Yoga with your littles can be a time for joy, imagination, and expression. You might be wanting to sprinkle some music into the mix for some added fun and flair!
But what is the best kind of yoga music for kids?
Whether you are a teacher looking for music to incorporate into your kid’s yoga class or a parent looking for a playlist to turn to when you practice with your child, below you will find a range of playlists for each individual age group.
These were curated with the modern day child in mind who now have access to the internet and youtube from a very young age and might have a refined taste in music by the age of 3!
Hopefully, they inspire your next yogi sesh or get your musical juices flowing. The sky is the limit when it comes to creating a musical yoga experience for your child.
Have fun mixing and matching different tracks and feel free to get creative!
Topics we will cover will be:
- Will Playing Music Or Sounds During Yoga Create A Distraction For Kids?
- How Music Enhances A Child’s Yoga Experience
- 5 Benefits Of Music During Kids Yoga
- Tips For Picking The Best Yoga Songs For Kids
- Toddler Yoga Playlists
- Preschool Yoga Songs Playlists
- Kids Yoga Playlists
Let’s tune right in!
Will Yoga Music For Kids Create a Distraction for?
If you’ve ever seen a child bop their head to their favorite song you understand why it’s a great tool to make learning fun. Playing music during kids’ yoga will not only help them focus, but it will also immediately boost your child’s energy and chase away feelings of boredom that children feel when adults mention “physical exercise.
No matter how fun we might aim to make yoga, getting and keeping a child’s attention is no easy feat these days with a world of stimulation around them, and keeping them engaged might pose a bigger challenge.
This is where music can help. Remember the feeling of being a kid and jamming out to your favorite tune? Children love the opportunity to unleash their creativity and music is that outlet.Children are tiny humans in the making, beaming with big energy and emotions.
Music is a form of emotional expression that allows them to move their body and release feelings they might not know what to do with.
Music gives them to the opportunity to rock and sway. When it comes to kids’ yoga getting a child to move, connect to their breath, and have a little (or a lot) of fun is a success.
How Music Enhances A Child’s Yoga Experience
Yoga music for kids will encourage them to move in a way that feels good and get them to look forward to the physical, mindful moment, daily.
We all know daily movement is an essential part of a child’s healthy development and children do love to move but in the way they please not so much when adults want them to.
It’s not easy to get them to cooperate, pay attention, and stay engaged. The secret? Make it an adventure! Make it imaginative! MAKE IT FUN!!
Children want to be inspired by adding music to their yoga classes it will create a sense of joy, novelty, and certainty that they might grow to look forward to. Where music goes movement flows and incorporating music into a kids’ yoga class can help kids let their wiggles out in a fun and expressive way.
Music is a way to engage children who love to learn but are bored quickly. It’s also a great tool for kids who struggle with speaking up or have low self-esteem because it allows them to find their own sense of rhythm and flow, through yoga, singing, dancing, or all three!
Make it a whimsical and expressive time where they get in tune with their imagination, have fun, and are encouraged to move in a way that feels good for them.
5 benefits of music during yoga?
Music serves as an instrument during a kids’ yoga class that anchors us into the present moment.
It has been proven to enhance a child’s learning abilities by lighting up the areas of the brain related to reasoning, social-emotional, motor, and functional skills.
Here are 5 ways music positively impacts children.
1. Improved Attention Span
Getting adults to pay attention is hard enough these days and with kids, we face an even bigger challenge to capture and retain their attention.
Children naturally love to move and have a lot of energy that they sometimes don’t know where to place which can make paying attention in Yoga tricky. Music silences the internal and external dialogue and allows children to anchor in the present moment and focus on their yoga practice.
There is research that shows how music can positively affect school performance and how certain beats can improve focus, help with inattention and reduce symptoms of anxiety.
White noise has been proven to help reduce the symptoms of ADHD and is a natural therapeutic way to treat the condition as well as help with sleep and learning patterns. Music is a stabilizing force that helps bring us into the here and now.
2. Improved Social-Emotional Skills
Music engages a child’s emotions and has an effect on their mood and energy. Through music and yoga poses children can tune into their feelings and feel more at ease engaging with their peers.
With continued practice, a child can develop a greater sense of empathy for their emotions and that of others. Yoga cultivates community and a safe space for socializing.
3. Improved Retention Of Learning Materials
Music loosens the mood and takes the pressure out of doing. Yoga can feel like a bendy fun activity but sometimes children struggle to retain what is being taught and feel like they have to be doing it right.
Remembering certain shapes and poses through songs and rhymes is the gift of music. Even though music will create more noise in the room, it will block out other distracting noises in the space. Playing music allows children to anchor in the present and journey inward while improving their focus and retention of the material.
When music is involved children are able to practice speaking words and building on their vocabulary and communication skills. When a child is having fun and feeling uninhibited you can be sure learning is easier and knowledge more easily retained.
4. Build Balance, Coordination, And Motor Skills
In yoga, children work with their imagination, body, and breath to settle the mind and create a greater sense of connection with their inner and outside world. When you add music into the mix it allows for children to better focus and place attention on their balance and coordination while also building motor skills.
They can dance or move to the beat and synch their movement to the song’s rhythm.
5. Allows A Child To Express Themself In The Joy Of Music
Children are already whimsical, energized, creatures of being. Incorporating music will speak to their creative soul. Try playing the gummy bear song and see what reaction that gets you from a child. They light up!
I used to teach a kids’ virtual yoga class and sometimes it was hard to get them engaged with the poses. However, at the end of class, we would always do a dance number to the YMCA and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Some kids that hadn’t engaged all class were jumping with glee as they loudly sang “YMCA” and did the letters with their arms. The joy I would see come out of every child’s face made everything worth it.
It really put into perspective how even if kids don’t know how to do yoga they can certainly dance! Children are masters of play and music allows them to improvise and tap into their creativity.
Tips for Picking The Best Yoga Music For Kids
Meditative music or “Yoga music” that we adults can journey inward to might bore our kiddo so it’s important to remain open and flexible and be willing to go with your child’s flow instead and try to see it from their perspective. Have them make requests!
By viewing mindfulness or kids’ yoga as a break in time for them to dance, move and connect to themself they will come to look forward to yoga class.
The playlist you choose will give your littles consistency and they will look forward to singing them over and over again. Have a set of playlists for certain themes.
Another option is to simply wing it and experiment with any one of them that calls your attention. Whatever your choice, know there is no right or wrong song when it comes to engaging your child. Choose what feels good and have fun!
Bonus tip
Try timing your music to the beat of the class by starting with soft tones for warm-up, building to a more energized beat during the work phase, and then settling down to chill, cool down tones for the end part of the class.
Toddler Yoga Playlists (Ages 2-3)
Children at this age are learning words and still developing which means the music will be geared toward educational purposes. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and exciting for these littles that might find it hard to focus their attention with so much to do, see and touch. Try this Gummy Bear Playlist and see if that gets them wiggling and going.
Focus on organic movement and if they are unable to get into the bendy shape assist them with it or allow them to have fun dancing, moving, and shaking as they try to make sense of what they are learning.
Another great option is this Cocomelon Yoga Songs playlist on youtube which is a perfect combo of mindfulness and music. It engages littles in a gentle introduction to yoga and mindfulness through visuals, sounds, and movement. Children at this age love educational play so anything that gets them to have fun, let the wiggles out and get them to breathe is the goal.
Preschool yoga songs (ages 3-5)
Children at this stage are more independent and have developed better language, motor, and reasoning skills. This might be the most fun age group to practice yoga with since they are eager to learn and highly imaginative. Kids’ yoga songs can include lots of singing and instructions that they can follow.
Try this playlist by musician, author, and kids yoga teacher Kira Wiley who is bringing mindfulness to littles through music. Her sunny inspirational tunes are a child’s favorite. She is the author of the kids’ mindfulness book, “Breath like a bear”, and is passionate about making the tools of yoga accessible to as many children as possible.
A different option is this Acoustic Music Playlist which is always soothing, calming, and great for creating a peaceful relaxing environment
You might also check out sesame streets yoga playlist for some monster yoga fun! Use it as a primer for your yoga activity or as the entire mindfulness break.
Or have blues clues rainbow party that is sure to get your kiddos up, dancing and grooving. A great exercise based on popular nursery rhymes.
Kids Yoga Music Playlists (ages 6-11)
Check out this calm yoga for kids playlist on Spotify, a personal favorite of mine. The songs are kid-friendly but include popular tunes from Alicia Keys or Ariana Grande. Kids have a nuanced taste in music nowadays due to the technology and internet that they have grown up with.
Choose kids yoga songs depending on your theme and feel free to take requests. Try to keep a consistent set of playlists so they know to expect certain songs and feel confident practicing to them and maybe singing along to familiar tunes.
Another personal favorite of mine is this Beatles Playlist which speaks to children and adults alike. All the songs are curated for children.
Disney Theme Playlists
If the phenomenon of Encanto taught us anything, it’s that kids love Disney music. Theme your classes to specific Disney movies or make it a general theme.
This Encanto freeze dance is a crowd-pleaser. It involves yoga, music, and a freeze game! Turn up the fun and get the giggles and laughs going.
Keep it fun and energizing! Have A Dance Party!
If yoga is not your child’s jam sometimes and they are lacking the motivation to stay engaged, don’t be afraid to veer off the tracks and have a mini dance party! Might we recommend Dance Monkey as the song of choice?
Through yoga, singing, dancing, and expression, children can relieve stress, stretch their bodies and practice mindfulness from early childhood that they can take with them as they grow.
Yoga is the perfect activity to do when kiddos are feeling big emotions, feeling drained, or as a healthy way to check in with themself and connect to their breath. When you throw music into it is sure to turn up the fun and give children more freedom to express themself in a safe artistic environment. There is no right or wrong in a kid’s yoga music party! Let go, move and have fun!
Need more kid yoga inspiration? Check out our 6 Best Animal Yoga Poses For Kids article!
