There once was a little girl called Zuzu and she loved animals and she also loved to draw. She always dreamt of having a farm of her very own. Then one day she found a magic pen and it whispered a secret to her. Zuzu’s life changed in a way she could never have imagined. Enjoy the story with twenty yoga poses for kids!
There was a little girl and her name was Zuzu. Zuzu loved animals. She frequently dreamed of having a farm of her own. Zuzu also loved drawing; she was especially passionate about drawing animals. She carried her sketchbook and pencils everywhere.
Then one day, something rather extraordinary happened. When Zuzu was drawing in her room, she heard a tiny voice calling out to her. “Hello down here” said the voice. Zuzu looked down and to her surprise, there was a talking pen (Mountain/Pen: Standing tall and perfectly still, breathing steady). “Who are you?” asked Zuzu in wonder. “I am a Magic Pen, I create miracles. Whatever you draw with me will come to life!” Zuzu was delighted to hear this. Zuzu immediately grabbed the Magic Pen and started to draw. First, she drew an elephant (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 Zuzu had drawn started to wriggle on the paper! Zuzu was absolutely amazed. The elephant popped out of the paper and greeted Zuzu with his trunk. She did not waste any second and started to draw other animal characters. This time, Zuzu drew a giraffe (Giraffe: Standing tall, we reach our hands up tall, making a long giraffe neck and start walking with your long giraffe legs.). The giraffe also popped out of the paper and walked away. Then, Zuzu drew a zebra (Zebra: One knee down, one knee up. Lift and join your hands up high above your head), later a monkey (Monkey: Crouching down, we count 1,2,3 before leaping up like a monkey), a tiger (Tiger: Coming on all fours, claw out with one arm forwards and the opposite back paw/leg at the same time), a Lion (Lion: Kneeling up, hands wide, stick out your tongue and roar), a turtle (Turtle: Sitting up with your legs out wide, bend your knees a little and slip your hands underneath your legs, flattening your body down towards the floor), a crocodile (Crocodile: Lie on your side with your arms long over your head. You can open your crocodile jaws by opening your arms or feet, then clapping your hands or feet back down together), a rabbit (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), and so on… One after another, Zuzu’s animal friends marched towards town. She drew so fast and so many that in a very short time the town was flooded with animals.
“This is great” thought Zuzu; however, not everyone in town thought it was great, because the town center was getting very crowded. Some were uneasy about the traffic and said “We can’t make it to work on time (Bus: Sitting with our legs out forward and holding the steering wheel we bump and bend our legs as we steer side to side stretching each way as we go, up hills – leaning back and downhills – folding forward). Some people were so scared of the animals that they climbed up trees (Climbing: Standing tall, using opposite arm to leg we climb up / 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). But the children were having a wonderful time. One child sneaked a squirrel into the classroom (Squirrel: Stand on your knees, open your chest, reach up to the moon). At one point, a giraffe poked its head through the window and tried to sing with the children (Giraffe: Standing tall, we reach our hands up tall, making a long giraffe neck and start walking with your long giraffe legs.).
In time, the animals started to protest. They missed their home and town life was hard for them. “It’s too noisy here, we can’t sleep during the day” complained the owls (Owl: Kneeling up, we point our wings downwards into our lap, then as we stretch and open our wings we lift up off our heels saying to witt to woo as we fly up and down). “We need more fish, we are hungry” said the penguins (Penguin: Standing with our legs and heels together, we turn out our toes. With our arms down by our sides we stick our hands out a little bit and waddle side to side).
The town folk asked the Police Inspector and the Fire Chief for help. “Only Mighty Momba can help us” they declared. Mighty Momba was the eldest and the wisest magic pen of all. He knew all and solved every problem. The Police Inspector and the Fire Chief explained the situation and “All right I will talk to Zuzu” said Mighty Momba.
Right away, Mighty Momba called for Zuzu and The Magic Pen. “Zuzu, if you keep drawing, people will eventually have to leave the town. Also, the poor animals are so hungry.” Zuzu explained with sadness “I love my animal friends and I love drawing. Please do not take away my friends or the Magic Pen.” Mighty Momba wanted to find a solution that is good for everyone. Then he came up with a brilliant idea. He said “Zuzu, why don’ you draw a forest near town and ask your animal friends to move there. Please don’t forget to draw plenty of food for the animals.” “Yay, a great idea!” shouted Zuzu and the Magic Pen in relief.
Zuzu and the Magic Pen drew a big forest next to town (Group 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). “Hurray!” cheered the animals as soon as they heard the news. Zuzu drew fish for the penguins (Fish: Lying on your back, prop yourself up on your elbows and point your toes down. Then pop your chest up to the sky and look all the way back behind you), grass for the giraffe, banana trees for the monkeys. She made sure her friends had plenty of food. With the animals leaving town for the forest, life was back to normal. The town folk partied all day (Dancer: Standing tall, take hold of one leg. Lifting your other arm up to the sky, kick your back foot into your hand and tilt forwards). From that day on, the children and their families frequently visited the animals in the forest. And the animals enjoyed their visits. Zuzu visited her friends every weekend with the Magic Pen. She drew whatever they needed. Zuzu had dreamt of a farm, but in the end, she had a big magical forest of her own!
Relaxation:
What a lovely story of Zuzu! She always dreamt of having a farm of her very own. Then one day, her life changed in a way she could never have imagined. It is always nice to imagine. The things you dream about happen over time. So you can make imagination a habit. You can dream while you are on a school bus, or when you go to bed. You can draw what you dream of or you may write down your dreams. This makes your dreams even stronger!
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!