Why Yoga in Early Childhood Education

Stress and anxiety are becoming increasingly prevalent in early childhood centres, with staff, children and parents all being negatively affected.

Child care centres are constantly faced with managing high staff turnover, overworked employees and ever more demanding parents. Since the pandemic, these issues have become even more common and challenging.

 

The health and wellbeing of children and their teachers is a growing concern.

daycare yoga class kids with hands around candle

"Graduate teachers hail A Karma Classroom workshop as one of the best professional development experiences of their career. "

The Benefits of Yoga and Mindfulness in Early Childhood

It's no surprise that early learning educators are taking strain especially when they feel they lack the tools to help children manage increasing stress and anxiety.

Concurrently, the escalation in screentime is creating a myriad of problems for young children – both physical and behavioural. Sitting hunched over devices leads to poor posture and spinal problems which, in turn, limits the capacity to breathe deeply and keep the body and brain oxygenated, energised and healthy.

Research shows that Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness benefit our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing and contribute to the healthy development of the whole child.   

When Yoga is introduced to young children, they have fun exploring their body and breath, learn tools to self soothe and experience mindful moments of quiet and calm.  Their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing is supported and cared for.  

Encouraging children from a very young age with mindful movement, breath, exploration and play – away from devices – goes a long way in developing the whole child.

 

The Karma Class offers NESA Approved Professional Development for teachers, Kids Yoga Classes and Online Yoga for families at home. 

We empower educators and teachers to create calm, kind and compassionate classrooms and provide innovative yoga and mindfulness based extracurricular classes that nourish the whole child.

Challenges Facing Early Childhood Centres 

Physical Development

Growing poor posture in children   

Teachers Leaving

High staff turnover  

Behaviour Management

Managing increasing challenging behaviours  

Overworked Staff

Overworked staff  

Parents Anxiety

Managing growing anxiety in children, staff AND parents  

Teacher and Staff Injury

Increase in sick days as a result of physical injuries   

The impact of stress and anxiety on children and their teachers cannot be underestimated
AND early intervention is key if we are to make a difference

What the statistics say

Educators
%

57% of early years professionals say they suffer from anxiety as a result of work.

44% of educators said they have lost sleep due to the stressors of their job.

26% early learning educators experience depression.

 

Directors
%

81% Early Learning Directors have difficulties in attracting and recruiting staff, with staff turnover the highest it's ever been.

14% Only conduct training to increase employees qualifications.

 

Schools
%

90% School Principals say anxiety in students is placing a major time and resource burden on schools.

53% of educators said they have needed more time to manage parent anxiety.

 

 

Children
%

72% of children aged 4-11 have mild-to-severe mental disorders which included anxiety, depression, and ADHD.  

38.3% of children suffer from poor posture.  

 

Parents
%

87% of parents agree that their child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health.

41% of parents believe the pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the mental wellbeing of their children.

 

 

References:   A large body of proven science and health research is available on request.  For more information reach out to The Karma Class

 

Our  Solution  

Our integrated approach to mental and physical wellbeing

To counteract the growth in both educator and child anxiety, and to support the development of the whole child, The Karma Class has developed innovative and evidence-based yoga for children programs and extra-curricular in early learning activities specially designed for pre-school and early learning centres, their staff and children.

Our kids’ yoga classes and teacher professional development workshops integrate physical and mental wellbeing tools and experiences that benefit the children, teachers AND Early Learning Centres.

 

"KarmaKidsYoga helped establish Greenwood as a premium Childcare brand in Australia."
Carol Tannous-Sleiman
Founder and CEO, Greenwood

kids in circle with breathing balls and yoga teacher

How The Karma Class help Early Childhood Centres

Health and wellness programs specially designed for Early Childhood and Daycare Centres  

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Mental Health & Wellbeing

Lead the way in helping children manage stress and anxiety.  

 

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Whole Child Development

Empower educators to create kids mindfulness activities that support whole child development . 

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Teacher Wellbeing

Support educators to manage their own stress and wellbeing and avoid burnout.  

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Posture, Strength & Flexibilty

Help kids to thrive by cultivating strength, flexibility and good posture.  

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Increase Enrolment 

Increase demand and enrolments  by providing yoga and mindfulness classes within your centre.

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NQS
Rating

Exceed your National Quality Standard rating.

Offer an extra-curricular activity valued by parents (and especially mothers)  

Yoga in the Early Childhood Classroom 

Yoga is one of the fastest growing ‘sports’ in Australia and most popular with women between 25 and 34.

Since it’s often the Mums who make the final decision about which childcare centre to send their children offering early childhood yoga classes can be a big drawcard.

Parents can rest assured that they have found a preschool program that values the development of the whole child and offers extra curricular programs that nourish the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of children.

How we help children with kids yoga  

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Our professional teachers are passionate about yoga for little kids and teach authentic purposeful classes (as opposed to ‘Disneyesque’ entertainment) to support the physical and mental wellbeing of the children.

Children learn about their magical breath and why it’s so important to ‘sit up tall’ as they explore their bodies and develop strength, flexibility and balance. Classes end with quiet time, guiding the children through an Imagination Vacation or guided meditation.

Our Kids Yoga Classes are secular in nature and combine traditional yoga poses with breathing, stories, music and mindful movement to create Fun with a Twist.  

Benefits of our Karma Kids classes

  • Fun, non-competitive and inclusive  
  • Offer healthy mind, body and breathing experiences  
  • Improve posture and overall body awareness  
  • Cultivate strength, flexibility and balance  
  • Build resilience and cultivate calm  
  • Improve focus and concentration  
  • Builds confidence and self-esteem  
  • Teach tools to support ‘big school stress’

 

How we support children to thrive

Highlights of our Kids Yoga class

The single most impactful extra-curricular activity you can offer early learners.

  • Purposeful yoga, NOT “Disney’ style entertainment
  • Supports both mental and physical wellbeing
  • Teach the ‘magic’ of breath
  • Experience childrens mindfulness and being calm
  • Aligns to school terms with fortnightly themes
  • Experienced childrens yoga teachers who are passionate about yoga AND kids
  • Age-appropriate classes (15 & 30 minutes)

 

Kids yoga classes are the single most impactful extracurricular activity that early learning centres can offer.

How we empower child care teachers and carers  

  • Innovative evidence-based classroom management professional development for teachers.
  • Endorsed by Be You.
  • Understand how short intervals of Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness reduce teacher stress, anxiety and burnout.
  • Practical, and easy-to-use tools to weave Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness into every day to support the development of the whole child.
  • Tools to manage behavioural issues and anxiety.
  • Encourages a calm classroom climate that inspires learning, builds resilience and cultivates compassion.

How we support teachers to thrive. 

Our professional development workshop, A Karma Classroom, is an experiential workshop that gives educators tools to easily weave Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness into every day to support a classroom climate that is calm and nurturing.

It is not about training teachers to teach yoga classes; our own kids yoga teachers come into schools to deliver kids yoga classes.

Highlights of A Karma Classroom PD Workshop  

  • Practical, experiential and a great team builder
  • Flexible delivery (1x 5 hour or 2x 2.5 hour twilight sessions)
  • Supports educator health and wellbeing offering tools to reduce stress and minimise physical injury
  • Each participant receives a comprehensive manual and set of Karma Classroom Activity Cards
  • Practical tools to easily weave Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness into every day using the Karma Classroom Cards

Karma Classroom Cards

Every participant receives a set

 

An innovative and holistic resource making it easy for teachers to bring the training to life in the classroom.

  • Yoga, Breath and Mindfulness 
  • 82 gender neutral cards
  • 115 classroom activities
selection of yoga cards camel pose dust buster breathing and yoga poses

What other teachers are saying

"Really practical; your depth of experience is evident. Your flexibility re: delivery is refreshing. Thank you so much. I look forward to getting started!"

Vanessa Bain, Merimbula Public School

"The most engaging, informative and enjoyable course I have been on in my teaching career."

 

Georgea Cross, Double Bay Public School

“The content that I will take back and share is huge - what a great tool to teach young children, that can stay with them as they grow.“

Corrie Shepherd, Tathra Preschool

Why Work with Us

The Karma Class brings more than just yoga to children, teachers, schools, early learning centres and families.

Through our evidence-based workshops, kids yoga classes and innovative products, we offer children and teachers holistic experiences that combine the benefits of mindful movement, breathing and mindfulness to support optimal mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Children learn about their strong bodies and develop tools to self soothe and build resilience while becoming compassionate citizens of the calm classroom, their community, and the world at large. This health and wellbeing toolbox helps them to navigate the rocky roads of life with greater ease and less anxiety.

Teachers learn ways to create calm classrooms with easy to use techniques that require just minutes a day.  They can teach more effectively as they are able to engage students with fewer disruptions which in turn reduces their own stress and helps minimise teacher burnout.

 

“The most important teachings we as teachers offer transcend academic skills and the acquisition of knowledge. Before teaching content, we must create a learning environment conducive to education.” Meena Srinivasan

illustration of sandwich yoga pose

If you are a School or Early Learning leader, Teacher or Parent looking for more information, please get in touch.