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Yoga Game for Children: Yoga Shapes

Yoga Game for Children: Yoga Shapes

Are you looking for a fun easy kids yoga game?! Yoga Shapes is easy to play and the kids LOVE it! All you need is a dry erase marker and a markerboard.

How to Play Yoga Shapes:

Begin by telling the children that they will need to make the shape with their own body on markerboard as quickly and quietly as possible. There is no right or wrong answer.

Draw one shape on the markerboard.  When I turn the markerboard around the children will see a shape (examples:  0 , 1, L, S) Keep it simple at first. After the children make the shape with their body, then I erase it and draw another.

After a few rounds, then have the students pair up and make shapes such as T, and V. Remind them to do this quickly and without talking. It is amazing to see the pairs make the shapes differently. Finally, if you are up for a big challenge, have all of the students work together to make the final shape. I have done a smiley face, star or Y for yoga. This is a great team effort and because they aren’t able to talk it is neat to see the nonverbal communication.

You may also like What’s In My Yoga Bag.

Need more kids yoga game ideas? Check out our bestselling Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Lessons for Children.

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Yoga Games That Kids Love

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Online Teacher Training

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The Top Yoga Games for Kids

Let’s get started with yoga games! I’m going to tell you about the Top 10 Yoga Games and we’ll also learn why games are important with kids yoga.

Kids remember the poses when they play games with them. They are also a great way to practice the poses with games. Kids love games. They’re a great way to get kids moving, practice poses, and working together. I also love taking my favorite familiar childhood games and turning them into yoga games for kids. Some of these games need materials but the majority do not.

 Top 10 Yoga Games for Kids:
  1. First is Yogi Says which is similar to Simon Says where you will have a leader. The leader will say different things such as “Yogi Says hop on one foot,” “Yogi Says jump up and down,” “Yogi Says do Tree Pose.” You can incorporate action movements as well as yoga poses.

yogi says

2. Next, you can turn on some music with freeze dance. When you stop the music everyone can hold a favorite pose the best they can.

3. For Animal Pick you can fill a bag with all stuffed animals or toys and kids can take turns drawing out an animal and thinking about what yoga pose the animal might do. For example, a stuffed dog could be down dog.

Boat Pose

4. A few more yoga games is Yoga Stories. I’ve got a lot of good books that I recommend with this. Any story that includes animals in it. You can pause as you’re reading the story and see if kids can come up with a yoga pose for the animal.

5. Musical mats is just like musical chairs. It’s another fun yoga game. Put your mats in a circle and turn on some music. When the music stops make a yoga pose right there on the mat hold it.

Kids yoga training

6. The Yoga Obstacle course is another favorite of kids. You can use anything – couch cushions, hula hoops, jump ropes. Place them all in a circular formation along with some yoga pose cards or different poses that kids can do. Then the kids can move around the room with the obstacle course, also stopping at variable points and holding their yoga pose.

7. Yoga Shapes is also a favorite one. You can write a shape down, like a triangle or square, on a piece of paper and kids can try to make that with their body.

8. Yoga Jenga I created by just taking the familiar Jenga game and writing down names of poses on the blocks. You play with normal Jenga rules with pulling out the blocks and learning each pose as you pull it out and then placing it on top.

yoga jenga

9. Yoga Says is also fun for the kids. Have them pick 3 to 4 poses that they’ve learned and they are center stage and their job with the yoga show is to show the poses and kind of transition in between them so that it flows pretty seamlessly.

10. Another great game for younger ages is Follow the Leader where you can lead or the kids can take turns leading movements and yoga poses and everyone does what the leader is doing.

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Make Time for What Makes You Happy

Make Time for What Makes You Happy

When I would hear about making time for self care and what makes me happy, a little voice in my head would say; well that sounds a little selfish.

When I would hear about making time for self care and what makes me happy, a little voice in my head would say; well that sounds a little selfish.

Who was I a busy mom of 3, a school teacher, and kids yoga instructor to be taking time out for myself? I had kids to raise, educate, and inspire. I have things to do. All the time.

Over time, that voice has quieted. I have found that by taking moments for simple things such as sunrise yoga, taking a walk after dinner, and reading aloud to my son at night while our puppy lies between us; brings me joy.

Through this time, I have reaffirmed how much I truly desire to help others discover the joy and techniques of how to teach yoga to children. That makes me happy. We never stop learning and we can definitely learn from one another. That is why I started an online community of others who desire the same. Together we can make a difference.

Want to be a part of our Kids Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher Training community? Join our free private Facebook Group here.

Look at some of our products which have helped others like you find joy teaching yoga to children.