How to Do Yoga with Your Toddler

Before I first got pregnant, I was really into yoga. At one point I did a 60 day Bikram Yoga challenge. Then I mostly became a YouTube yogi student. SarahBeth Yoga and Yoga with Adriene were my favorites!

When I was pregnant I still did some Yoga with Adriene videos, but I think I just got so busy trying to get my life ready for a baby. And then there was the constant nausea, fatigue, eating, etc. Yoga and meditation sadly took a bit of a backseat.

When our first baby was born, I heard about a mom and baby yoga class in Scottsdale. We went right around when she was 2 months old. The class was awesome and I wish I could say we have been doing yoga regularly for the last year and a half, but again I just got too consumed with all the tasks there are to do in life and didn’t prioritize our mom and baby yoga routine.

I rolled out my yoga mat a few times here or there but it wasn’t a habit. When she was 6 months old I found myself pregnant again, and going back into the nauseous/fatigued/eating everything pregnancy lifestyle. And staying busy trying to get life ready for two babies.

YouTube Yoga Videos for Toddlers

Wanting to get back into some mom and now toddler yoga, I searched on YouTube for toddler yoga videos. Up until now, I had found a few that were very geared towards a toddler and to be honest kind of annoying to me (like Daniel Tiger — she loves it, I tolerate it).

I found the toddler yoga to be fine to put on and let her get exposed to some yoga, but it didn’t feel relaxing to me because it had that kind of obnoxious but appealing to a toddler vibe (like Daniel Tiger). Today I was looking for something for us to do after she finished breakfast and thought I would try a new yoga video with her.

I found this Yoga for Kids video and I really enjoyed it. We also tried theYoga with Adriene kids video and it’s awesome. I haven’t been keeping up with my yoga other than about 2 minutes of stretching in the morning while the shower is heating up (and I appreciate how lucky I am to get said showers). The 2 minutes haven’t been cutting it and I find myself kind of sore and creaky most of the time, especially after toting around two babies on occasion.

I put on the Yoga for Kids video and this one has a much less “toddler crazy” vibe. I almost turned it off because I didn’t think it would hold her attention and seemed to be geared towards older kids. But she loved it!

The Yoga with Adriene kids video is geared towards older kids, but I had the videos on more for myself to have a guide on what poses to do next. I love Adriene and her style and philosophy. Even though she is talking to a kid, her ideas are applicable to all of us. These videos would be excellent for older kids as well.

Toddler Yoga Mat

I bought two baby yoga mats for both our girls for Christmas, but I didn’t like them and ended up returning them. I want to get them more of a miniature version of my adult-sized yoga mat. I don’t know if that exists, but I’m still looking!

I also realized that you don’t necessarily have to have their own yoga mat for them just yet. Eventually I will get her her own mat, but for now she’s so tiny she fits perfectly on my mat with me. And I think she liked sharing with me anyway!

At first I had my yoga mat facing the TV long ways and put her in front of me, but then I realized she was trying to watch what I was doing and the yoga teacher and kids on the TV, so she kept turning around. So I turned the mat sideways so we could sit next to each other.

Toddler Yoga Poses

She didn’t really follow along with us, but I didn’t expect that for her first real yoga session with me. I arranged her legs cross-legged, or asked her to sit next to me for the sitting poses. Sometimes she just wanted me to hold her so I picked her up and swung her around with the poses, kind of like what we did when she was about 2 months old. She loved that part!

She liked doing her somersaults on my yoga mat, and then when I was on my back on the floor, she crawled up on top of me and liked moving with my body or just snuggling on me.

Yoga with a toddler can be whatever you want it to be. It’s great to teach some poses here and there, but I think the best part is just having an excuse to play and be at their level on the floor. And to get some stretching and relaxation out of it for you!

This was such a great activity for us. I know she’s going to grow to love yoga and meditation just like me, and I’m excited to get back into it for myself and to give her a solid foundation for a way to create peace and calm in her own life.

Have you tried yoga with your kids?