Free Children’s Yoga Lesson Plan: Joy
This lesson plan for ages 5-11 unlocks joy by exploring ten facets of the emotion (as inspired by the book Joyful, by Ingrid Fetell Lee). It can be modified to serve early childhood classrooms (ages 2-4) as well as adolescents (12-18). Direct instruction is in grey; instructions for the teacher are in blue.
THEME: Joy
AGES: 5-11; can be modified for early childhood or adolescence
MATERIALS: Playlist of joyful (and appropriate) songs; printed photos/graphics representing joy (see suggestions below), pencils and paper, word bank cards (large enough to see from where students are seated) listing the ten elements of joy (energy, abundance, freedom, harmony, play, surprise, transcendence, magic, celebration, renewal), mats optional
DURATION: 60 min
THEME SETTING (2 Min): In today’s yoga class, we will learn about joy. What makes you feel joyful? Cue students to think-pair-share. Thank you for sharing. Joy can be felt in many ways. Today we will explore 10 different ways people experience and express joy. Let’s begin with a dance party!
WARM UPS (5 Min): When I play the music, dance and feel the joy of it in your body. When I press pause and the music stops, come into a pose that shows how the music made you feel. On each pause, ask a few students about their pose. How did the music make you feel? How does your body express that?
MINDFULNESS (20 Min): It can be hard to explain or define joy. Most people just know it when they feel it, like you did when you were dancing. Today we will be joy detectives. In a moment, I will put you in groups. Together, you will look at pictures of joy describe them. Split students into 10 groups and give them each one image and a pencil/paper. If you have a small class, form 5 groups and give each group two images and a pencil/paper. In your group, talk about what you see. Observe and list everything you notice about your picture. As your students discuss, tape the word cards to the walls, spacing them out throughout the room. After five minutes, let each group present for about one minute each. After they present, tape their image under the corresponding element of joy, and make the following connections:
Holi festival: This picture shows us energy — it is bright and colorful.
Farmer’s market display: This picture shows us abundance — we see bounty and variety.
Sunrise over a meadow: This picture shows us freedom — we see wide, open, unconstrained nature.
Synchronized swimmers: This picture shows us harmony — the image is symmetrical and balanced.
Pattern of bold squiggles and geometric shapes: This picture shows us play — we see silliness and wiggles.
Pink Lake Hillier in Australia: This picture shows us surprise — it has high contrast and evokes gleeful disbelief.
Balloons outlined by sunlight: This picture shows us transcendence — it feels light and otherworldly.
Northern lights: This picture shows us magic — it’s like an invisible force is at work.
Child tossing confetti: This picture shows us celebration — it bursts and spreads and reaches beyond the margins.
Rainbow amid storm clouds: This picture shows us renewal — it shows us the energy of rebirth.
With your group, move to where your image is posted. Then, decide as a group what yoga pose represents that element of joy. Give students about 2 minutes. Then go around and have each group share, while the other students engage in the pose presented. It’s okay if there are duplicates! As they are presenting, plan how you will incorporate these poses into the asana flow that follows.
ASANA FLOW (20 Min): Now let’s put this all together. Begin with some floor poses and progress into a full Sun A series (mountain, upward salute, swan dive to forward fold, halfway lift, forward fold, plank/chaturanga, cobra/updog, downward-facing dog, jump/step/hop to forward fold, reverse swan dive to upward salute, ending at mountain), moving slow through the first flow then building speed and syncing breath through the second and third flow. As you move, incorporate the 10 poses the students workshopped. Be playful and don’t get stuck on it being perfect! Here’s a simple flow you may follow:
Virasana (kneeling) + neck rolls, sidebends and spinal twists
Balasana (child’s pose)
Tabletop to Cat/Cow with opposite leg/arm extensions
Tabletop to Gate (repeat on both sides, connect the breath)
Downward-facing dog to Sun Salutation A (half or full) x 2
Pigeon (restful) or supine figure 4 stretch
Bridge
Supine spinal twists
Final rest (meditation below)
MEDITATION (5 Min): Guide students through SLOWLY, allowing them processing time between each sentence and prompt. Imagine you are one spec of glitter that has settled on the floor after a party. The music has stopped, the dancers have all gone home, and the room is quiet. You are just one tiny, shiny speck glimmering on the floor. Notice your shape, and allow your mind to trace your outline. Notice your color and your shine. Notice how you twinkle as the sun moves lower in the sky, its light passing across your surface. Now notice that you are not alone. You are in a room full of sparkles — each one a different shape and color. Each one twinkling even in the stillness. This is the joy of abundance: there is bounty here; there is variety; there is plenty. After a minute of silence, guide the students out slowly and return them to a seated position.
CLOSING (3 Min): Thank you for the joy you brought to class today. Let’s close with a poem. Sit tall, take a deep breath in, exhale it slowly, and close your eyes while I read a poem called Joy, by Hilda Conkling:
Joy is not a thing you can see.
It is what you feel when you watch waves breaking,
Or when you peer through a net of woven violet stems
In Spring grass.
It is not sunlight, not moonlight,
But a separate shining.
Joy lives behind people's eyes.
Give kids a few moments to tune in. Remind them: Joy is all around you. And it is within you. Take some with you as you leave class today.