Ocean Themed Yoga for Kids

Yoga for kids can be a fun and engaging way to promote physical activity, mindfulness, and creativity. By incorporating an ocean theme into the yoga class, children can explore their imaginations while learning about the wonders of the sea.

From mimicking flowing waves to pretending to be sea creatures, a ocean themed yoga class offers a unique blend of movement and storytelling that keeps kids entertained while encouraging relaxation and focus. It’s the perfect way to combine learning, play, and wellness in one exciting session!

Ocean themed yoga for kids is one of my favorite themed yoga lessons to do. It’s great all year round, and especially in the summer time. Kids yoga is fun and playful, but practicing yoga also helps kids learn self awareness, mindfulness, and even deep relaxation.

Let’s get started! This class is perfect for kids ages 5-8 but can be adapted for kids younger and older as well.

Introduction and Grounding Exercise

Let’s start with a fun game: Play “guess the animal” to help figure out the theme of today’s class. (Hint: It’s something you’d find in the ocean!)

Guess the Animal!

• “I carry my home on my back and move slowly.” (Turtle)
• “I have eight arms and love to swim around.” (Octopus)
• “I have a hard shell and can pinch with my claws!” (Lobster or Crab)
• “I leap out of the water and love to do flips!” (Dolphin)
• “I have a smooth body, a pointed fin, and am a fast swimmer!” (Shark)

What are some other ocean animals you know about? Raise your hand to share.

Now, imagine your yoga mat is a beach towel. What colors or patterns do you see on your towel? Let’s lie down on it and picture ourselves on a warm, sunny beach. Feel the sun on your skin, the cool, salty ocean breeze, and listen to the waves. Take a few deep inhales and exhales.

Preparing for Ocean Yoga

Before you dive into your ocean yoga adventure, it’s important to set the stage for a peaceful and inspiring yoga practice. Start by finding a quiet spot where you can move freely and feel comfortable—this could be your living room, a classroom, or even outside on the grass. Lay out your mat or a soft towel, and if you want to make it extra special, add a few special touches like seashells, a small bowl of water, or a gentle sound machine playing wave sounds.

As you settle in, take a few big inhales and exhales, letting the air flow in and out like the gentle rhythm of the sea. Imagine the calmness of the ocean filling you with each inhale, and any worries floating away with each exhale. Begin your practice with simple poses such as mountain pose, standing tall and strong like a rocky island, or downward facing dog, stretching like a playful dolphin diving through the waves. Move slowly, just like a sea turtle gliding gracefully through the water.

Creating an Ocean Yoga Oasis

Transforming your space into an ocean yoga oasis can make your yoga practice feel like a true seaside escape. Choose calming colors for your area—think soft blues, sea greens, and sandy neutrals—to reflect the beauty of the sea. Decorate with ocean themed items like driftwood, coral, or a few scattered seashells to bring the beach right to your yoga mat. If you have an ocean themed yoga mat or ocean themed yoga cards, use them to inspire your poses and add a splash of creativity.

As you move through your yoga poses, imagine the feeling of cool sand beneath your feet and the sound of waves in the background. You might even play a waves on the beach soundtrack or the calls of seagulls to help you breathe deeply and relax into each pose. Whether you’re settling into child’s pose to rest or exploring an advanced pose like pigeon pose, let the ocean’s peaceful energy guide your body and mind. With each breath, picture yourself soaking up the tranquility of the sea, creating a deeper connection to the present moment and your own inner calm.

Ocean Themed Yoga Warm Ups:

Fun fact: Did you know there are underwater mountains in the ocean called seamounts? The tallest one, Mauna Kea in Hawaii, is higher than Mount Everest if you measure it from the sea floor to its summit. How cool is that?

Let’s celebrate this amazing fact by trying mountain pose! Stand tall, feel strong, and imagine you’re a big, majestic mountain rising from the depths of the sea. Hold the pose for a few breaths.

Did you know many underwater mountains are volcanoes? Let’s do volcano pose. Start in a low squat and rub your hands together, really nice and fast to get them warm. Counting down from ten, we jump up and explode when we get to zero!

Now, let’s try Seahorse Pose. Male seahorses are unique since they are the ones who get to carry the babies and give birth! Seahorse pose is also called chair pose in yoga. Kneel or stand, reach your arms above your head, and pretend you’re a seahorse bobbing gently in the water.

Let’s try some more ocean animal movements.

• Sway like seaweed: Stand up tall, stretch your arms above your head, and gently sway side to side, just like seaweed dancing in the ocean currents. For a deeper stretch, reach your arms forward as you sway.
• Jump like a dolphin: Crouch down low, then leap up as high as you can, pretending to glide through the waves and splash back down.
• Scuttle like a crab: Get down low on your hands and feet, belly facing up, and move sideways across the floor, just like a crab scuttling along the beach.
• Float like a jellyfish: Spread your arms wide and wiggle your fingers way up high and then down low as you move slowly and gracefully around, imagining you’re a jellyfish drifting through the deep ocean.
• Sea snake stretch: Sit on the ground with your legs extended straight in front of you. Reach your arms forward toward your toes, pretending to be a long sea snake or eel stretching out in the water.
• Snap like a clam: Sit on the ground with your legs apart, slowly bring them together like a clam shell closing, and SNAP them shut!

Before we get out to the ocean, let’s play on the beach. Roll yourself up in your towel once. Then roll back out. Imagine you are in the sand and you got buried by the sand!

Go under your yoga mat and imagine the heavy cool sand laying on top of you.  Now we are all covered in sand! Let’s shake it off first. Shake shake shake! Shake shake shake!  Whew.

Let’s go jump in the water to rinse off. Run in place over the hot sand on your tippy toes.  Now Jump! Jump jump jump into the water! Ahh much better. Lay on your mat and swim on your tummy first, then your back.

Time to go see what else is in the ocean.  We’re going to get in our boat first to go out on the water.

Boat pose Sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” with me, here we go!

Ocean Yoga Breathing Activity (3 Minutes)

• Ocean Waves Breathing: Ask the children to breathe in deeply through their nose (imagine the ocean waves coming to shore) and then breathe out slowly through their mouth (imagine the waves rolling back out to sea). You can make waves up and down with your hands in front of you at the same time.
• Sea Breeze Breathing: Imagine standing on the shore feeling the cool sea breeze on your face. Ask the children to take a deep breath in through their nose as if they are smelling the salty ocean air, then slowly exhale through their mouth as if they are blowing soft ripples onto the water’s surface.

Try some additional breathing activities with ideas from this article.

Ocean Themed Yoga Poses (15 Minutes)

Introduce each pose by telling a fun fact or rhyme about the ocean animal and guide the children through the corresponding yoga pose. Many of these ocean themed yoga poses begin from the tabletop position, which means starting on your hands and knees with your palms flat on the mat, shoulders stacked over wrists, and hips over knees. These are our favorite and most commonly requested ocean themed yoga poses for kids!

Ocean yoga poses for Kids

• Crab (Crab, or Reverse Table Pose): Sit with feet flat and hands behind you; lift your hips and “walk sideways.”

• Sea Turtle (Turtle Pose): Sit with feet together and tucked in, arms under knees, and lean forward.

• Dolphin (Dolphin Pose): From downward dog, drop to forearms to create a dolphin-like shape.

• Baby Shark (Shark Pose): Lie on your belly, clasp hands behind your back, and lift arms and legs slightly.

• Octopus (Octopus Pose): Sit back on your seat, lift your legs, and wiggle all your arms and legs around like flowing tentacles.

• Lobster (Lobster Claws Pose): Make claw shapes with your hands and “snap” while in a standing wide-legged bent knees stance.

• Whale (Bridge Pose): Lie on your back, lift hips into a bridge, imagining water spraying from your back like a whale’s spout.

• Fish (Fish Pose): Lie back on your elbows with your legs straight, arch your chest up slightly, and point your toes. Pucker your lips like a silly fish floating upside down.

• Jellyfish (Flowing Arms): Stand and wiggle arms up and then down like the jellyfish “jiggling” through the water.

Storytime with Yoga Poses (10 Minutes)

Find a great ocean book to read with kids and add in your ocean themed yoga poses! Kids yoga poses are the same as grown up poses, but more fun and just adding in some playful movement.

Pause after each animal mentioned in the book to match it with a yoga pose explained below, encouraging the kids to act it out as part of the story.

Kids Yoga Poses for the book Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andrae

• Crab (Reverse Table top): Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat. Place your hands behind you, fingers pointing toward your feet. Lift your hips toward the ceiling, creating a tabletop shape with your body. SHuffle side to side or move your feet in a crab dance.
• Turtle (Turtle Pose): Sit with the soles of your feet together, knees wide apart. Slide your arms underneath your legs and rest your face toward your feet, creating a “turtle shell” shape.
• Dolphin (Dolphin Pose): Begin in a forearm plank position. Lift your hips toward the ceiling, creating an inverted “V” shape, similar to Downward Dog but on your forearms.
• Angelfish (Triangle Pose): Stand with your feet wide apart. Turn one foot out and reach your arms wide. Bend toward your front foot, placing your hand on your shin or the floor, while the other arm reaches toward the sky.
• Jellyfish (Wide Leg Forward Fold with Wiggly Arms): Stand with your feet wide apart. Bend forward at the hips and let your arms dangle freely. Wiggle your arms like jellyfish tentacles.
• Shark (Locust Pose): Lie on your belly with arms at your sides. Lift your chest, arms, and legs off the floor, keeping your body strong like a shark swimming and your hands reaching up behind you like a shark fin.
• Swordfish (Half Bow Pose): Lie on your stomach. Bend one knee and grab your ankle with the same-side hand. Lift your chest and leg as you press your foot into your hand.
• Octopus (Partner Boat/Wiggly Arms and Legs): Option 1: Sit on the floor and lean back slightly, lifting your legs and arms, wiggling them like octopus tentacles. Option 2: Partner up and sit in boat pose, both facing the same direction, one behind the other, likfting all eight limbs like a wiggly octopus!
• Stingray (Leg Lift Pose): Lie face down with your arms under your body. Lift one leg into the air to mimic a stingray gliding through the water.
• Lobster (Horse Pose with Pincher Hands): Stand with feet wide and knees bent in a squat (horse pose). Bring your hands up near your face and mimic lobster claws with your fingers.
• Deep Sea Animals (Scary Face): Stand or lie still and make your scariest deep-sea creature face!
• Blue Whale + Barnacles (Whale Pose/Wild Thing Variation): Begin in a reverse tabletop with your hands pointing away from your body. Look back and reach one arm behind you, pressing your tummy up and creating the shape of a breaching whale.
• Walrus (Upward Dog): Lie on your belly, placing your hands near your chest. Press into your hands to lift your chest off the ground and stretch your back while keeping your legs on the floor. Lift one hand at a time like flippers and show your strong teeth.
• Penguin (Penguin Waddles): Stand tall and place your arms at your sides, slightly bent. Waddle side to side with your legs straight, imitating a penguin’s walk.
• Polar Bear (Child’s Pose with Nose): Kneel down and sit back on your heels. Stretch your body forward over your knees with your chin on the ground. Cup your hands over your nose to mimic a “polar bear nose.”

If you can find an ocean yoga book like this one, or this one, use those too! Any book with lots of ocean animals can be used in a yoga class for kids. Let older children read the book aloud to help them stay engaged and feel confident.

Ocean-Themed Yoga Games (10-15 Minutes)

• “Shark and Fish Freeze”: Play music while the kids “swim” around as different ocean animals. Call out “Shark!” and the kids must freeze in place. Add variations like “jellyfish jiggle” or “dolphin leap” to keep it fun and engaging.
• “Fishing for yoga poses”: Use a strong magnet attached to a string and a pencil or a rod, then attach paperclips to small fish shaped pieces of paper. Write a pose on each fish. Let kids take turns to go fishing for the poses! Use hula hoop for the pond. Hold each pose for 15 seconds once it is “caught”.
• “Crab Crawl Race”: Have the kids get into a crab-walk position (hands and feet on the ground, belly facing up). Create a start and finish line, and challenge them to race like crabs across the room. For added fun, scatter “ocean treasures” like small toys or bean bags along the way for them to collect and place on their tummies as they crawl.
• “Sharks and Minnows”: Designate one player as the “shark” and the rest as “minnows.” Mark two safe zones on opposite ends of the play area. The minnows start in one safe zone, and the shark stands in the middle. When the game begins, the shark calls out, “Swim, minnows, swim!” The minnows must try to run to the opposite safe zone without being tagged by the shark. If a minnow is tagged, they become a shark for the next round. The game continues until all minnows have been tagged, and the last remaining minnow becomes the first shark for the next game!

Ocean-Themed Craft (10-15 Minutes)

• Wrap up the ocean themed yoga class by doing a simple craft. Example: Create “ocean animal crowns” using pre-cut templates of sea creatures like turtles, dolphins, or fish. Provide crayons, markers, and stickers for decoration.
• Create “paper plate aquariums” using paper plates, blue tissue paper, and cut-out sea creatures. Give each child a paper plate and have them glue the tissue paper onto it to mimic water. Then, allow them to decorate their “aquarium” by attaching paper sea creatures, coral shapes, and beads or sequins to represent bubbles.
• Use a clear bottle, some glue, dye and small accessories to make your own coral reef sensory bottle! They are perfect for playing I Spy, relaxing, and practicing mindfulness.

Ocean-Themed Guided Meditation for Kids

Lead the group in a guided meditation: Ask them to lie on their backs like starfish with arms and legs spread wide, eyes closed. Guide them through a short visualization of floating peacefully in the ocean.

“Journey Through the Ocean”

Let’s begin by finding a comfy place to sit or lie down. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in… and slowly breathe out. Imagine you’re standing on a warm, sandy beach. The sun is gently shining, and you can hear the soft sound of waves washing up onto the shore.

Now, picture yourself stepping into the cool, sparkling water. Feel it on your toes—just a little chilly, but refreshing. As you wade deeper, the water rises to your knees, then to your waist, and soon you’re floating easily. The ocean is calm and peaceful, holding you like a soft cloud.

Imagine looking below the surface and seeing a colorful underwater world. There are shiny fish swimming playfully around you—yellow, blue, even pink! You notice a friendly sea turtle gliding slowly by, its flippers moving gracefully. Off in the distance, a school of tiny silver fish dart and shimmer like sparkling stars.

Now, pretend you’re drifting with the gentle ocean current. It feels like you’re gliding through the water with ease. Maybe you can picture a coral reef nearby—bright and vivid with reds, oranges, and purples. You see little crabs scuttling across the sandy bottom and an octopus peeking out from a hidden cave.

Take another deep breath in… and feel how calm and happy you are in this magical ocean world. Slowly, imagine floating back toward the shore. The sand welcomes your feet as you step back onto the beach. You feel warm and safe as you lie down on the soft sand, watching the sky above.

When you’re ready, take one last deep breath in and out, then gently wiggle your toes and fingers. Open your eyes, and remember the peaceful feeling of your ocean adventure.

• Softly play ocean waves or calming music to end the session on a serene note. Encourage them to take one final inhale and exhale as they slowly sit up.
• Thank them for exploring the ocean through yoga, and remind them of the fun animals they acted out.

Benefits of Kids Yoga

Practicing ocean themed yoga offers a fantastic activity for children to explore movement, mindfulness, and creativity all at once. Kids yoga helps children grow strong and flexible, and improves balance and coordination through fun yoga poses inspired by sea animals and the water’s waves. As kiddos try out poses like shark pose or tree pose, they learn to listen to their physical needs, move with confidence, and enjoy the present moment.

Ocean themed yoga also encourages deep relaxation, teaching kids how to use deep breathing and gentle movement to calm their minds and manage stress. Themed yoga classes spark curiosity about the greatest expanse of water on our planet and its creatures, helping children develop a sense of wonder and respect for the natural world.

By practicing yoga in a supportive environment, children can boost their self-esteem, improve focus, and learn valuable skills for emotional well-being. Most importantly, ocean themed yoga is a fun way for young ones to connect with and express themselves, and experience the joy of movement—making every yoga class a new adventure under the sea!