Yoga with Your American Girl Doll (Ages 8-10)

Students practice their public speaking skills at the beginning of class while introducing themselves and their dolls. Students practice listening skills and following directions as they process verbal directions and visual cues to move into yoga poses.  Students learn breathing techniques for calming such as Balloon Breath (also called belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing).  Students learn yoga poses and their benefits such as Plank pose and how it strengthens their arms, shoulders, and abdominal muscles.  Students model the yoga poses with their dolls, thus gaining a more in-depth understanding of how to do the pose themselves, while engaging in the valuable element of play-directed learning.  Imagining scenarios such as riding in a boat (boat pose) with their doll encourages pretend play and creative thinking. Lastly, children learn relaxation skills as they are led through a progression of supine poses and into corpse pose. Relaxation is a learned skill that benefits a child throughout their lifetime.