Professional Development for Educators and Families

YogiSmart brings brain-based movement, playful regulation, and healthy habits into everyday learning through YogiSmart Experience Labs.

These hands-on sessions invite participants to move, explore, and experience strategies firsthand rather than simply hearing about them. Through sensory-rich activities, playful movement, and guided reflection, families and educators gain practical tools that support children’s focus, engagement, and healthy development.

No prior yoga experience is required—just curiosity and a willingness to move.

⭐ Upcoming DESE

⭐ What Makes YogiSmart Experience Labs Different

Unlike traditional professional development, YogiSmart sessions are designed as experiential learning environments.

Participants will:

• Experience activities just as children do
• Explore movement, breath, and sensory regulation strategies
• Reflect on how the body supports learning and focus
• Leave with simple tools that can be used immediately in classrooms and homes

These labs help adults better understand how children learn through movement, play, and embodied experience.

⭐ 3rd Annual Play Today: Understanding Play and Learning

YogiSmart and Simple Positive Play present Play Today, an interactive workshop helping educators rediscover the power of play and understand how children learn through play types, play personalities, types of play, environments, and adult facilitation.

Supported by a grant from Defending the Early Years, this signature training deepens educators’ understanding of play and developmentally appropriate practice.

⭐ Experience Labs ⭐

Healthy Habits & Everyday Routines

Help children develop everyday habits that support physical and emotional well-being.

Topics include:

daily movement
rest and energy awareness
food exploration
screen time and the impact on learning
building daily routines

Self-Regulation Through the Body

Help children recognize body signals and develop emotional regulation skills.

Participants explore:

calming breath games
co-regulation strategies
noticing energy and body cues
playful tools for managing big feelings

Movement for Focus & Engagement

Discover how movement improves attention, participation, and classroom engagement.

Participants learn:

movement breaks that reset focus
playful transitions
brain-body integration activities
strategies for active learning environments

Sensory Play & Regulation Lab

Explore sensory activities that help children regulate energy, build body awareness, and support focus.

Participants experience:

sensory-rich movement activities
calming and energizing strategies
body awareness games
regulation tools for classrooms and homes

Sensory Play & Regulation Lab

Explore sensory activities that help children regulate energy, build body awareness, and support focus.

Participants experience:

sensory-rich movement activities
calming and energizing strategies
body awareness gamesregulation tools for classrooms and homes

⭐ Classroom Creatures: Stronger Teaching Teams

The Animal Within: Making Sense of Children’s Behavior

A playful professional learning experience where educators explore how different “classroom creature” personalities influence communication, collaboration, and workplace satisfaction.

Through movement, reflection, and interactive activities, participants discover how different working styles bring unique strengths to a teaching team.

In This Experience, Educators Explore

• a playful personality activity using classroom creature archetypes
• movement and role-play that bring the creatures to life
• reflection on how different styles approach classroom challenges
• strategies for building stronger, more collaborative teams

The Characters

🐸 Frog – The Wiggler

Always moving, bouncing, making sounds, full of energy.
👉 Needs: movement before focus

🦅 Eagle – The Watcher

Still, focused, paying attention, taking it all in.
Needs: challenge + engagement

🐢 Turtle – The Hider

Quiet, withdrawn, slow to join, sometimes overwhelmed.
Needs: safety + time

🐍 Snake – The Tester

Curious but unsure… watches first, then tries.
Needs: encouragement + low pressure

🐶 Dog – The Helper

Wants to please, follows directions, looks to adults.
Needs: connection + responsibility

⭐ Participants will leave with:

Practical movement and regulation activities
Tools to support focus and engagement
Strategies that can be used immediately in classrooms or homes

Trainings can be offered as:

60–90 minute workshops
half-day professional development
conference sessions
• family education events

⭐ Why Schools & Families Choose YogiSmart

YogiSmart trainings are led by Samantha Pipkin, M.A.T., a Missouri DESE trainer and early childhood educator with experience supporting children, families, and educators through play-based movement and regulation practices.

YogiSmart programs support:

• body awareness and sensory regulation
• focus and executive functioning
• healthy habits and emotional development

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Professional Development for Educators and Families

⭐ What Makes YogiSmart Experience Labs Different

⭐ 3rd Annual Play Today: Understanding Play and Learning

Healthy Habits & Everyday Routines

Self-Regulation Through the Body

Movement for Focus & Engagement

Sensory Play & Regulation Lab

Sensory Play & Regulation Lab

⭐ Classroom Creatures: Stronger Teaching Teams

In This Experience, Educators Explore

The Characters

🐸 Frog – The Wiggler

🦅 Eagle – The Watcher

🐢 Turtle – The Hider

🐍 Snake – The Tester

🐶 Dog – The Helper

⭐ Why Schools & Families Choose YogiSmart

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