Begin with warming up and relaxing our joints.
Introduce the children to the idea of going to the feild to plant pumpkins to pick in the fall.

The summer is over and we can feel the autumn breeze around us….
Today we would like to take you to the farm to do some pumpkin planting for next year's pumpkins.
For planting we sometimes need heavy machinery; we need tractors, plows and seeders:

Plow:
With your legs wide apart, feet pointing to the sides. Bring your arms up to the sides and bend sideways to the right making your right hand touch your right foot. Bend your right leg slightly and stay in this tractor pose 5-10 seconds and than take a deep breath in and drop that plow into the ground by slowly stretching your right leg and drop the seeds by wiggling through your fingers…stand up slowly and do the other side.

Plow

Seed Game:
Find the pumpkin seeds: make pretend seeds with the children you can take some old pieces of newspapers and squish and crumple them into a tiny seed shape, make about 10-20 “seeds”, depending on the age and number of children you are playing with. Count them with the children and then ask them to close their eyes while you are hiding the “seeds” around the room. Then ask them to open their eyes, look for the seeds. When someone finds a seed they must stand in a yoga posture and freeze until the teacher comes by with the basket. The child can then be released, put the seed back to the basket and continue looking. When they think they found them all count the seeds loudly with them, it is reasonable to assume that they won't find them all in one turn so they will be released to seek again.

Raindrops:
Ask the children to stand in a circle. Have them come up onto their tiptoes and hold the position for a few seconds, and come back down again. Do this 10-20 times counting out loud. Then tell them to pretend they are raindrops falling gently on the ground; run around the room like raindrops, first like drips, on tiptoes hardly being heard but when the rain is getting stronger you start to run and pound with your whole foot on the ground, go faster so that we can hear your feet pounding on the ground. Then have the rain begin to slow down and as we are getting slower and more quiet so does the tapping on the ground. Gradually the rain stops completely and we become a puddle on the ground; as you slow down from running in slow motion have the rain stop and pretend to fall and lie down on your tummy. Imagine you are a puddle on the ground.

Breath in and out a few times, close your eyes and feel how cold and wet it is to be a puddle on the ground.

Raindrops

Growing Seed:
Curl your self as much as you can like a round and tiny seed; bring your knees to your chest and hug them tight, close your eyes and breathe deeply.
Imagine you are a tiny seed deep in the earth. Feel how dark and quiet it is to be like a tiny seed in the ground.

Seeds

Grow:
Sit on your heels and put your forehead on the floor, arms at your side and close your eyes;
Now something is happening to the tiny seed, something is moving inside and wants to grow.
Stretch one arm up over your head slowly and the other, in a very slow growing motion come up and sit on your heels. The tiny seed has become a little green plant.

Little green plant in the wind

Here comes the wind and blows on the little plant!

Wind:
take your arms over your head and start bending them from side to side and blow through your mouth. Keep going moving your arms and taking deep breaths in through your nose and loudly out through your mouth blowing like the wind.

Here comes the rain and beats down on the little plant.

Rain:
take your arms up over your head and now bend forward and way back wiggling your fingers and saying: “Drip, drip, drip.”

Rain

Here comes the sun and shines down on the little plant.

Sun:
take your arms over your head, lean back as far as you can try to see the wall behind you, count to 5-10 feel the sun.

All of these things help the little plant to grow bigger. Slowly grow bigger onto your knees…onto your feet…up on your tiptoes with your arms over your head.

Sun

Grow bigger and bigger into a great big Pumpkin!

Pumpkin:
Open your legs wide, bring your arms to the sides, breathe in straight up and breathe out and bend your knees a little, puff up your cheeks and become a great big pumpkin. Repeat couple of times and play the following game.

Pumpkin

Game – Small seed/ Big pumpkin:
This game is perfectly fit for young children but good for older ones too.
Tell the children to become as small and round as a tiny seed; bring themselves into the posture and become as small as they can, and when you call out “Big” jump onto their feet open their legs wide, open their arms wide to the sides, blow their cheeks and become a great huge pumpkin!. Change the time between the postures to add more fun to this game. Have the children call out Big and Small too.

Small Seed

Oh! No! The crows are coming to steal our seeds/plants!

Crows:
Stand up and bring your arms straight back. Run around the room and say: ”Kra, kra, kra…”.

Crows

We need to scare the crows away…pretend you are a scary scarecrow.

Scarecrows:
Jump with your legs open slightly, arms to the sides, stick your tongue out and say: “Ah!, Ah!, Ah!...”, try to be a scary scarecrow.

Looks like we need to do it again…Ah!, Ah!, Ah!

All right, we scared all the crows away, our plants are saved, and we can lie down and relax.

Put on relaxing music let the children relax for about 3-5 minutes, guide them through the relaxation.

Fall Adventure Relaxation: lie down on your back, straighten your legs and place your arms down to your sides, close your eyes and imagine you are laying down on a soft bed of grass in the farm. Breathe gently through your nose relax your whole body; focus on your feet, relax. Focus on your legs, relax. Your tummy, feel your tummy grow bigger as you breathe in and smaller as you breathe out. Focus on your chest, relax. Your back, send relaxing feelings to your shoulders, down your arms, hands, fingers and fingertips. Relax your neck your head and your face.

Breathe in and feel yourself sinking down, down, down into the center of you. As your body rests peacefully, feel a warm light all around you.

Meditation – See Ji Gong

Slowly bring your self up into a seated posture, cross your legs, put your hands, palms up, onto your knees, straighten your spine and close your eyes.

Focus on your self only, forget all around you, let go of all the unhappy, angry or scary thoughts you might have. Know that you are bigger than these feelings. Feel the love that you are, and the peace that you are.

Rub your hands, make your hands warm. Rub it faster, make your hands hot. Faster make your hands hot like fire…and stop. Bring your hands about 6 inches apart, palms facing each other, close your eyes and focus on the palms of your hands. Breathe gently and concentrate on your hands. Try to feel the warm tingling energy between your hands.

Let the children to stay in this meditation about 30-60 seconds.

Now take a deep breathe in and out and open your eyes, and now clap together 10 times.

Rub your hands again, make them warm and now put your warm hands on your face, make your face an energy wash. Rub your head and hair. Massage the back of your neck. Pull your ears gently, stimulate your brain.

Wake up exercise:

Sit up tall, straighten your legs in front; pull your toes up (flex), and forward (point) 10 times.

Take your arms up over your head and slowly bend down. Try to touch your toes; bounce down 10 times.

Butterfly stretch – bring your feet together and hold your ancles. Begin bouncing your knees up and down; 10-20 times. Then breathe in deeply and out while you bring your forehead to your feet; hold this pose 5-10 counts, and release.

Put your hands back and slowly bring your legs straight up, stretching your butterfly wings to the side, like the letter “v”). bring your feet flat on the floor and start to stand up slowly.

Take a deep breathe in stretch your arms up over your head, breathe out and bring your hands to your chest in a prayer pose.