands wide, inhale and then exhale with an haaaa letting the tongue drop down and the eyes open wide. Let everything release with this roar.
Halloween Yoga Games:
Halloween Musical Mats:
Gather the kids to go round of mats in costume and begin to dance. Just like musical chairs, musical mats is a game of elimination involving players, mats, and music, with one fewer mat than players. Play the spookiest music you can find. I will also suggest some Halloween songs to play… When the music stops whichever player fails to sit on a mat is eliminated, with a mat then being removed. The process is repeated until only one player remains. Some of my Halloween song suggestions are:
Five Little Monsters Jumping On The Bed
Pass the Pumpkin:
Bring a small pumpkin to your kids’ yoga class. Arrange the children to sit in a circle. Play music – you can create a Halloween playlist of songs in advance – and begin passing the pumpkin as quickly as possible around the circle of kids (just like Hot Potato Game). When the music stops, whoever has the little pumpkin announce what she will be for Halloween and practice a pose that she thinks resembles her costume. All the children will also practice this newly created yoga pose! Remember there is no wrong kids’ yoga pose!