How huge is the Universe and how small we are and connected to each other! The Space Yoga is a very rich theme that there are still so many things to tell while moving and practicing yoga. I tried to share the striking information as much as I could without boring the children too much with dry information. I hope you like it!
My sources are:
- https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/
- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/space
- https://www.esa.int/kids/en/learn
Get ready for liftoff! Space Yoga Adventure is beginning in 5,4,3,2,1… Blast Off!
Space Yoga Warm Up Song for Kids:
It is a lovely song with quite a lot of repetitions and kids love repetitive songs! Besides, all the poses are standing ones so that you can smoothly flow with the words of the song. Enjoy it!
Sun, Moon, and Stars by The Singing Walrus
Up there in space I see the Sun (Upward Salute)
It’s hot and bright (Hugging)
At night it’s gone (Standing Forward Bend)
I put my helmet on
I take my rocket ship (Rocket)
I want to fly up high (Flying)
So I can say Hello, Sun! (Upward Salute)
Hello, Moon! (Crescent Moon – right and left)
Hello, Stars! (Star)
I just want to say hi!
Up there in space I see the Moon (Crescent Moon)
In different shapes crescent or full (Crescent Moon – right and left)
I put my moon boots on
I take my rocket ship (Rocket)
I want to fly up high (Flying)
So I can say Hello, Sun! (Upward Salute)
Hello, Moon! (Crescent Moon – right and left)
Hello, Stars! (Star)
I just want to say hi!
Up there in space I see the Stars (Star)
They’re big and small (Star Pose Arms Up)
They’re near and far (Twinkling Star – twinkling fingers)
I put my space suit on
I take my rocket ship (Rocket)
I want to fly up high (Flying)
So I can say Hello, Sun! (Upward Salute)
Hello, Moon! (Crescent Moon – right and left)
Hello, Stars! (Star)
I just want to say hi!
Space Yoga Poses for Children:
The Universe contains billions of galaxies, each containing millions or billions of stars. The space between the stars and galaxies is largely empty. A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems. A galaxy is held together by gravity. Our galaxy is the Milky Way. There are many galaxies besides ours, though. There are so many, we can’t even count them all yet! (Standing Spinal Twist: Standing tall, extend your arms at shoulder level palms facing down. Sweep both hands to the left keeping the rest of the body facing front. Twist one way and then repeat on the other side, keeping your feet on the ground.)
The Sun is our nearest star. (Star: Standing up, widen your feet placing them far away from each other. Lift the arms parallel to the floor. Extend the arms at shoulder level.) The Sun provides us with light and heat. Without the Sun there would be no daylight, and our planet would simply be a dark, frozen world, with no oceans of liquid water and no life. (Hello Sun: Stand with the feet hip distance apart. Lift your arms upwards and continue the movement doing a back bend.)
Apart from the Sun, the largest members of the Solar System are the eight major planets. Nearest the Sun are four small, rocky planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. (Planet/Goddess: Standing with your legs wide, bend your knees and squat down. Bring your arms out like a cactus, opening all the fingers to be faced in front.) The Earth takes 365 days, 1 whole year, to complete one orbit around the Sun! (Hello Earth: Standing tall, bend forward at the hips. Take the upper body downwards bringing it close to the legs.) While the Earth orbits around the Sun, it also rotates around itself once every 24 hours! This rotation is what causes Earth to have day and night. (Seated Torso Circles: 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.)
Unlike the Earth, the Moon seems to be dead inside. (Crescent 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.) Today, there are no volcanic eruptions, and any Moonquakes are very small. At its center is a small, solid iron core.
An asteroid(Tabletop: Place your palms and knees on the floor, hips over the knees, shoulders over the wrists with a long neck.) is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Asteroids are smaller than a planet, but they are larger than the pebble-size objects we call meteoroids. Sometimes one asteroid can smash into another. This can cause small pieces of the asteroid to break off. Those pieces are called meteoroids (Child’s Pose with Extended Arms: Sitting on your heels, bend forward. Rest your forehead on the mat in front of you with extended arms.). If a meteoroid comes close enough to Earth and enters Earth’s atmosphere, it vaporizes and turns into a meteor (Extended Puppy: On all fours, walk your hands to the front of the mat, bringing your forearms to the ground. Lower your chest towards the floor. Entire hips moving upwards, bring your face to rest on the floor.): a streak of light in the sky. Because of their appearance, these streaks of light are sometimes called “shooting stars.” But meteors are not actually stars. Sometimes meteoroids don’t vaporize completely in the atmosphere. In fact, sometimes they survive their trip through Earth’s atmosphere and land on the Earth’s surface. When they land on Earth, they are called meteorites (Child’s Pose with Arms down by your sides: Sitting on your heels, bend forward. Rest your forehead on the mat in front of you. Place your arms down by your sides.).
For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. (Flying: 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.) Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.
We launch things into space by putting them on rockets with enough fuel. Once a rocket reaches the right distance from Earth, it releases the satellite or spacecraft. (From Malasana: Opening legs up about hip distance, squat down. You may keep the heels on the floor or place a rolled-up towel under the heels. You can bring the palms in touch in front of your chest. to Rocket: Open your legs wide but a comfortable distance apart. Lift your arms up over your head bringing your hands together.) The International Space Station is the biggest object ever flown in space. At night it can easily be seen from Earth. (ISS/Airplane: Coming to plank pose, slowly move your body sideways towards the right while you lift the left hand off the floor. Transferring your body weight on the right arm, bend your left knee and place your left foot in front of your right knee. Raising the left arm straight up, take the gaze at the left hand.)
Many space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been launched to look at the distant Universe. They have sent back some amazing pictures taken in visible light. But they can also observe stars and galaxies at wavelengths that are invisible to human eyes. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is the most famous – and probably most successful – space observatory ever flown. (HST/Windmill: Standing up, open your legs wide. Come forward bending from the hips and bring the hands to rest on the floor in front of you. Twist from your body and raise one arm up as you press the other hand towards the ground. Look up towards your lifted hand.)
If you don’t like exercise, then life on a space station is not for you! Each crew member on the International Space Station will spend up to two hours a day on various exercise machines. It makes it easier for astronauts to re-adapt to normal gravity when they return to Earth. The treadmills are used to simulate walking and running in normal gravity. (Runner: High on your knees, step one foot forward and place both your hands down on either side of your front foot. Resting the back knee on the floor, look upwards. / Running: Making a fist with your hands, bring them close to your chest. Start jogging/running on the spot.)
Getting enough calories, vitamins and minerals is as important for astronauts as it is for people living on Earth. They must eat at least 2000 calories per day. (Eating: Sitting on the ground, cross the legs. Fold forward resting the elbows on the ground and enjoy eating!) Time to relax and bond together is essential for any crew. Mealtimes are generally set aside for periods of friendly get-togethers.
Sleeping is a little different in space. There is no up or down, and everything is weightless. Astronauts can attach their sleeping bags to a wall or a ceiling and sleep anywhere as long as they don’t float around and bump into something. (Relaxation: Lying comfortably on your back, close your eyes. Feeling the ground, allow yourself to melt downward. Let your feet and arms relax.)
If you want to see more kids yoga themes, you can have a look at this page.