Spring has a magical way of waking up the world. Tiny buds begin to appear, birds return with cheerful songs, and the air feels full of possibility. In this month’s DharmaKids yoga lesson, we explore that sense of wonder through the delightful book Abracadabra, It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O’Brien. Just like the story shows us how winter slowly transforms into spring, our yoga practice helps children notice the changes happening around them—and within themselves.
This lesson invites kids to move, breathe, and imagine as nature begins to bloom. Using simple tools like the Hoberman Sphere (our “breathing ball”), the playful Yoga Dust Brush, and the gentle sounds of a bird timer, children learn how to slow down, focus their attention, and connect with their breath. Along the way, we practice kindness, celebrate what makes each child unique, and welcome the fresh energy of the new season.
Together, we’ll stretch like growing plants, breathe like we’re smelling spring flowers, and discover that a little bit of mindfulness can feel just as magical as saying “abracadabra.”
Download your printable pose guide (PDF) featuring a few highlighted poses from this sequence!
Recommended Tools:
- DharmaKids Yoga Bundle
- Zabuton & Zafu meditation pillow
- Yoga Dust Brush
- Hoberman Sphere
- Eye Pillows
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Bird timer
- Book: Abracadabra, It's Spring by Anne Sibley O'Brien
10-Minute Kids Yoga Adventure
Get ready to move, stretch, and have fun! In this 10-minute yoga class, kids will explore simple poses, take big calming breaths, and use their imagination along the way. Follow along and enjoy a few minutes of movement, focus, and playful energy.
1. Opening with Namaste
We begin by greeting each other with Namaste, which means:
“The light in me sees the light in you.”
For young children, I explain this as:
We each have something special about us—something we’re really good at, something we enjoy doing, or something we’re learning to do. Examples of this are, jumping high, running fast, drawing, cooking or learning to read. I hold out one hand and say,
“This hand reminds me of something that makes me special.”
Then I talk about how we all do kind things for others—like helping a friend who is sad, putting recycling in the bin, or cleaning up the classroom. I hold out my other hand and say,
“This hand reminds me of all the kind things I do for others.”
When we put our palms together, it shows that we are both special and kind. That is our light. When we begin and end yoga, we honor that light in each other with Namaste.
2. Breathing Practice
We sit criss-cross applesauce and begin to breathe deeply to prepare our minds and bodies for yoga.
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Inhale through the nose like you’re smelling a beautiful flower, hands on our bellies, which get bigger as we breathe in.
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Exhale through the mouth, gently, making our bellies smaller again.
We repeat this three times. To help visualize the breath, we use the Hoberman Sphere, which expands and contracts like our bellies do when we breathe. Children can open the ball slowly or quickly to match their breath. This “breathing ball” is also a useful focusing tool in later poses.
3. Reading Abracadabra, It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O'Brien
We read the book Abracadabra, It’s Spring one page at a time. After reading each page, we pause to do the corresponding pose together. Once we’ve completed the pose, we return to the book and continue reading. We repeat this pattern—read a page, do the pose—until the story is complete. Then we transition into Savasana.
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Melting Snow to Bunny (Utthita Tadasana to Shashankasana), pages 1-3:
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Melting Snow (Utthita Tadasana)- Stand with feet hip width apart and arms stretched out to your sides, like a snowflake. Now start to melt away towards the ground, as the warm Spring sun shines down.
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Bunny (Shashankasana)- Lower your knees down and sit back on your heels, transitioning into Shashankasana (Bunny Pose). Fold forward, resting your forehead on the mat, and stretch your arms straight up behind you like tall bunny ears reaching to the sky. Take slow, quiet breaths as your bunny wakes up for Spring!
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Blade of grass to Flower (Tadasana to Padmasana), pages 4-6:
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Blade of Grass (Tadasana)- Stand tall with arms extended over your head and palms together, feet together, to make a tall blade of grass blowing in the breeze.
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Flower (Padmasana)- Now come to sit either criss cross or with soles together. Bring your arms above you, fingers touching and arms bent to make a beautiful flower head over you. Take a few breaths here to smell how lovely your flower smells!
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Cricket to Dragonfly, pages 7-9:
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Cricket- Lie down on your back and bring your legs up with a ninety degree bend in them. Your arms should also come up with a ninety degree bend. Now rub your legs and arms together, like a cricket chirping outside. (Sometimes it is fun to play cricket chirping sounds through a speaker while children do this).
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Dragonfly- Come to standing, spread your strong, big dragonfly wings out and begin to whir around the room. Be careful of other dragonflies whirring around with you!
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Tree to Rainbow (Vriksha Asana to Parshva Prasarita Padottanasana), pages 10-12:
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Tree (Vriksha Asana)- Start by looking at something on the floor that isn’t moving to help you balance. Now Stand tall on one leg, and place the sole of your other foot on your standing leg (By your ankle, calf or inner thigh, not on your knee). Bring your arms to your side or stretch them overhead like tree branches. Balance for a few breaths here. Then repeat on your other leg.
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Rainbow (Parshva Prasarita Padottanasana)- Now step your feet wide for Rainbow Pose. Take your arms together, holding an imaginary magic yoga paintbrush. Bring it down next to your right leg, “dip” it in rainbow paint, and draw a big rainbow, reaching over your head and down to your left leg. Get some more paint and make another arch over your head, back to your right leg to make a beautiful double rainbow over your strong Spring tree!
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Sun Salutations to Bird (Surya Namaskar to Dekasana), pages 13-15:
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Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar)-
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Mountain Pose (Tadasana): Stand tall like a strong tree.
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Forward Fold (Uttanasana): Bend forward to tickle your toes.
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Squat Pose (Malasana): Come down into a squat.
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Plank Pose (Phalakasana): Step your feet back and hold strong like a plank.
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Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana): Lower your chest down, then come up like a happy snake.
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Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana): Push back, stretching your arms and legs.
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Forward Fold (Uttanasana): Jump your feet forward like a frog and bend to tickle your toes.
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Raised Arms Pose (Hastauttanasana): Straighten your legs, lift your arms, and say hello to the sun! Repeat sequence 2-3 times. ( A fun song for this is Kira Wiley’s Dance For The Sun).
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Bird (Dekasana)- Stand tall on one leg, lifting the other leg straight behind you. Look at something that isn’t moving. Keep your arms by your sides or out like wings for balance. Pretend you are a bird gliding through the sky, strong and steady. When you are ready to land on a branch, switch your legs.
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Spider to Nest (Malasana to Dhanurasana), pages 16-18:
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Spider (Malasana)- Squat down low with your feet apart and put your hands on the ground in front of you. Wiggle your fingers and sway side to side like a spider hanging in a tree.
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Nest (Dhanurasana)- Lie on your stomach and bend your knees, reaching back to hold your ankles or feet. Lift your chest and legs off the floor, making your body into a nest shape ready to welcome a bird family.
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Eggs to Baby Bird (Balasana to Sukhasana variation), pages 19-21:
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Eggs (Balasana)- Kneel on the floor and sit back on your heels. Fold forward, bringing your tummy toward your thighs and your forehead to the floor. Wrap your arms around your legs or let them rest by your sides. Curl up tight and round like a cozy little egg, feeling safe and warm inside.
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Baby Bird (Sukhasana variation)- Sitting tall, legs criss crossed. Your arms are the baby bird’s mouth, raise them wide above your head and look up at your mommy and daddy birds. Take a few breaths here.
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Caterpillar to Butterfly (Uttanasana to Phalakasana flow to Baddha Konasana), pages 22-24:
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Caterpillar (Uttanasana to Phalakasana flow)- Stand tall, then fold forward and place your hands on the floor like a little caterpillar. Slowly walk your hands forward until your body is long and straight like a plank. Then walk your feet up to meet your hands and curl into a tiny caterpillar again. Keep inching along the mat!
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Butterfly (Baddha Konasana)- Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together and knees out to the sides. Hold your feet with your hands and gently flap your knees up and down like butterfly wings. Pretend you are a colorful butterfly fluttering in a sunny garden!
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Wind breath to bee breath (Candle Pranayama to Bhramari Pranayama), pages 25-27:
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Wind Breath (Candle Pranayama)- Sit criss cross on the floor. Hold a hand in front of your mouth at a little bit of a distance. Take a big breath in through your nose and then pretend to blow out a candle. Do you feel that cool breath on your hand? It is like the wind blowing outside! Take a few more windy breaths.
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Bee Breath (Bhramari Pranayama)- Sit comfortably with your back tall. Take a deep breath in, then hum gently as you exhale, like a buzzing bee. Feel the vibration in your lips, cheeks, and chest. Repeat a few times, imagining you are a happy little bee flying through flowers!
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Stomp off snow to Cat (Tadasana March to Marjaryasana), pages 28-30:
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Stomp off Snow (Tadasana March)- Stand tall and bring one leg up. Next, thump your foot on the ground as if you are stomping the last of the snow off your boot. Now raise your other leg and bring your foot down to stomp the snow off that boot.
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Cat (Marjaryasana)- Come onto your hands and knees. Inhale and arch your back up toward the sky, tucking your chin to your chest, just like a stretching cat. Feel your back stretch and your tummy curl as you meow quietly or pretend to purr!
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Freeze Dance, pages 31-32: Spring has sprung, warm weather is here! Play your favorite song, (for this mine is either Happy, by Pharrell Williams or Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake) and dance. Every few seconds, pause the music and freeze. Repeat until song is done. Or just have a little dance party and dance!
4. Savasana (Final Rest)
After we finish our story and poses, we quiet our minds and calm our bodies with Savasana.
“Savasana helps our brains become calm and clear, making room for new thoughts and ideas.”
I demonstrate with the Yoga Dust Brush—a clear-handled brush filled with floating glitter. I show the kids how the glitter swirls when the brush is moving and settles when the brush lies still. I explain:
“Our thoughts are like that glitter—when we lie still, they settle down and our minds become clear.”
Children lie on their backs, breathing gently.
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Optional tools: Eye pillows or breathing buddies (stuffed animal) on bellies, and/or star machine with calming music or the bird timer.
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I gently “brush” a little yoga dust on each child’s forehead to help them relax.
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I guide them to breathe in through their noses, expanding their bellies to rise, and out through their mouths, letting their bellies fall.
5. Magic Yoga Hugs & Closing Namaste
After a few quiet minutes, we begin to wake up:
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Stretch arms overhead for a full-body stretch.
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Hug knees to chest, and slowly roll up to a criss-cross seated position.
We bring our hands to our hearts and think of someone or something we love—family, friends, pets, even a favorite toy or blanket. It can be someone alive or someone who’s passed on.
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Breathe in and raise your arms up.
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Breathe out and give yourself a hug.
“As we breathe out, whoever or whatever you were thinking of will receive a magic yoga hug, wherever they are!”
Repeat once more, either with the same person/thing or someone new.
Then, we place our special and kind hands together and bring them;:
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On our hearts: > “We respect each other with loving hearts.” Have the children repeat “loving hearts”.
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On our mouths: > “We respect each other with kind words.” Have the children repeat “kind words”.
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On our foreheads: > “We respect each other by trying new things with open minds.” Have the children repeat “open minds”.
Finally, we all say together:
“Namaste.”
