Superhero Yoga for Kids (Printable Poster)

You might have gathered that most of our yoga sequences are based on various habitats or places around the world. So, when a few of you recently asked for a Superhero Yoga sequence, I asked my dear friend and colleague, Lani Rosen-Gallagher of Full of Joy Yoga to help us out with ideas!

Let’s bring out our inner superheroes with a visit to Superhero School.

ASK the students: “What do you know about superheroes?”

• They save the day!
• They have super powers!
• They wear costumes!
• They fly!
• They are brave!
• They are strong!

SAY:  “We’ll learn all of this as we venture off to Superhero School!”

SAY: “In order for us to learn to be a superhero, we also need to learn to breathe like one. Superheroes have a lot to accomplish. If they don’t know how to keep calm when they are saving the world, they’ll never be able to do it!”

Superhero Yoga Sequence for Kids

1. Superhero Breaths:

Ask: “What are some of your favorite superheroes?” (Let them share all their favorites.)

We do special breaths for Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Hulk. We use my Mindful Yoga Breaks cards Superhero Breaths.  If we don’t have a special breath for a particular superhero, we can make it up!

• Batman: As you inhale, raise your arms out to the side as if they were your wings and lift one knee. As you exhale, bring your arms together in front of your body and lower your knee.
• Spiderman: Make Spiderman web fingers, inhale while bringing your arms and hands to your side. As you exhale, spin the web out in front of you.
• Superman: Inhale with your arms down at your sides, with your hands in fists. Exhale and bring them out in front of you as if you were flying.
• Hulk: Inhale, bringing your arms up to the sky. Exhale and bend your elbows, bringing your arms down as if you’re flexing your arm muscles, while bending your knees.
• Wonder Woman: With one hand up in the air, inhale as you spin your lasso. Exhale and throw that lasso out in front of you.

2. Plank Pose:

Superheroes need to be strong. Let’s do a plank pose to build some strength. Bring your hands down to the front of the mat and walk your feet to the back of the mat. Hold your body still and strong!

SAY: “Let’s see how strong we are by trying to lift a car!” Begin in a squat, then bring both hands up overhead and pretend to lift a car with all of your might!

3. Donkey Kicks:

Another strength-building pose is kicking our legs up three times! Bring your hands to the floor and in a downward-facing dog position, kick your legs up in the air three times.

SAY: “Let’s now see how strong we are and try to lift a house—or even the school!”

4. Half Moon Pose:

Superheroes need to learn how to fly. We can practice with a pose called half moon. We start in warrior 2, and then we bring one hand down to the floor and try to lift the back leg. Lift the top arm up to the sky as we practice flying!

5. Warrior 3 (Airplane) Pose:

Let’s see if our practice of flying really helps us to fly! We lift one leg back and open our wings to the side. Tie on your cape. Let’s take off! Let the kids fly like Superman around the room.

6. Flying (Locust Pose):

Land on your bellies on your mat. See if you can fly while lying on the floor. This pose makes our backs super strong. Lift arms and legs with an inhale. Come down on an exhale. Take a rest!

7. Superhero Pose:

Let’s make up our own superhero pose! First we think of our superhero name, and then we come up with our own pose and share it one at a time. Each of us gets to copy each other’s poses!

8. Superhero Affirmations:

We do warrior 1, warrior 2, peaceful warrior, and warrior 3 with our affirmations for each: “I am brave. I am strong. I am peaceful. I am a superhero!”

9. Relaxation:

Superheroes need lots of rest. We relax like superheroes on our back with our arms out at our sides.

10. Tense and Relax:

In relaxation, we get our bodies super relaxed by tensing all our body parts at the same time, and then relaxing them all at once. We do this 3x.

How to Practice the Superhero Yoga Poses:

Flying/Superhero Pose (Locust Pose) Lie on your belly and lift your arms and legs at the same time.
Downward-Facing Dog Pose Start in table top pose and lift your hips up to the sky. Your arms and legs should be straight, with your head between your arms. Wag your dog tail, lift one leg at a time, or walk your dog. Make sure to bark!
Half Moon Pose From warrior 2, bring your front hand down to the floor or a block while lifting up your back leg. Reach your top arm to the sky. If you find your balance, you can look up at your top hand.
Peaceful Warrior Pose (or Reverse Warrior Pose) From warrior 2, reach your back arm down to your back leg while your front arm reaches up to the sky. Make sure your front knee is bent forward. Repeat on the other side. This pose develops strength, boldness, and power. It is a great side stretch.
Plank Pose Raise yourself up as if you are about to do a push up. With your toes tucked, keep your legs and body straight. Your hands should be on the floor below straight arms, with your shoulders over your hands.
Tense & Relax Tell students to tense up all of their muscles at one time, squeezing as tightly as they can for five seconds, and then let go. Some of their muscles squeeze like that without them even knowing it when they are feeling mad, sad, scared, or nervous. This will help these superheroes become super relaxed.
Warrior 1 Pose Step one foot back and bend your front knee. Reach both arms up overhead. Repeat on the other side. This pose develops strength, boldness, and power.
Warrior 2 Pose From warrior 1, reach both arms out to the sides and look over your front fingertips. Make sure your front knee is bent forward. Repeat on the other side. This pose develops strength, boldness, and power.
Warrior 3 Pose Stand in mountain pose with your hands together at your heart. Gently open your arms to each side as you lean forward while lifting one leg back behind you. Repeat on the other side. This pose develops balance, strength, boldness, and power.

Mindfulness Tip: Ask the students to imagine they are an airplane and notice how their body feels as they try to balance and fly.

Buy yoga cards for kids here >>
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See more yoga pose descriptions here >>

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Try Superhero Yoga Poses for Kids

 

About the Author

Lani Rosen-Gallagher is a former primary school teacher, the founder of Full of Joy Yoga, mom to a beautiful young boy, and author of Mindful Yoga Breaks Cards. Her goal is to improve the lives and futures of children by practicing yoga with them and playing healthy games that help them find joy, laugh, love, and grow.

Find the Superhero Breaths in Lani’s awesome Mindful Yoga Breaks cards.

 

 

 

Superhero Meditation for Kids

Carolyn Clarke, author of Imaginations books for children has generously offered to share her Superhero meditation story. This relaxation story can be found in her book, Imaginations 3: Guided Meditations and Yoga for Kids (Amazon affiliate):

Imagine that you are a superhero.

Put on your costume.

Is it a cape?

A mask?

A full bodysuit?

Imagine your superpowers.

Can you become invisible?

Can you climb walls?

Do you have x-ray vision or super-human strength?

Imagine you have as many superpowers as you wish.

Now imagine how you travel.

Can you fly?

Can you run really fast?

Do you have a special car or plane?

Now imagine using your superpowers to help someone.

Your superpowers save the day!

Where would you go?

What would you do?

Now imagine you turn back into yourself.

You still have superpowers, and you can still save the day.

You are smart, strong, and kind.

Now think to yourself, “I am smart. I am strong. I am kind.”

Can you think of more superpowers you have?

Think of all the things that make you great.

Imagine you save the day again,

Just being yourself because you are a superhero.

Superhero meditation story in Imagination 3 book by Carolyn Clarke

 

About the Author

Find the Superhero meditation story in Carolyn’s Imaginations 3 book.

 

 

 

 

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