Families

The Alluem Little Kids are right at the age when they start experiencing many changes in their lives. At age 4-7 years old, children are testing their independence, discovering new feelings, increasing motor skills, developing their imaginations. Some of them are in their first year of school. Some of them are adjusting to a family addition.

Family is where I brought the focus this past weekend. We started with the book "All Kinds of Families" by Mary Ann Hoberman. It's a great book that not only focuses on the development of our own families, but about the importance of the families that are all around us. Sitting in the studio, we are a family of yogis. Outside in the river, there is a family of ducks. Up in the trees, a family of birds. I broke out my "Curious Bag" filled with toys, stuffed animals, and trinkets and dumped it in the middle of our circle. I let the kids freely sort through the cars, rubber ducks, stuffed animals, Fisher Price Little People, etc. It's interesting to see how they worked together dividing the objects into groups by types, colors, or size.

Moving towards our asanas, we thought of all the different families we could be using the yoga poses we knew - a school of fish, a bed of snakes, an army of frogs, a pack of dogs, a pride of lions, a parade of elephants, and a forest of trees. The kids thought of all sorts of families!

Then we thought of our own families. Who are the people in our family? Who lives in our house? Are we the youngest child? Oldest child? Middle child? Only child? How does that make us feel? What is the importance of our family? Our families play an important role in our lives and at this young age, kids have an unconditional love for their families. The Alluem Kids made some beautiful homes and drew their families inside keeping them close to their hearts.