How to Easily Fit Yoga with Your Kid’s Into Your Busy Week (Even If You’ve Never Practiced Before)

As a busy parent or caregiver, finding time for yoga might feel like a luxury you just can’t afford right now. You’ve got endless to-do lists, work commitments, school runs, after school activities, and let’s not forget — you’re managing a household full of energy! When could you possibly fit yoga in?

But here’s the good news: Yoga doesn’t have to be a long, formal practice. In fact, one of the most amazing things about family yoga is that it can be fun, playful, and easily woven into your day — sometimes you don’t even need a yoga mat, and definitely no need to carve out a full hour. In just a few minutes, you can bring yoga and its calming, grounding benefits into your busy routine. Let me show you how!

1. Start Small — Think 5 Minutes of Fun

If you’re thinking yoga needs to be 60 minutes of zen-like focus, let me stop you right there. Family yoga is about connection and fun, and you don’t need a lot of time to make an impact. Start with just 5 minutes. You’d be amazed at what you can accomplish in such a short amount of time.

Here’s a quick and fun game to try:

Tree Pose Challenge

How to Play: Together, explore how many different ways you can practice tree pose. Try standing, laying down, partner poses, or even balancing on your side. Set a timer for one minute to get creative!

Why We Do It: This challenge encourages body awareness, flexibility and strength while also introducing playful problem-solving. It teaches kids that there’s more than one way to approach a pose.

Then take a few minutes to practice your favourite variations together – being sure to practice on both sides.

You could do this with any pose! Maybe you try a different one each day or each week. It is a great way to explore different poses together and have fun together!

2. Make it a Part of Your Daily Routine

You don’t need to wait for the perfect moment to practice yoga — try fitting it into your everyday moments. Think about times in your routine where you can insert a calming breath, a playful pose, a fun yoga game or a chance to practice yoga beyond the poses.

Try this: Add one small yoga moment into your morning or bedtime routine this week. Watch how quickly it becomes a calming, grounding ritual!

3. Let Your child be in charge!

Kids have so many ideas! If they have had a little yoga experience (eve if it’s not with you) ask them to teach you something!

Kid’s love to share their ideas or show you what they have learned. They may have a fun game they love that you could brainstorm together about how to make it a yoga game. They may have practiced a breathing practice at school they could show you. They may have a new pose they just made up. Lean into their creativity and let them teach you. We are always learning from each other in family yoga which is what makes it so special.

4. Use Yoga to Calm Down After Big Emotions

We all know that some days can get pretty overwhelming, both for you and the kids. Yoga is a powerful tool to help everyone calm down and reset after those big emotional moments.

Next time you or your child feels overwhelmed, try this super simple practice:

1. Sit down together and take 5 slow breaths. Inhale slowly through your nose, and exhale through your mouth like you’re blowing out birthday candles 🎂. Hold your hand up and visualize your fingers as the 5 candles to make it more fun.
2. After that practice, ask your child to lie down, placing their hands on their belly, and feel it rise and fall with each breath. You can even place their favourite teddy or toy on their belly and ask them to lift the toy on the inhale and see how the toy goes down on the exhale.
3. Encourage your child to check in with how they feel. By acknowledging the feeling, they start to build self-awareness and connect with how their body reacts to stress.

This simple practice takes only a few minutes but can have a huge impact on your child’s ability to regulate their emotions and calm down after a stressful moment.

Try this: After a meltdown or argument, take a few deep breaths together and model emotional regulation. It’ll become a go-to tool for both you and your child! (Don’t try to rush straight to the deep breathing! Sometimes the meltdown has got to pass first, be patient).

5. Don’t Stress About Doing It “Perfectly”

If you’re worried about not having time for a “perfect” yoga practice — don’t be. Yoga is about connection, presence, and having fun. Some days you’ll only do 2 minutes, and that’s okay. Some days you won’t do it at all, and that’s okay too.

What matters is the intention. Even small moments of mindful movement, deep breathing, or playful stretches can help you and your kids feel more connected, calm, and joyful. It’s about showing up in whatever way you can and knowing that those little moments add up over time.

Try this: Set a realistic goal — maybe it’s practicing yoga together twice a week for 5 minutes. Keep it simple and fun, and allow yourself to celebrate those moments, no matter how short.

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Making Yoga a Natural Part of Your Family’s Life

Yoga doesn’t have to be another chore on your never-ending list. It’s an easy, playful, and calming way to bring more connection into your busy life, and it only takes a few minutes to get started.

If you haven’t practiced in a long time — or ever — don’t worry. Start small, make it fun, and involve the whole family. Before you know it, yoga will become a part of your week that everyone looks forward to.

Ready to take the next step? Download your free family yoga guide, where I share playful, simple yoga practices you can do together, even with a packed schedule.

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Have you tried yoga with your kids? What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to fitting it into your week? Let me know in the comments!

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