It is a very nice story of a naughty monkey and his friends in the forest. Enjoy the story with twenty-four kids’ yoga poses.
It was a very hot day. Little monkey Muni saluted the Sun and the Earth (Hello Sun : reach up and say “Hello Sun”/ Hello Earth: fold forwards and say “Hello Earth”). He was a little bored. He started jumping from tree to 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. Monkey: crouching down, we count 1,2,3 before leaping up like a monkey). He was very 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 filled his basket with some mango and some kiwi (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 took a bite from the fruit but he was still bored.
He decided to swim in the lake, “I had better get some cool water” he said (Swimming: lying on our tummies, we lift our feet and arms up off the ground to swim). After swimming, he started wandering through the woods; he climbed to the top of a tree (Climbing: Standing tall, using opposite arm to leg we climb up). All his friends were downstairs, playing games. They did not call Muni this time because he broke the rules in the last game. Muni massaged his ears to hear better what his friends were talking about (Ear rubbing: using your thumbs and fingers, give your ears a lovely massage all the way from the top to the bottom). His friends decided to play a “Royal” game today. Even if everyone wanted to be the King, Elephant would make the decision this time (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). “Let’s play a fair game, make the first stranger the King” said Elephant. All his friends accepted.
As soon as Muni heard all this, he changed his guise and convinced his friends he was a stranger. As soon as he became king, he began to give orders. Giraffe and Zebra were trying to cool the King with big leaves (Giraffe: Standing tall, we reach our hands up tall, making a long giraffe neck and start walking with your long giraffe legs. / Zebra/Horse: One knee down, one knee up. Lift and join your hands up high above your head). The monkey king was not entertaining with the dance performances of Crocodile and Snake (Crocodile: Lie on your side with your arms over your head. You can open your crocodile jaws by opening your arms and feet, then clapping your hands or feet back down together. / Snake: Coming onto our tummy, we place our hands underneath our shoulders. We wiggle up into a snake). Mouse with his tiny hands, and Toucan with his beak were carrying food to the monkey king (Mouse: We kneel down and tuck ourselves into a little tiny ball, like a mouse. / Parrot: Standing up, bend forward from your middle, keeping your back long and straight. Your arms become wide wings floating up and down at your sides as you fly like a bird).Poor Rhino and Hippo were preparing the softest grass bed for the monkey king (Rhino/Cat: On all fours, round your back up, then down. / Hippo: Sit on your heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest in front of your knees, rest your arms down alongside your body).
In the end, all the animals were so bored and tired that they made a plan. They decided to get in the mud and scare the monkey king. Muni had just woken up from his noon sleep (Bed: Sitting on our bottoms, with our knees bent, feet flat and hands behind us, fingers pointing towards our bottoms. Press into your feet and lift your hips up). When he suddenly saw the muddy monsters, he just jumped out of fear (Monster: Open your legs nice and wide, bend your knees. Open your arms wide and straight like a huge monster). The muddy monsters started chasing Muni (Roadrunner: Standing up, fold forwards and place your hands down either side of your feet. Step one of your legs back and bend your front knee down into a lunge. Lift your chest). In the meantime, a heavy rain started (Raining: Using our fingertips, we go pitter patter all over our faces and body like a rain shower). There were some lightnings and big claps of thunder in the sky (Lightnings/Spinning Star: Jump your feet wide and arms wide and spin the lightning. / Thunderstorm: Feet wide, arms wide like a house pose, clap your hands above your head like the big claps of thunder in the sky). When all the sludge flowed from the monsters and guise of Muni scattered all over, everyone knew who was who. They were no longer mad at the little monkey. They laughed at all together. Thanks to Muni, they had a very adventurous day.
Relaxation:
At the end of this lively day, all the animals in the forest decided to lie down on the grass and have some rest. While resting they were thinking of the day. How important it is to obey the rules while playing games, to be polite and respectful to your friends, to wait for your turn, to try to have more fun and a good time rather than to win! Also Muni learned his lesson and started to behave properly in games.
After taking a few breaths, 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!