5 Simple Yoga Poses Every Kid Should Try
Written by Smriti Dey | October 1, 2024
Introduction
Yoga is one of the world’s oldest systematic practices of physical and mental development – developed in India over 5,000 years ago as an integrated system of body, breath, and mind through intentional movement and focused attention. What was once a spiritual discipline for adults has been shown by extensive modern research to be one of the most beneficial physical practices for children – producing gains in flexibility, balance, concentration, stress regulation, and emotional self-awareness rarely achieved in conventional physical education with comparable systematic attention.
A study published in theJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (2019)found that children involved in regular school-based yoga programs had significantly better attention regulation. It also showed lower anxiety levels and better emotional self-management than control groups receiving standard physical education during the same period. In a separate study, published inFrontiers in Psychology (2019), yoga-based movement programmes were found to have yielded measurable improvements in working memory. Also, for inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in children aged 7-12 compared to age-matched physical activity controls.
Five Simple Yoga Poses Every Kid Should Try
1. Tree Pose (Vrikshasana)
Tree pose is one of the most iconic standing balances in yoga, a pose that has featured in Indian classical art and temple sculpture for more than 2,000 years, depicting the human body finding its natural upright stability through grounding through one leg while the arms reach overhead like branches toward light. For children, this pose develops the unilateral balance, focused attention, and postural awareness upon which physical confidence and coordination both depend, and teaches the mental concentration needed to hold your balance against the body's natural tendency toward compensation and wobble.
How To Do It:
Feet together, arms hanging relaxed down at the sides.
Then put weight on the right foot, pressing it into the floor as you do so.
Bend the left knee and press the sole of the left foot into the inner right thigh or calf—not on the knee itself.
Bring both hands into a prayer position at the chest, then slowly bring them over the head.
To help maintain balance during the hold, fix your gaze on one point at eye level.
2. Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
The Downward Dog is a classic Indian yoga pose that has been used for centuries as a transition pose to lengthen the posterior chain of the body and build the upper body. It provides a full-body reset that children’s bodies benefit from greatly after long periods of sitting at school desks. The inverted V-shape facilitates spinal elongation, hamstring release, and shoulder girdle strengthening in a single held position that the vast majority of children, whatever their level of flexibility, can immediately access.
How To Do It:
Begin on hands and knees with wrists positioned under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Press down through the hands and curl the toes under to lift the hips up and back towards the ceiling.
Stretch the arms and legs as far as is comfortable, forming an inverted V-shape with the body.
Gently press the heels down toward the floor, and lengthen the spine from the tailbone to the crown of the head.
Hold for five to eight slow breaths. Release back to the starting position without falling back down.
3. Child's Pose (Balasana)
Child’s Pose has cultural and historical roots as one of the oldest known resting postures in yoga. It is featured in Vedic texts as a posture of surrender, rest, and inward focus to balance the more active standing and strengthening postures of a full practice. For children, this pose is an easily accessible, instant comforting physical rest that initiates a parasympathetic nervous system response, lowering stress hormones and creating the physiological calm that both sleep preparation and emotional regulation directly benefit from.
How To Do It:
Kneel on the mat with your knees a little wider than your hips and your big toes touching behind.
Sit back towards the heels and stretch the arms out forward along the floor, or let them rest beside the body.
Slowly drop the forehead to the floor or to a folded blanket, permitting the spine to elongate with gravity.
Close your eyes and breathe slowly into the back of the rib cage, feeling it expand with each breath.
Hold for 10 to 15 slow breaths, gradually relaxing the body into the posture.
4. Warrior Two (Virabhadrasana II)
Warrior Two is named after Virabhadra, a mythological warrior from the Shiva Purana. This pose is about stability, strength, and focused determination. It is a wide-legged standing position, with arms extended horizontally and gaze directed forward, with steady intention. The strength this pose develops in kids' yoga is really profound – developing leg and hip strength, shoulder endurance, and mental determination to stay in a physically challenging position through discomfort and not collapse at the first hint of effort.
How To Do It:
Stand with feet 1.2 m apart, the right foot turned out 90°.
Bend the right knee directly over the right ankle with the left leg straight.
Put your arms straight out to your sides, at shoulder height, with your palms facing down, toward the floor.
Turn the head to look straight over the right hand with a steady gaze forward.
Hold for five to eight breaths, then straighten the right leg and repeat on the left side.
5. Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana)
The seated forward fold is one of the most therapeutically important calming postures in yoga—guiding the nervous system into parasympathetic dominance through a forward folding posture that physiologically signals safety and rest. This pose has been practiced in Indian yoga traditions for centuries as a digestive aid and nervous system calmer. When held with steady breathing, the entire posterior body chain from feet to head is stretched and the mental quietening that stress regulation and sleep preparation both benefit from occurs.
How To Do It:
Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you and keep your back straight.
Inhale and lengthen the spine long from the sit bones up through the crown of the head.
Exhale, hinge forward at the hips, and reach the hands towards the feet, avoiding rounding of the upper back.
Hold at the point where the natural limit of the stretch occurs, and do not force beyond a comfortable feeling.
Stay for 8 to 10 slow breaths. Let the forward fold unfold on each exhale, but don’t force it.
Safety Instructions – Best Yoga For Kids
To introduce thebest yoga for kids, there are certain safety precautions to be aware of so that practice remains beneficial and injury-free for all ages of children.
Never push or force a child deeper into any yoga pose than their natural range of comfort—flexibility develops gradually through consistent, gentle practice, not through forced stretching, which can cause strain to muscles and connective tissue.
Ensure the surface you’re practicing on has enough grip and cushioning – a yoga mat or carpeted surface will reduce the risk of slipping, which can happen on smooth, hard floors when performing standing balance postures.
Modify all postures as necessary for children with pre-existing physical conditions – consult a pediatrician or qualified yoga teacher before commencing yoga practice with children with joint hypermobility, scoliosis or recent injury.
For children under the age of 12, avoid inversions and postures that put weight on the neck, as the developing structures of the spine need to be protected from compression forces that the adult neck can tolerate, but not the younger cervical spine.
Ensure children are well-hydrated and haven’t eaten for 90 minutes before practice; children of any age can get nauseous from yoga’s compression and twisting moves when their stomachs are full.
Conclusion
Thebest yoga for kidsis an ancient Indian practice that provides kids with physical flexibility, strength, balance, concentration, and stress management, and modern research continues to comprehensively confirm its developmental benefits. Introducing yoga in childhood provides parents with a tool for their children to develop self-regulation, a practice for physical development, and a resource for stress management that will remain relevant and accessible through all the demanding stages of development ahead.
References
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5871620/
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968858/full