Joybob the Polar Bear - A Kids Yoga Class Plan by Cosmic Kids Yoga by cosmickids1

Joybob the Polar Bear Kids Yoga Class Plan This is a winter story to inspire JOY and PEACE in everyone. We meet Joybob, the Polar Bear who shares love wherever he goes - helping to bring others together. We even bring penguins and polar bears together which generally doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen...but artistic licence in this story about TOGETHERNESS makes it ok! A wonderful tale for the holiday season. Ho ho ho!

Set in the Arctic

Story script

Sharing love Promoting togetherness

Pose checklist

Best for 2 to 5 year olds

Watch Jaime leading this adventure on YouTube

Character image

Snowflake cutout

Things to remember Print out the Joybob character image and templates for the snowflake acivity

Bring scissors for the snowflake activity

ÂŠ Cosmic Kids 2018

W IE EV

Joybob the Polar Bear

Â© Cosmic Kids 2018

Joybob The Polar Bear - Story Script

Today we’re off to meet a joyful Polar bear called Joybob. This means we go to the Arctic circle! First we get ready for the cold so we warm ourselves up with some Dragon Fire breaths. Criss cross your fingers underneath your chin, lift your elbows and breathe all the way in. Now we breathe out to the sky. Let’s do two more! Now for some shruggy shoulders, roll your shoulders round and round... (shoulders song) Let’s rub our ears to get them feeling all toasty and let’s wrap up warm in a long wooly scarf… doing a standing spin a few times to get this incredibly long scarf all the way around us! That’s it! Polar bears love sandwiches so let’s make a special one for Joybob and take it with us. We butter butter butter our bread… Now we twist one way to get some mmm little fish, Polar Bear’s favourite! Then we twist the other way to get our top piece of bread to pop on top of our sandwich, bending our knees a little so we can touch our toes.

It’s time to go. We fly on an aeroplane north to the Arctic Circle. Coming to your knees, arms out wide, lean all the way over and put your other foot in front of your knee, now shoot your back leg out behind you and lets go neeeeooooowww! Now on the other side. Coming back to two knees, lean over the other way, foot in front and shoot out that back leg. Neeeeooooowww! When we arrive, waiting for us is a fabulous sleigh (Bowl pose). The sleigh is being pulled by a pack of woofy husky dogs (dog pose). Press down into your hands and feet and let’s go woof woof, woof, woof. We can be happy huskys and lift our leg to wag our tail too...maybe do a wee wee in the snow! Psssssss!

We take the reins (chair pose with arms forward) and we’re off, feet together, bending our knees to zoom through the snow! We glide along the ice, occasionally bumping over little snowy bumps. Jump! Phew, all this sledging it’s tiring. So we stop to look through our binoculars. We can see a large white furry thing sitting very still, covering it’s nose!… It’s Joybob the Polar bear. Coming into our Polar bear pose. He sees us and bear walks down to greet us. He sits up in front of us, with his big bear legs out wide, like a teddy. He has a big smile and looks really happy to see us, opening his arms out wide. “Hey there…Nice you could make it. Welcome to the snow. Come with me. We got some joy to spread!” He thanks the dogs for their help with a joyful Namaste bow and we snowboard (surfer pose) down the slopes, first one way then we jump, turn and go the other way! Joybob whizzes down on his bottom as if he’s in boat pose! Lifting up our legs and hands squealing a joy filled “weeeeeeeeeeeeee” all the way. When we get to the bottom of the slope, we meet a little group of animals who are a bit grumpy!

It’s a waddle of penguins! They are waddling about and making lots of honky penguin noises. There’s a problem with their eggs (egg pose). They are all in a muddle about whose egg belongs to whom! Everyone has got a bit cross in the confusion. Joybob sits with his big bear legs crossed, claps his paws and the penguins fall silent. Joybob smiles and closes his big black eyes. From the peace they can hear the baby penguins in their eggs (egg pose). They are singing their special calls (ask the children to call like baby penguins in their eggs! By the way - this is super funny and sweet to hear/watch!) This means the parents can find their babies. The peace has brought the penguins back together and once more there is joy in the waddle.

A little peace can help clear our minds, so we can solve our proble

ms.

Joybob bows and namastes to the happy penguins and off we go, bear walking - hands down, up on our tiptoes, padding through the cold snow. Joybob stops suddenly,coming to all fours, making our back flat like a table. He lifts his nose to the air to smell. What can he smell we wonder? Then we see a little arctic fox (fox pose). On all fours, stick your leg out and up behind you like a bushy fox tail. He looks very cold and is shivering. “Joybob. It’s me...Geoffrey! I fell in the ice pool when I was trying to get a fish to eat and now I’m all wet and really ccccold” Joybob scoops up poor little Geoffrey in his big warm arms, sitting with his legs out in front and cradling him like a baby (rock the baby). “There now, Geoffrey, you’ll soon be warm again.” He then cuddles him in his other arm (rock the baby other side). “Shh, shh, shh”. We then remember the sandwich we brought for Joybob. Maybe we should give it to Geoffrey. We reach into our back pack (cow face arm reach) with one hand, then the other (cow face arm reach), pull out the sandwich and hand it over. Geoffrey is very happy, says a big thankyou and we feel joy for giving our gift.

It’s nice to receive gifts, but it feels even more joyful to give them.

Suddenly it starts to snow. Pitter patter, pitter patter (like rain). The snowflakes (star pose) are huge standing legs wide and arms wide. They float all around us like feathers. Star tilts. The snow gets heavier and becomes a snowstorm swirling and swishing (standing spin) all around us. We huddle up beneath Joybob, tucking into a little ball (mouse). We come to a big round blob of snow which Joybob explains is an igloo or a snow house (house pose). With our feet wide let’s a round dome shape with our arms above our heads. We’ll be safe and warm in here! We make a hole to get inside using our feet, donkey kicking until we have a big enough opening. Then we wiggle through on our tummies like snakes.

Now we’re settled inside, Joybob prepares a big pot of hot chocolate, crossing our legs and stirring big circles with our arms one way and then the other. We cuddle up (hugs) in big snuggly blankets. Suddenly there’s a knock knock knock on the side of the igloo. Joybob goes to the ice window, does a hahhhh breath to wipe it clear so he can see who it is. Outside is a reindeer (deer pose). Sitting up legs long, take one cloppy hoof over your knee, lift up tall and, twist. He looks around towards the window, swapping your legs and hooves over now and looking the other way. He is shivering and wants to come inside. Joybob lets him in. His name is Rodney and he has a shiny gold nose. He lost his other reindeer friends in the snowstorm, so needs to shelter until it clears. Soon he too is warming up with a hot chocolate and a blanket.

Joybob has a great idea, sitting up, legs wide like a bear. “Let’s sing a song. There’s nothing more joyful than a good round of Jingle Bells! Arms in the air, let’s go…” (Gather all the kids into a group pose roller coaster with all the children sat one behind the other, legs wide and outside the legs of the person in front.)

Together we can bring joy and love into our hearts and homes

And so we bring joyful festive cheer into our funny little igloo and we delight being in the company of good friends. We are warm. We are loved. We are happy. We settle down to rest in this cosiness, safe in the arms of Joybob the Polar Bear of Joy.

Relaxation

Up in the sky colours are dancing…. The northern lights! Swirling colours whirl through the sky. We lie back, and make a snow angel by slowly stretching your arms and legs wide across the floor and back again. What a magical time we’ve had and so wonderful to feel all that joy. Let’s keep that feeling inside and smile to ourselves as we lay here all snug and cosy and relaxed. Slowly we start to wake ourselves up again. We lift our arm and use our hand and fingers to make a snowflake shape, then the other hand. We do the same with our feet and legs. Then use our arms and legs to create amazing snowflake shapes with them. Now we hug our knees, roll to our sides and come up to sitting. We do 3 big Hah breaths to fill the air with warmth and come back to ourselves once again.

Follow-on Activity (Making a Paper Snowflake)

This is a great activity for learning to follow instructions and to make something lovely out of a simple piece of paper. It takes concentration and precision in the folding and cutting, and encourages the children to devote their care and attention to make it work.

Step by step instructions: • If you’re confident the kids can operate scossors, prepare a snowflake template for each child by cutting out the main square and handing them out. Otherwise just demo this one. • Fold across the long diagonal line in the centre, to make a triangle shape. • Fold it again in half to make a smaller triangle shape. • Fold the left section towards the back, followed by the right section. Now you should just see the section with the pattern and the grey areas. • Handout a pair of scissors to each child. • Carefully and steadlily cut away the grey areas in the paper. • Once you are left with the white cutout shape, unfold the paper to reveal your beautiful snowflake!

Roll your shoulders round and round... (shoulders song)

Polar bears love sandwiches so let’s make a special one for Joybob

Now we twist one way to get some mmm little fish

Let’s rub our ears to get them feeling all toasty

We warm ourselves up with some Dragon Fire breaths

Joybob the Polar Bear - Pose Summary

Let’s wrap up warm in a long wooly scarf… doing a standing spin a few times

We fly on an aeroplane north to the Arctic Circle. Now on the other side.

We pop the top on our sandwich, bending our knees to touch our toes

It’s being pulled by a pack of woofy husky dogs (dog pose)

We can be happy huskys and lift our leg to wag our tail too

We take the reins (chair pose with arms forward) and we’re off, bumping over little snowy bumps. Jump!

We stop to look through our binoculars.

We can see Joybob the Polar bear

He sees us and bear walks down to greet us.

He sits up in front of us, with his big bear legs out wide like a teddy

When we arrive, waiting for us is a fabulous sleigh (Bowl Pose)

We meet a group of animals who are a bit grumpy! It’s a waddle of penguins!

All their eggs are mixed up! (Egg pose).

He thanks the dogs for their help with a joyful Namaste bow

and we snowboard (surfer pose) down the slopes, first one way then the other.

He has a big smile, opening his arms out wide.

Joybob sits with his big bear legs crossed, claps his paws and the penguins fall silent.

Off we go, bear walking

Joybob bows and namastes to the happy penguins.

Joybob scoops up Geoffrey in his arms cradling him like a baby (rock the baby)

We reach into our back pack (cow face arm reach) on each side and grab him the sandwich

Joybob whizzes down on his bottom as if he’s in boat pose!

From the peace they can hear the baby penguins in their eggs (egg pose).

Joybob stops suddenly,coming to all fours and lifts his nose to the air to smell

Then we see what he can smell: a little arctic fox, Geoffrey (fox pose)

Suddenly it starts to snow. Pitter patter, pitter patter (like rain)

The snowflakes (star pose) are huge

Then we wiggle through on our tummies like snakes.

Joybob prepares a pot of hot chocolate, stirring big circles with our arms both ways.

We make a hole to get inside using our feet, donkey kicking.

We huddle up beneath Joybob, tucking into a little ball (mouse).

The snow gets heavier and becomes a snowstorm swirling around us (standing spin)

They float all around us like feathers. Star tilts.

Outside is a reindeer (deer pose). His name is Rodney and he cold and lost. Joybob lets him in.

There’s a knock on the door. Joybob does a hahhhh breath to wipe the window clear so he can see who it is.

Joybob has a great idea, sitting up, legs wide like a bear. “Let’s sing Jingle Bells” Gather into rollercoaster pose.

We come to Joybob’s igloo (house pose with dome arms)

We cuddle up (hugs) in big snuggly blankets.

Up in the sky colours are dancing. We make a snow angel. (Relaxation)

For more detailed guidance on how to instruct the poses, download our 253 page The Big Book of Kids Yoga Postures • • • • • •

220 kids yoga poses, including partner poses and breathing exercises 400 high quality pose images Clear, child friendly instructions into each posture Anatomical focus, benefits and contra-indications for each pose Teaching tips to make the poses work for kids A linking index to each pose

Paper Snowflake Template

Cut out the main square template to begin. The lines are the guide for where each fold should be made.

ÂŠ Cosmic Kids 2018