Yoga Mittens

This cold Sunday morning, the Alluem Kids (4-7 yr olds) huddled together to listen to the classic story, "The Mitten". This Ukrainian folk tale has been retold many times, but I chose the version written by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by Barbara McClintock. The little boy in the story looses his mitten after a day of fun in the snow. His Grandmother assures him they will find it the next day. While the boy and his Grandmother warm up with a mug of hot cocoa, a couple of chilly forest animals find the boys mitten - first a squirrel, then a rabbit, a fox, and even a bear. They are all convinced that this mitten could warm their toes, and one by one they squeeze into the mitten. Just then, a tiny mouse comes along and wants in. After a deep inhale from all the animals, the tiny mouse squeezed in and all was well for a short minute until the mitten BURST! All the animals dispersed to find a new place to stay warm. The boy and his Grandmother set out the next day to find the mitten, but all they found was a hundred tiny little pieces of yarn. They had no idea what could have happened, but the Grandmother assured him she would knit him a new one, because she loved him. It's an adorable tale with plenty of animals, perfect for a yoga story time.

The children were instructed to do the yoga pose of the animal name that they heard each time in the story:

-Prayer Squat for Squirrel

-Rabbit Hops for Rabbit

-Hands and Knees with one leg back and up for Fox

-Bear Walk for Bear

-Child's Pose for Mouse

Story time was followed with a craft - our very own Yoga Mittens filled with all of the animals from the story!

The children laced and decorated their mittens and reviewed the animal poses drawn on the animals that they could slip into their mitten. This was a perfect project to take home, review, and do over and over again with their parents or siblings!