1. Sharper focus and attention
The strongest evidence for kids yoga comes from the classroom. In a 12-week randomized controlled trial, 5-year-olds who practiced yoga twice a week were compared with classmates doing generic physical education and a no-activity group. The yoga group's visual attention scores rose from 8.9 to 12.2 — while the control group barely moved (9.3 to 10.1) — and teachers (who didn't know which children did yoga) rated them dramatically lower on inattention, with scores falling from 12.4 to 6.9 over the program (Jarraya et al., 2019).
The researchers concluded that yoga was a "cost-benefit effective" complement to kindergarten learning — two 30-minute sessions a week were enough to produce large, statistically significant effects.
2. Calmer responses to anxiety and big feelings
A 2024 scoping review in Frontiers in Education examined 14 studies of school-based yoga for children ages 3–10. Among them: a randomized trial where third-graders with anxiety symptoms did 40 minutes of yoga before school for 8 weeks and showed improved emotional and psychosocial quality of life compared with usual care (Bazzano et al., 2018). Another 12-week study of 125 children found decreased aggressive behavior — less screaming and yelling — particularly among children peers had rated as highly aggressive (Velásquez et al., 2015).
3. Stronger self-regulation in the preschool years
Self-regulation — the ability to pause, wait, and manage impulses — is one of the best predictors of how children do in school. In a 25-week study, children ages 3–5 who practiced mindful yoga showed measurable gains in effortful control, attention control, delay of gratification, and inhibitory control (Razza et al., 2015). These are exactly the skills we build in our Little Roots classes, and it's why we weave breathing games and "freeze" poses into every session.
4. Better balance, coordination, and body strength
Yoga is real physical development, not just quiet time. In the same 2019 kindergarten trial, children's visual-motor precision improved significantly more than with standard PE — completing fine-motor tasks faster and more accurately. A separate 8-week program (three 40-minute sessions per week) documented improvements in balance, strength, coordination, and flexibility in school-age children (Donahoe-Fillmore & Grant, 2019).
5. Confidence and social-emotional skills
In a study of 2nd and 3rd graders using a classroom yoga curriculum, teachers reported significant improvements in social interaction, concentration, staying on task, stress handling, confidence, self-esteem, and mood (Butzer et al., 2015). Reviewers note that school yoga maps directly onto the CASEL social-emotional learning competencies of self-awareness and self-management — and in one year-long study, self-esteem rose only in the yoga group (Eggleston, 2015).
Across randomized trials and systematic reviews, the pattern is consistent: even modest doses of yoga — 30 to 40 minutes, once or twice a week — produce measurable gains in children's attention, emotional regulation, self-control, and motor skills. That's the dose Brightroots delivers, on-site at schools and daycares.
Sources
Curious what this looks like in practice?
Brightroots brings research-grounded yoga to schools and daycares across the Bay Area.
Enquire About Classes → ← All Articles