Betsy the Banana Kids Yoga Lesson Plan - by Cosmic Kids Yoga

Betsy the Banana Kids Yoga Class Plan Betsy is a Banana who wakes up one morning to the sight of the Butterfly of Wishes perched on the edge of her fruit bowl! Betsy can’t believe it, but is granted three wishes. She comes up with all sorts of fun ideas, but the one she makes which lots of her family and friends can share is the best. A story about THINKING OF OTHERS and SHARING GIFTS.

Set in the kitchen!

Story script

About the importance of family

Pose checklist

Best for 2 to 5 year olds

Watch Jaime leading this adventure on YouTube

Character image

Fill the Blanks Activity

Things to remember Print out the character pic and a Fill the Blanks activity for each child.

Colouring pens or crayons if you want to colour in the fill the blanks activity

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Betsy the Banana

Betsy the Banana Kids Yoga Classplan 2-5s

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Betsy is a Banana and wakes up one morning to the sight of the Butterfly of Wishes perched on the edge of her fruit bowl! Betsy can’t believe it, and is granted three wishes. She comes up with all sorts of fun ideas, but ultimately finds the one wish she is happiest with is the one her family and friends can share. A story about THINKING OF OTHERS and SHARING GIFTS.

Our story today is all about Betsy the Banana. We begin by coming into our banana pose! First we lean one way like a banana, then we lean the other way...like a banana!

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Betsy the Banana lives in the kitchen in a fruit bowl. Coming into bowl pose! She lives in the bowl along with her ‘bunch’. Her family, and all the other fruits too!

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One bright sunny morning, Betsy woke up to find a beautiful butterfly sitting on the edge of her bowl. It was looking at her smiling, its wings gently lifting and lowering. Then it spoke. “Bananaste Betsy (which means Namaste in Banana language!) I am the butterfly of wishes and you have been granted three!

Betsy the Banana…Your wish is my command!” The beautiful Butterfly stands tall and bows deeply to Betsy.

Betsy is in her banana pose, and can’t believe what she just heard! The Butterfly of wishes is granting me three wishes? Well this is a surprise! Maybe it’s a dream! It’s quite a good dream though, so I might as well go along with it! Betsy thought for a moment and then made her first wish…

“What wish you would ask for?“

“Well Butterfly of wishes…I wish to be a ballerina!”

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The butterfly of wishes gets ready. She sits back down in her butterfly pose and flutters her wings. Then she sprinkles Betsy with something very sparkly and exciting!

And in the blink of an eye, Betsy the Banana finds herself standing on a stage! She’s a real life ballerina banana (penguin pose)! [Sing a the tune from Nutcracker Suite here!] She’s got pointy toes (point alternate toes forward) she can jump boing boing boing! And she can twirl! She even has legs to lift up behind her, balancing like a dancer! As the music finishes, Betsy the Banana Ballerina takes a bow!

As she stands up she finds she is back with her bunch in the fruit bowl! Coming back into our banana pose! “Wow! That was amazing Butterfly of Wishes! Thank you very much! Now for my second wish, I wish to ride a bicycle!”

Sitting back down in our butterfly pose, the butterfly flutters her wings. Once again she sprinkles Betsy with the sparkly stuff and the next thing Betsy knows she is pedaling a bicycle!

Off she goes, up hills slowly, down hills quickly and round wiggly roads taking our elbow across to our opposite knee. She cycles over bridges (bridge pose). She goes over bumps (mini lift from candle pose) and she even rides past a bus! Taking our legs out long - and all the passengers on the bus twist to look out of the window with their mouths open in utter disbelief as they watch a banana riding a bicycle!

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Uh Oh! Up in the sky is a bird. It has spotted Betsy and would quite like a nice banana for breakfast!

Betsy pedals her bicycle faster to try and get away! But oh dear! She rides straight down a bank and into the river, landing with a splash! Coming up to sit we rock n roll to splash down into the river!

Betsy the Banana comes up for air (owl breaths). As she rises to the surface she finds she is once again back in her fruit bowl! Coming back into our banana pose everyone! Phew! Being eaten by a bird would have been bad! Luckily, the butterfly of wishes still has one wish left to grant Betsy.

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Betsy has a think of what her third and final wish could be…”I know...I wish that me and my bunch could have a birthday party!”

“Betsy is very kind and thoughtful to use one of her wishes for her bunch!”

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Sitting down on our bottoms - the butterfly of wishes gets into her butterfly pose and once again flutters her wings up and down. She sprinkles Betsy for the last time with her magic sparkles and boom!

Betsy and her banana bunch are bouncing around on a bounce house. Boing Boing Boing! She’s having a Birthday Party! There are hundreds of balloons. Let’s blow some up (hot air balloon standing) And she has a birthday candles with candles on it! Coming into our candle pose! They blow out the candles. Betsy sits up to close her eyes and take a moment to breathe into this feeling. What an amazing day she has had!.

When she opens her eyes again, she finds she is back in the kitchen, in the fruit bowl. Coming back into our bowl pose. She is back with her bunch, and after that party, they are a rather happy bunch of bananas. Thanks to Betsy and the Butterfly of Wishes. Now we lie ourselves down for a little rest after all that excitement with Betsy the Banana.

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Relaxation

Lying ourselves down, getting comfy. And just for a minute thinking about all those wishes Betsy made.

What would your wishes be I wonder? We may make wishes for ourselves, but if we have the chance, just like Betsy, we might make a wish for others too. Just as Betsy did for her family - her bunch. See if you can think of someone and send them a wish. A wish for them to be happy, for them to have fun, for them to find a peaceful place. Send your happy wishes now. And then slowly start to wiggle your fingers and toes. Hug your knees into your chest and roll onto your side. We press up to sit with our legs crossed and our hands together at our hearts and we finish with a special Namaste to Betsy the banana – bananaste. Ready? After three. 1,2,3 Bananaste! Well done everyone and thanks for doing this yoga adventure with me. You were great! I can’t wait to do another adventure with you soon! Bye Bye.

Follow-on Activity - Colouring and fill in the blanks

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In this activity we build our literacy skills by filling in the blank letters of the B words. We also bring a few elements of the story to life with pictures which can be coloured in.

Handout copies of the following activity sheet along with pencils and colouring pencils. Ask the children to colour in the pictures and fill in the missing letters to complete the B words under each picture.

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Betsy the Banana contains lots of B words, so this story and activty is great for building literacy skills. There are lots of other details in the story which begin with B - ballerina, bicycle and balloons etc. Have fun asking the children what other B words they can remember from the story.

Betsy lives in the kitchen in a fruit bowl with her ‘bunch’. Coming into bowl pose!

The Butterfly stands tall and bows to Betsy.

Betsy is in her banana pose, and says “I wish to be a ballerina!”

Betsy sees a beautiful butterfly sitting on the edge of her bowl, its wings gently lifting and lowering.

The butterfly of wishes sits back down in her butterfly pose and flutters her wings.

EV She’s got pointy toes (point alternate toes forward)

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Betsy the Banana finds herself standing on a stage! She’s a real life ballerina banana (penguin pose)!

Then it spoke.

“Bananaste Betsy! you have been granted three wishes.”

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We begin by in banana pose! First we lean one way, then the other.

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Betsy the Banana - Pose Summary

She even has legs As the music finishes, to lift up behind her, Betsy the Banana balancing like a dancer! Ballerina takes a bow!

She can jump boing boing boing!

Coming back into our banana pose! For my second wish, I wish to ride a bicycle!”

Then she sprinkles Betsy with something very sparkly and exciting!

And she can twirl!

Sitting back down in our butterfly pose, the butterfly flutters her wings.

She even rides past a bus!

The passengers twist to look in disbelief!

She cycles over bridges (bridge pose).

Uh Oh! Up in the sky is a bird. It spots and would like a banana for breakfast!

EV Betsy the Banana comes up for air (owl breaths) and finds herself back in her bowl.

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Coming up to sit we rock n roll to splash down into the river!

She sprinkles Betsy for the last time with her magic sparkles and boom!...

She goes over bumps (mini lift from Candle Pose)

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...and the next thing Betsy knows she is pedaling a bicycle!

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Once again she sprinkles Betsy with the sparkly stuff...

... Betsy and her banana bunch are bouncing around on a bounce house!

Coming back into our banana pose, “I wish that me and my bunch could have a birthday party!”

There are hundreds of balloons. Let’s blow some up (hot air balloon standing).

Betsy pedals her bicycle faster to try and get away! She rides straight down a bank and into the river!

The butterfly of wishes gets into her butterfly pose and flutters her wings up and down.

And she has a birthday candles with candles on it!

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Betsy sits up to close her eyes and take a moment to breathe into this feeling.

When she opens her eyes again, she finds she is back in the kitchen, in the fruit bowl.

Now we lie ourselves down for a little rest after all that excitement with Betsy the Banana.

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They blow out the candles.

For more detailed guidance on how to instruct the poses, download our 253 page The Big Book of Kids Yoga Postures • • • • • •

220 kids yoga poses, including partner poses and breathing exercises 400 high quality pose images Clear, child friendly instructions into each posture Anatomical focus, benefits and contra-indications for each pose Teaching tips to make the poses work for kids A linking index to each pose

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Betsy the Banana - Colouring & fill in the blanks

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Betsy!