PENGUIN Movement and Mindfulness for Kids
January 20, 2026 is Penguin Awareness Day! To celebrate, I decided to make these cute little polar pals the focus of our first blog post after a long hiatus… btw, hi! I’m happy to be back!
This month, I’ve been reminded of how important it is to think on the spot and go with the flow when you’re working with kiddos.
That was probably my LEAST favorite piece of advice, when I started – I did not want to be told that my carefully crafted plan might end up going straight out the door five minutes in! Now, however, the spontaneous, unplanned moments that pop up during classes often become my favorites. When we let go of the reins just a little bit, and let ourselves be really present in whatever we’re teaching, ideas that we couldn’t have had any other way are able to float to the surface.
Plus, you probably already know this, but kids are creative and inspiring little geniuses, and when we invite them to co-create with us, they come up with amazing things 💡
I hope you enjoy these ideas for a penguin themed yoga session!
Movement
Yoga Poses
Finding and putting together a set of poses on Canva tends to take me forever, so we’re trying a simple hand drawn version today!
I normally split the yoga poses portion of class into two parts, so here I would do “egg pose” through “pretend to be a whale pose” in the beginning of class, and the rest at the end.
Egg hatching pose is always so much fun! Rock up and down your spine, and when you’re ready to “hatch,” burst into a big stretch!
In snow petrel pose, balance on your toes in a deep squat and flap your wings.
Then grow into a bigger bird with albatross pose! Stand in a big star shape and rock side to side, balancing on each foot.
Dive into the water by folding down, moving to the belly, and practicing cobra pose.
Roll like a seal.
Come into sphinx pose and then life the feet for whale pose.
Pretend to be a penguin fishing for supper — lean forward and balance in warrior 3 as you cast your fishing line.
Side bend and stretch your flippers.
Lay on your belly and pretend to go for a swim.
Roll onto your back, take a big stretch, and a deep breath.
Play
Other fun activities you could add to your class or practice:
Adapt the hokey pokey to a penguin theme and waddle all about!
Play Penguin, Whale, Ice
When the leader calls “penguin”, children waddle about
When they call “whale”, children lie on their bellies and pretend to swim
And when they call “ice” children run to a yoga mat — you can practice colors by calling out a color, instead of ice, for children to move to
Use a shaker egg, bean bag, or other small object as an “egg”. Let students play with balancing the egg on various parts of the body, and try walking with it!
PS - I had balancing a shaker egg on our feet and waddling with it on my lesson plan for my story time class, and when we tried it, I quickly discovered that it was waayyy harder than anticipated 😅 So this is where we adapted! I asked kiddos to try to hold the egg between their knees and walk with it, to balance it on their palms, and in the crook of their elbow, and pretty quickly they were exploring and trying new things out on their own!
Here’s a fun movement rhyme based off of the nursery rhyme, “Did You Ever See a Lassie”. Multiple versions of this exist out there, and I just changed the lyrics to be nice and engaging!
“I’m Frozen” by Ballet Preschool Party
“Shake Freeze” by Little Maestros
And “Walking with the Penguins” by the Laurie Berkner Band are also great movement songs for this theme! I have a Polar Animals playlist on Spotify for you here 👉 Polar Animals
Mindfulness
Penguins have a layer of blubber and nice thick feathers to keep them warm in Antarctica, but we would be very cold if we were there!
We practiced a warm hands breath to warm ourselves up. Have children rub their hands together, as quickly as they can, until they start to feel warm. Then place hands on the heart, breathe in, and breathe out. Do it again, maybe this time breathing warm air on the hands to help! This can be a heart-warming practice for parents to do with their kiddos 💛
Books
I had a little bit of a hard time finding great books for my story time yoga class on this theme – many of the ideas I found online weren’t available in my library. I landed on Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon, and most of the kiddos enjoyed it!
Here are some other books you could check out:
Cuddly Dudley by Jez Alborough
Be Brave, Little Penguin by Giles Andreae
Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere! by Bob Barner
Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton
Who's That? Arctic Animals by Tad Carpenter
Penguinaut! by Marcie Colleen
Penguins Say Please! By Michael Dahl
Follow the Trail: Wild Animals by DK
Eco Baby: Where Are You Penguin? by DK
Penguin by Polly Dunbar
Ten Playful Penguins by Emily Ford
10 Little Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental
Turtle’s Penguin Day by Valeri Gorbachev
Penguin in Peril by Helen Hancocks
Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins
Penguin Problems by Jory John
Penguin’s Hidden Talent by Alex Latimer
Tacky The Penguin by Helen Lester
Ten Playful Penguins by Erica Maese
Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer
Five Little Penguins Slipping on Ice by Steve Metzger
If You Were a Penguin by Wendell & Florence Minor
Playful Little Penguins by Tony Mitton
Snow Penguin by Tony Mitton
Penguin Huddle by Ross Montgomery
How Do Penguins Play? by Diane Muldrow
I Like It When… by Mary Murphy
Penguins by Liz Pichon
A Penguin's Story by Antoinette Portis
Waddle! Waddle! by James Proimos
Pink by Lynne Rickards
Sergio Makes a Splash! by Edel Rodriguez
Little Penguins by Cynthia Rylant
One Snowy Day by Tammi Salzano
Penguins 1,2,3 by Kevin Schafer
Penguins A,B,C by Kevin Schafer
Harriet Gets Carried Away by Jessie Sima
Penguins Don’t Wear Sweaters by Marikka Tamura
Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon (there are many penguin books in this series!)
