Morning Meeting Activities: Yoga and Mindfulness for the Classroom
Discover morning meeting activities that bring yoga, mindfulness, breathing, and connection into your elementary classroom, with ideas from a teacher.
One of the things we hear all the time from educators in our Kids Yoga Stories community is:
“I would love to bring more yoga and mindfulness into my classroom, but when am I supposed to fit in one more thing?”
I get it.
As well as running Kids Yoga Stories, I work as a substitute teacher in elementary schools, and I see firsthand just how packed the school day is. There’s curriculum to cover, transitions to manage, children who need extra support, meetings, schedules, and about a hundred things that don’t go according to plan.
The last thing most teachers need is one more thing added to their day. That’s why I’ve found Morning Meeting to be one of the best opportunities to weave in yoga and mindfulness.
Morning Meeting is a time already set aside for connection, social-emotional learning, and building classroom community. It often allows a little more flexibility to be creative before diving into the curriculum and demands of the day. And in my experience, that time spent connecting is never wasted.
When we’ve had a chance to come together as a class, to notice how everyone is feeling, to move our bodies, breathe, laugh, and listen to one another, we’re much more likely to be on the same page. Children are more likely to listen to each other and follow the group plan because we’ve already established that sense of connection.
So rather than thinking of yoga and mindfulness as something else you need to squeeze into your already-packed schedule, you can weave it naturally into your established routine. Here are some of my favorite morning meeting activities:
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What Is Morning Meeting?
If you’re familiar with the Responsive Classroom approach, you probably already know the traditional Morning Meeting structure:
- Greeting
- Sharing
- Group Activity
- Morning Message
You certainly don’t need to turn every Morning Meeting into a yoga class. Instead, think about where a breathing exercise, yoga posture, mindfulness activity, or moment of connection might naturally fit. Try including a single thing or adjusting something else that never really quite fit anyway.
Here are some morning meeting ideas for elementary students that have worked for me in the classroom, along with ideas we’ve heard from educators in our Kids Yoga Stories community and School Yoga Program alumni.
1. Morning Meeting Greeting Activities
Creating a simple greeting routine right from the first day can become a lovely Morning Meeting ritual.
It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Children can simply work their way around the circle saying hello to the person next to them, making eye contact if they’re comfortable, and showing interest and engagement in the person they’re greeting.
From there, you can add little variations depending on how much time you have and what your class needs that day.
Here are a few I’ve used:
Math Greeting
I would roll two dice (or use two large playing cards), and the child had to add, subtract, or multiply the two numbers before saying hello to the next person.
Feather Breath Greeting
Give the first child a feather. Before saying hello to the next person, they take a breath and blow the feather, then pass it along. This is such an easy way to sneak a breathing exercise into the greeting.
1-to-5 Feelings Greeting
Before saying hello, children describe how they’re feeling on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high). If you have more time, they can also share why they chose that number.
The activity itself can change, but there’s something comforting about having the same basic ritual each morning: we come together, we notice one another, and we begin our day as a group.
2. Morning Meeting Sharing Ideas
Sharing is one of my favorite parts of Morning Meeting because we get to learn a little more about what everyone is bringing into the classroom that day.
These morning meeting sharing activities are also wonderful opportunities to practice social-emotional learning and mindfulness.
Weather Reporter
This is one of my favorite ways to check in with a class.
We go around the circle, and each child describes how they’re feeling, using weather. Maybe they’re feeling sunny, cloudy, stormy, windy, foggy, or somewhere in between.
Once everyone has shared, I ask the children to look around the circle and notice the “weather” in our classroom that day.
Maybe they notice that a friend is feeling cloudy and decide to check in with them later. Or perhaps they would like to spend some time with a “sunshine” friend and soak up some of those good vibes.
It’s a simple activity, but it opens up some beautiful conversations about empathy and noticing how other people are feeling.
We also talk about how our emotions are a little like weather patterns. They come and go. A storm doesn’t last forever, and neither does a difficult feeling. And just as changing weather is a natural part of nature, changing emotions are a natural part of being human.
Rose, Thorn, and Bud
I first learned this activity from my daughter’s elementary school counselor, and we’ve been using it as a family ever since. In fact, we’ve even done it on one of our School Yoga Program coaching calls!
Go around the circle and invite each child to share:
- Rose: Something that’s going well or that made them happy
- Thorn: Something that was difficult or challenging
- Bud: Something they’re looking forward to
Children can share all three, or you might choose just one depending on how much time you have.
I love this activity because it gives children space to acknowledge that life can hold both the good and the hard at the same time. It also helps us learn a little more about what’s happening in each other’s lives and creates opportunities for connection.
Curiosity Cards
Another tool I’ve used is our Curiosity Cards for Children.
We go around the circle, and each child gets a question. They can choose to answer the question on the card or ask for a new one.
This is a fun way to get children talking, especially when you’re still getting to know each other. And you never quite know where the conversation will go! Sometimes a simple question can tell you something about a child that you never would have discovered otherwise.
Mindful Moment Reflection
Like many of you already do in your classrooms and yoga classes, offering a prompt question is a great way to foster mindful reflection and active listening.
You might ask:
- What are you grateful for today?
- What helped you feel calm recently?
- How did you show kindness this week?
- What is one goal you have for today?
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple question can give children a moment to pause and reflect, while also giving them an opportunity to listen and learn a little more about one another.
3. Morning Meeting Group Activities
This is probably my favorite part of Morning Meeting for weaving in yoga and mindfulness because there are so many possibilities.
These morning meeting group activities combine classroom yoga, breathing, movement, and mindful listening, often with very little preparation.
Yoga Pose or Breath of the Day
Invite one child to choose a posture from your Yoga Poses for Kids Cards and practice it together.
Then place the card on the whiteboard as your “Yoga Pose of the Day.” You can come back to it whenever you need a quick movement break later.
You could do exactly the same thing with our Breathing Exercise Cards for Kids and have a “Breath of the Day” instead.
Have a little more time? Let the next child choose another posture or breathing exercise and lead the class. Continue moving around the circle, giving different children a chance to choose and lead.
It’s yoga, breathing, leadership, and community building all rolled into one activity.
This or That Yoga
This is another incredibly simple activity I’ve used.
Put two yoga posture cards on the whiteboard and ask children: This one or that one?
Children choose which posture they would like to practice and then practice their chosen posture right there in the circle.
You could keep going with different pairs of postures or simply use one “This or That” choice for the day.
Yogi Says
You probably already know Simon Says. Simply give it a yoga twist!
The leader calls out a yoga posture, but the class should only move into the posture if the instruction begins with “Yogi says…”
“Yogi says, Tree Pose!”
“Warrior II!”
Oops!
You can lead the activity yourself or give children a chance to be the Yogi.
Partner Yoga Challenge
Choose a partner yoga posture for the class to try together.
You could let children choose postures from our Partner Yoga Cards for Kids, or project one card onto the whiteboard and have everyone practice the same posture with a partner.
Partner yoga is especially fun during Morning Meeting because the point isn’t simply to get the posture right. Children have to communicate, cooperate, listen, and figure things out together.
Seated Yoga Flow
You don’t even have to stand up to fit some yoga into Morning Meeting.
Sitting together in a cross-legged position (Easy Pose), move through a simple sequence:
Easy Pose → Twist → Shoulder Rolls → Side Stretch
Take a few breaths in each position or simply flow from one movement to the next.
This is a great option when you only have a couple of minutes or when the energy in the room calls for something quieter.
Breathing Ball
A Hoberman sphere makes breathing much more concrete for children.
As you slowly expand the sphere, invite children to breathe in. As you contract it, breathe out.
But everyone doesn’t need their own breathing ball.
While you expand and contract the Hoberman sphere, children can make the same movement with their fingers, slowly opening their hands as they breathe in and bringing their fingers back together as they breathe out.
A simple visual cue suddenly becomes a whole-class breathing practice.
Chime Pass
This might be my personal favorite.
I hit a chime and then pass it to the child beside me. The challenge is to see whether we can pass the chime all the way around the circle before the sound disappears.
The children love it.
Everyone has to listen carefully and work together to keep the chime moving. And if the sound stops halfway around? No big deal. I simply lean over, strike the chime again, and we keep going.
It feels like a game to the children, but they’re practicing focused listening, cooperation, and mindfulness at the same time.
Listen for the Chime
Here’s another easy chime activity.
Strike the chime and ask children to listen carefully to the sound. When they can no longer hear it, they quietly touch a body part you’ve chosen: their head, shoulders, knees, or toes.
Try it again with a different body part.
It’s incredibly simple, but you can almost feel the attention in the room shift as everyone listens for that very last vibration.
Far, Close By, and Near Sounds
This is another mindfulness activity we’ve done from our Mindfulness Cards.
Sitting quietly in the circle, invite children to listen for sounds that are far away, then sounds that are close by, and finally sounds that are near (perhaps even sounds coming from their own bodies).
It’s a lovely way to practice mindful listening and bring everyone’s attention into the present moment.
Yoga Story Adventure
If you have a little more time, turn your group activity into a mini yoga adventure.
For example, with a kindergarten class, I read Sloth at the Zoom by Helaine Becker and Orbie, and then we practiced some fun sloth postures using our Sloth Yoga Cards. The children got to enjoy a story together and then bring it to life through movement.
You could also choose one of our yoga stories for children and act out the story together through yoga postures. Our yoga stories cover all sorts of different topics, so you can choose one that connects with your curriculum, the season, or something your class is learning about.
Or keep it even simpler. Choose one of our five-pose yoga posters and take a quick yoga adventure together. You could travel to the ocean, visit the jungle, blast off into space, or explore the seasons without ever leaving your Morning Meeting circle.
And remember, this doesn’t have to become a 30-minute yoga lesson. Even five minutes of storytelling and movement can create a wonderful shift in the energy of the room.
4. Morning Message Ideas
As many of you probably already do, I usually write a Morning Message on the whiteboard before the students enter the room. Or, if your class uses Google Slides for Morning Meeting, you can simply add it to your slides for the day. This is another really easy place to weave in a little yoga or mindfulness without adding anything extra to your schedule.
Along with your usual greeting, schedule, or question of the day, you could add:
- A positive affirmation
- A breathing exercise
- A yoga posture to try
- A gratitude question
- A mindful reflection
- A simple movement challenge
For example:
Good morning, friends!
Take three slow breaths before we begin.
Today’s question: What is one way you can show kindness today?
Or:
Good morning!
Practice Tree Pose for three breaths.
What is one goal you have for today?
You could even connect your Morning Message to the Yoga Pose or Breath of the Day you’ve chosen, giving you another opportunity to come back to that practice throughout the school day.
Why Add Yoga and Mindfulness to Morning Meeting?
What I love most about adding yoga and mindfulness to Morning Meeting is that you’re not necessarily creating something new. You’re weaving these practices into a part of the school day that already exists.
And it doesn’t have to take long. A few minutes of breathing, movement, reflection, or mindful listening can help children settle into the classroom, connect with each other, and get ready for the day ahead.
Over the years, both in my own experience in schools and through stories from educators in our Kids Yoga Stories community and School Yoga Program, we’ve seen how these simple classroom mindfulness activities can support:
- Focus and attention
- Self-regulation
- Managing stress and anxiety
- Social-emotional learning
- Classroom connection and community
- Readiness to learn
But for me, that piece around connection is especially important.
When I’m substitute teaching, I’m often walking into a classroom where the children don’t know me very well and I don’t know them. Taking the time to connect during Morning Meeting helps us become a group before we jump into everything that needs to happen that day.
It might seem counterintuitive when there’s already so much curriculum to get through, but I’ve found that spending that time together at the beginning can actually make the rest of the day go more smoothly. When we’re connected as a class and on the same page, children are more likely to listen to each other and follow the group plan.
Remember, you don’t need to do all of these activities. Pick one. See how it feels. Notice what your children respond to. Then build from there.
What is a Simple Morning Meeting Routine?
If you’re wondering how these morning meeting activities could all come together, here’s one simple example:
Greeting (5 minutes)
Go around the circle with a simple hello and try the Feather Breath Greeting.
Sharing (5 minutes)
Try Weather Reporter, Rose, Thorn, and Bud, or choose a question from the Curiosity Cards.
Group Activity (5 minutes)
Choose a Yoga Pose or Breath of the Day, try the Chime Pass, or play a quick round of Yogi Says.
Morning Message (3 minutes)
Read your Morning Message together and include a positive affirmation, mindful question, or intention for the day.
That’s it.
In less than 20 minutes, you’ve given children a chance to connect with each other, move their bodies, check in with how they’re feeling, practice listening, and hopefully begin the day feeling like they’re part of a community.
And on those mornings when you only have five minutes? Choose one thing.
One yoga posture. One breathing exercise. One chime activity. One reflection question. Three slow breaths.
It all counts.
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