Toddler Yoga at 8 Limbs

Jennifer started off our class this morning with a hello song. Each Beetle took a turn standing up and we clapped for them. They all really enjoyed this, "Hello Kaya!"

We used blocks, bolsters, and mats to create a challenging obstacle course for practicing climbing, crawling, and balancing our bodies. Anna Lee was determined to get her body up onto this block.

Lena balanced on the block and stretched her arms out wide.

Eva and Kaya crawled, and then walked, across the balance beam. Even though this doesn't look much like yoga, yet, the toddlers are learning about their bodies, their strength, balance, and coordination in a open and beautiful space.

8 Limbs Yoga

During our Yoga class, we worked on breathing techniques. We inhaled and squeezed our bellies in and exhaled pushing our bellies out. To help us learn this breathing exercise, we used balloons!

They also rested their heads on their friends bellies so they were able to feel the rise and fall of their breathing.

Nolan stretched high up to the sky and got a great stretch on his side.

Austin concentrated hard to balance his body using only his hand!

Eli loved Yoga-he was very precise about his breathing techniques :)

Doing the Tree Pose, their arms were the branches reaching high up in the sky, and their legs were the roots, firmly planted in the ground.

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves- The Seasons Changing

Musical Instruments and Sound Jars- Our Hearing Sense

Community Center Open Gym

It's that time of year again! When the weather turns rainy and cold, we usually start heading to one of our local community centers for open gym. You can check out the days/ times for open gyms at your nearest community center, below:
http://www.seattle.gov/parks/children/play.htm
There is usually a small fee per child ($2-3) but we usually get a bit of a discount for a large school group. Some of them are open on the weekends too.

There are typically all types of cars to ride on. We took turns cruising around the huge gym on this cool hand-powered scooter. Despite her scowl, Kaya was having a really good time!

They also set out mats and large equipment for climbing and sliding. This big slide was a hit with most of our crew. The kids were all quite respectful of others and practiced waiting for a turn patiently.

Centipede Circle Time choices

We had many options for Class Time today, take a peek at some of their choices.

Eli chose to start class time by helping to make lunch. His favorite part was the "cheeeese!"

Saige had a great time globbing the pizza sauce on the english muffins.

Owen drew lots of pictures for his Mom, and wanted to share his drawing with his friends too.

Saige worked on her tower she named "The Blue Tower"

Finn and Austin played Connect the dots, but they said they weren't on any team-"it's just for fun!" They bursted out laughing whenever the chip clanked to the bottom :)

Layla and Luka worked very hard on their city of towers.

Eli made a telescope for his mom, and soon all the kids wanted their very own telescope. Great idea, Eli!

Smelling Bouquets of Flowers

Kaya laughed when the flowers tickled her nose. She pointed to more bouquets of flowers to smell. She grabbed at them and wanted to hold them all by herself.

Lena was the first to smell the flowers, and wanted to smell all of them. She said "Yummy, yummy!"

Anna Lee thought the flowers were for eating. After tasting them, she decided they were only for smelling:)

Eva said "Pink flower, pink flower." She enjoyed smelling the flowers but was more interested in naming the color of each flower. Mmmmmmmm.........

Fun + Paint + Creativity = A Tree :)

The Centipedes have been noticing all of the changes in the weather, how it is getting darker earlier, and that the trees are changing. We decided to bring some of our observations into our classroom. We have been collecting leaves to create art projects with and decided to make our very own tree for our classroom that we can decorate with art projects related to the change of the seasons. Take a peak at us in action as we work together to make our very own tree.

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Centipede Dance Party

Picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Drawing on the Easel

During class time we set up the Easel with a combination of markers and crayons. Each Beetle had their own way of using the art supplies.

Kaya loved using the markers. Her favorite part was opening and closing the caps. We talked about using our strong muscles to "push" the cap down, and "pull" the cap off. After Kaya drew her picture, she became very interested in opening and closing the caps and making sure every marker was shut all the way.

Lena enjoyed making different shapes on her paper using both markers and crayons. She pointed to her drawing and said "Shape! Blue shape, pink shape, yellow!" Lena made sure she covered every part of the paper with a different color, or design. She stood on her tip toes to reach the very top, and bent down low to get every inch on the bottom. When she finished her master piece, she announced to the rest of her friends "Ta-da!" :)

Eva's favorite part of the art project were the different colors. She picked up a marker and said the color, and if she wasn't sure, she asked. Once she knew, she repeated the color while she was coloring. When she came across the crayons she said "Crayon! Green crayon!". She had fun drawing lines of each color on her paper. When she finished she said "All done, pretty!" :)

Namaste- "I bow to you."

Children benefit in many ways practicing yoga. Physically, yoga enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. Mentally, their concentration, sense of calmness, and relaxation improve.

Through the practice of yoga they can experience breathing, movement, stillness, balance, focus, peace, grace, connection, health, and well-being. Children love to pretend and use their imaginations to become a tree, a flower, a cat, or the sun. Yoga connects children with the natural world, something they are inherently drawn to on their own.

The gesture Namaste in Sanskrit represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."

Surround yourself with love and kindness. Be gentle and peaceful in actions, thoughts. Be respectful. Show kindness. Do not harm anyone or anything. Be tolerant – accept others points of view.

Toddlers Benefit from Yoga too!

The Beetle class explored their bodies in this new and exciting environment. They crawled over bolster mountains, used shakers to stretch up high and down low, sang songs together, noticed their body parts, smelled flowers, and blew out candles.

Lena coordinated her hands and her body to stop and then push the ball away. With help, she rolled on her tummy on top of the ball to touch her fingers to the floor.

Eva used her strength and determination to lift the balls up and carry them. She ran in the big open space and practiced stretching her arms up high and walking on her tip toes.

Kaya sat on the bolsters and climbed over them. When class was nearing the end, she helped push and pull the bolsters back to their place on the shelf.

Anna Lee rocked her 8 Limbs t-shirt and her mama, our instructor, Jennifer, provided us all with the awesome experience of yoga!

Centipedes Class Time

One of the Centipede's class time choices today was exploring with watercolor paints. Watercolors are a medium that allows them to grow in their understanding of the flow of water, the saturation level of pigments, and how colors blend together. We provide different sized brushes that are varied in thickness and width so they can experiment with the lines they can make on their papers.

Luka noticed today that she can change the color of her paint with more or less water and she can also change the color of her rinse water with the pigments too. She wanted her rinse water to be pink like Myla's so she added red paint to her water and stirred it around.

Ava and Myla discovered that if they do not dip their brush in water after they put the paint on their brushes, their colors are stronger on the paper. They are learning how they can control the shade of color by the amount of water they add.

Bodhi explored with several colors working with circular brush strokes and also with dabbing the brush on his paper and seeing how it looked. He explained as he worked how he was making lots of circles.

Layla choose to make a rainbow with her brush strokes and she shared with us how she was also painting a picture of herself when she was a baby next to her rainbow. She has mastered the use of this art medium and can now use it to express her creative dialogue and ideas.

The Centipedes also got creative working on making things three- dimensional too. Using the gears, Layla discovered that she could get them all to turn using the handles. John used them to make a long train that he could roll across the floor.

John and Finn also explored how the magnetic fields of the magnets affect the metal and plastic items, as they built structures with them and moved items around using force of the magnets.