Five Evidence-Based Practices to Support Early Childhood Development in Yoga Classes
A national advisory committee, in partnership with Harvard professor Ron Ferguson and his colleagues at Seeding Success, examined the literature about the role of adults in early childhood development. Their findings inform the following five strategies to support early childhood development in yoga classes. These strategies are also known as the “Boston Basics.”
Strategy 1: Maximize love, minimize stress.
What it means in practice: Be responsive to little ones! Respond quickly and consistently to their needs, cues, and verbalizations.
In yoga class encourage play, expression, and curiosity — not performance. Children ages 0-3 generally do not have the muscle tone, body awareness, or proprioception skills to “flow” through or hold postures. Instead, offer opportunities to explore movement, balance, and conscious awareness.
Strategy 2: Talk, sing, and gesture.
What it means in practice: Communicate with little ones as though they are fellow human beings. Talk to them in real talk — no kindergarten-teacher sing-song voice required. Help them draw connections by pointing to objects as you name them.
In yoga class use yoga words! Children learn language by exposure — so no, they may not know what their “hips” are, or where they are located, but it’s still okay to use the word and link it to a gesture (i.e. “Hands on your hips!”) Children with frequent exposure to a wide range of vocabulary words tend to have better academic outcomes as they move into middle childhood. For more on the power of singing in yoga class, check out 10 early childhood skills learned through song.
Strategy 3: Count, group, and compare.
What it means in practice: Purposefully incorporate mathemateical language and knowledge in play and everyday life.
In yoga class, add mindfulness and concentration activities like matching, sorting, comparing, and ordering.
Strategy 4: Explore through movement.
What it means in practice: Let kids live in the real (messy) world by allowing real (i.e. laundry piles) obstacles to stand in their way. When kids learn to crawl, walk, and climb in cluttered spaces and navigate three-dimensional objects, they build musculature, proprioception, balance, and other essential mobility skills. Moreover, there’s no need for manufactured “sensory play” when there’s bread dough to knead or plants to pot. There’s no need for manufactured “spacial reasoning” when there are parks to navigate and spaces to organize.
In yoga class, use props to encourage mobility. For example, a strap secured flatly on the floor can be a perfect “balance beam” for young toddlers. Foam blocks balanced on the head promote the discovery of spatial awareness and center of gravity. Rolled mats can create soft obstacle courses for crawlers. You can also build mind-body connections through purposeful awareness of your environment. Lay on your belly and breathe deep: Is the yoga mat soft or hard against your body? Is it hot or cold? is it bumpy or smooth? Remember that embodied learning any time a physical experience lays a mental map.
Strategy 5: Read and discuss stories.
What it means in practice: Don’t just read stories, use early literacy skills like making connections, predictions, and inferences. Build emotional intelligence by pointing out how a character asks, speaks, and looks on the page. Encourage curiosity and a sense of wonder by modeling your own questions.
In yoga class, use books to center and reinforce themes and cultivate mindful awareness. Instead of focusing strictly on narrative (most board books don’t have a strict narrative structure anyway) look for cues that connect to the real world. For example, How do you know how a character feels? What does the picture show? What do you notice about their body language or facial expressions?