Start a Career You Love: Teach Kids Yoga in Schools

Updated: March 17, 2022

By Ocean Noah, contributing writer

Are you looking for a way to make money doing something you love? Do you enjoy practicing yoga? Or, do you know a bit about yoga and love working with children?

Well, we’ve got the perfect side hustle or business for you: Become a yoga teacher for children and teach in schools and after-school programs!

Teach Kids YOga in schools

There’s never been a better time to do this then now. Why? Research shows that yoga helps children manage anxiety. Yoga in schools also helps foster a healthy community and atmosphere. Young students learn to use mindfulness, reflection, and breathing techniques to successfully cope with their emotions. And, a classroom full of calm students helps teachers do their jobs more effectively. That’s right. Teachers are less likely to face behavioral issues and typical classroom stressors when yoga is implemented into the instruction day.

By becoming a yoga teacher for children, you can bring yoga into the classroom, and change lives for the better. Plus, you can also improve your own physical and mental health. A win-win!

Does this sound like something you’re interested in? Here are 3 steps to help you get started teaching yoga for children:

1. Enroll in a kids yoga certification course

There are loads of online children’s yoga certification courses available. It’s up to you to sift through them and determine which teacher training is the best fit for you.

But here’s a pro tip: Enrolling in the gold standard Pretzel Kids Method course gives you a proven roadmap to kickstart your career teaching yoga in schools. It’s not only the premium children’s yoga certification, but an original curriculum written by Robyn Parets, the founder of Pretzel Kids, and two educators. They know the ins and outs of teaching in schools – as they’ve been there, done that for almost 20 years!

2. Join a vibrant Instructor Community

Alright…..say you’ve now taken a certification course. How are you going to start teaching children’s yoga classes?

Well, we’ve got you covered there, too with our second pro tip: Join the Pretzel Kids Teacher Association (PkTA) and become a licensed instructor!

The PkTA is like becoming a Zumba teacher and joining the Zumba instructor network (ZIN) – except in this case, it’s for kids yoga! You get access to a web platform, where you can create a profile, get directly booked for teaching gigs, and list all your classes. You can even list your programs at schools and get hired by school administrators! Wowza!

There are tons of other perks too. For example, PkTA members get new class lesson plans every month, a free membership to an online adult yoga studio, group coaching to help you build your business, and hiring opportunities. And, most importantly, you become part of the Pretzel Kids network with the rights to use the company’s branding, name and logos to market your classes and grow your yoga business.

Just think: Pretzel Kids will actually help YOU start teaching kids yoga at schools in your community.

3. Continue your yoga education

Your yoga education is never over! So, consider learning more about how to teach specific niche ages and groups.

Pretzel Kids, for example, offers the following mini-courses: Teaching Teen/Tween Yoga, Yoga for Kids with Special Needs, and How to Teach Mindfulness to Kids. These mini-courses give you even more tools to start teaching your own youth yoga classes in schools, or implement yoga and mindfulness activities as you see fit.

​Teaching Teen/Tween Yoga is essential for teaching children’s yoga in schools. Teaching a class to teens between the ages of 12-17 is indeed a unique experience, with its own set of challenges. The course will give you loads of teaching tips with several tried-and-true techniques.  

Yoga for Kids with Special Needs is also an essential course, created in part by Pretzel Kids’ special needs expert, Meagan Krasner.

Krasner developed this yoga for special needs training over a decade ago and has three kiddos of her own – one who is on the Asperger’s spectrum. This course comes with a resource guide, as well as specific tools to incorporate when you’re working with children with special needs.

But that’s not all. Want to learn How to Teach Mindfulness to Kids? We think mindfulness is essential in a classroom setting and we launched this add-on course to help you learn what to do, starting right now!  

What are you waiting for?

What do Instructors have to Say?

Gina Buono, a middle school teacher in New York, became a Pretzel Kids teacher in 2018. We had the pleasure of talking to her about her journey teaching yoga in her school.

“I absolutely loved learning all the different ways to teach yoga and breathing techniques through the use of fun games. As a teacher, the lesson plan format is exactly how I envisioned running the classes.”

Gina Buono, Pretzel Kids instructor

“After taking the course, I felt completely prepared to teach yoga to children and teens. The hands-on learning was extremely helpful and Robyn’s experience brought so much knowledge for different options on running successful classes.”

Gina Buono

Buono has since expanded youth yoga throughout her school district. Why? It works and the students have gained positive self-esteem and focus from Gina’s children’s yoga classes.

“It (Pretzel Kids) is a great program and offers so many opportunities.”

Gina Buono

Launch a career teaching yoga in Schools

You heard it here first: Teaching kids yoga in schools is an exciting and fulfilling way to make a living (or earn extra cash!) Plus, Pretzel Kids is there for you every step of the way. We want to see you succeed. If you succeed, the kids succeed. That is our mission.

“I would definitely recommend Pretzel Kids to everyone! I already have, and some of my friends have since been certified as well! The people I met along the way have also been such a blessing!”

Gina Buono

Are you ready to stop self-guessing yourself and become a Pretzel Kids teacher? The children are waiting for you!