Are you ready for some fun? Kids love yoga games! Games are a great way to get kids moving, build strength, follow directions, work together and practice yoga poses in fun and engaging ways. Welcome to our summer yoga games for kids series! You do not want to miss this! Download your Yoga Games Guide and get ready for fun.
It will be so much fun learning a variety of yoga games perfect for all ages!
These Yoga Games Will:
Create strength physically and mentally for kids
Promote teamwork and team building skills
Build confidence
Increase flexibility
Improve Balance and focus
Enhance creative thinking
Bring joy, laughter, and reminders not to take ourselves too seriously!
New games will be released weekly and will include videos, blog posts with how to enhance and differentiate for kids with varying abilities within the games, as well as game images and lesson plans.
Age Group Characteristics & Groupings for Yoga Games
The following guidelines will help you decide which yoga games and activities are most appropriate for the children you will be working with.
Early Childhood: Ages 2-5
Children at this stage thrive on repetition and routine. This knowledge is helpful not just in their play, but in all areas of their lives. Children at this age have difficulty waiting for their turn, but they learn as it is shown and modeled.
Preschool children are just discovering all of the different ways their bodies can move around—skip, hop, gallop, shuffle, run, walk backward—making active movement games especially beneficial. Incorporating pretend and fantasy into yoga games feeds imaginations and allows for unique personalities and ideas to emerge and grow.
Keeping games short, five to seven minutes at most, and giving simple directions will keep them present and focused. They are easily distracted but they are eager to learn and will engage well with repetitive directions, movements, and play.
School Age: Ages 5-11
As kids mature, they develop longer attention spans, stronger bodies, and more control over their movements. But they also need variation, as they grow bored with anything too repetitive.
Physically, kids this age can handle additional large motor movement and poses, so incorporating more complicated games and activities will challenge them and keep them engaged. Introducing themes helps them retain information and recall it.
This age group enjoys cooperation and teamwork. Friendships are important. Children quickly learning interpersonal skills as they move through elementary, primary, and intermediate schools. They understand the concept of taking turns and often have a developing or well-formed understanding of teamwork.
150+ Fun Yoga Games, Activities, Poses, & Challenges for Successfully Teaching Yoga to Children.
Are you ready to be a part of something exciting? Our newest book Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities: 150+ Fun Yoga Games, Poses, & Challenges for Successfully Teaching Yoga to Children is in the final editing and publishing process!
I cannot wait for you to get your hands on this book. You are going to love it! It is exactly what I have heard from you about what you want and need more of for teaching kids yoga.
We are seeking creative and enthusiastic people who want to be part of something special with our Book Launch Team. Members will receive an advanced copy of Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities, be invited to exclusive insider news and publishing decisions with our private Facebook group and receive discounts on yoga products.
If you want to fully engage children in the overall practice of yoga, Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities will help you successfully merge the life lessons that can be learned from play with the lifelong benefits of yoga. By using the games, activities, and suggestions included in this book, you will find that incorporating breath work, yoga pose review, and mindfulness in these fun and active ways will help children learn while they play. This winning combination is perfect for kids yoga classes, schools, camps, and more.
Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities Includes:
Over 150 yoga games, activities, poses, and challenges broken into categories and easily modified
Detailed descriptions for all activities including suggested age groups, needed props, ideal group size, and leader notes
Suggestions for organizing engaging kids yoga classes and incorporating games
Benefits children can receive from yoga, games, teamwork, and mindfulness
Characteristics of age groups and the types of games that best fit each level of maturity
Ways to incorporate challenges for older kids
Teaching tips for tweens and teens
Breathing exercises for relaxation, mindfulness, and stress reduction
Secrets to successfully teach yoga to children
Ideas for yoga-inspired crafts that can be used both inside and outside of class
Ways to incorporate yoga into family time
Game and yoga pose illustrations
Downloadable yoga pose memory game
In an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities is a complete resource that details everything you will need to help you successfully teach yoga to kids of all ages and to inspire them in life-long healthy ways.
Join Go Go Yoga for Kids for a fun, energetic, and free Kids Yoga Class!
Go Go Yoga for Kids, Girls on the Run, and Athleta Girl all together to celebrate and encourage our young female athletes!
Go Go Yoga for Kids at Athleta Girl
Have fun with yoga, make your own trail mix, enjoy an educational lesson from Girls on the Run of Iowa, and leave with some goodies from Athleta!
When: February 8th, 8:30 AM
Where: Upper level of Jordan Creek Mall by Finish Line
What to Bring: A yoga mat and be ready for fun
Why: Celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day! We believe in the positive power of sports to help build girls’ confidence. Nothing should stand in the way of making your body and mind healthy and happy.
We need yoga now more than ever in our world today. Are you ready to know more about how to teach yoga to children in kid-friendly and effective ways? Our Go Go Yoga for Kids resources are perfect mindfulness books for kids.
Now you are able to easily download your Go Go Yoga for Kids book on ANY device. This means your iphone, computer, tablet, kindle, ipad. Any of these places! You can also easily transfer it from device to device. This is also extra exciting because you are able to easily print out sections that are important to you. I know how much you love the kids yoga lesson plans!
Now you can easily find which lesson plan you want to use and print it out for your personal use. This is also true for our lesson plan templates, guides and games that are found in our books! Thank you for directly supporting me as the author. This increases our personal connection and you will receive your Kids Yoga Lesson Plan Books in lightning speed!
Now you are ready for Part 7 of the Kids Yoga Lesson Planning 101 Training:
The Kids Yoga Challenge!
Congratulations! Now you are well over halfway through with your yoga class. Your students have moved, breathed, learned a lot and had fun! Now it’s time for Part 7 of your Kids Yoga Class with The Yoga Challenge!
The Kids Yoga Challenge: Yoga Lesson Planning 101 Part 6
With the Yoga Challenge portion of your kids yoga class, your students will have the opportunity to work on a challenge by themselves or together with the group. Select one of the options below and spend 7-9 minutes having fun with the Yoga Challenge.
The Yoga Challenge Options:
1. Balance Poses:
Select a single balance yoga pose for the children to work on. This could be Airplane Pose, Dancer Pose, Tree Pose or may others. We like to use The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards to help provide a visual. When placed on the floor, they also provide a wonderful focal point.
Kids love to work on balance in yoga class because it is fun and challenging. They often don’t realize that they are acquiring a skill that improves each time they practice. This is good news because studies have shown that our balance decreases as we age beginning at age 7. With practice, we can maintain this balance.
2. Inversions:
I understand that Inversions can sound scary to try…especially with kids. The great news is that Inversions do not need to be difficult to do and the benefits are enormous. Find out how to practice our favorite Kids Yoga Inversions here.
3. Partner Yoga Poses:
Kids love partner yoga poses! Partner yoga poses help teach children the importance of teamwork and working together plus they are fun to do and build trust and community with one another. Check out our all-time favorite Kids Yoga Partner Poses here.
4. Group Yoga Challenge:
This type of yoga challenges are some of my favorites. Do not overthink this, it can be anything from standing in a circle and passing a hula hoop without letting go of hands. It can also be a Group Tree Pose or a Down Dog Tunnel. The point is to get the children working together to achieve a goal while having fun!
Down Dog Tunnels are always a hit for The Yoga Challenge.
The Yoga Challenge is an important part of your kids yoga class for differentiation and meeting the varying needs of your students. Everything can be modified.
This challenge allows the children the opportunity to work on more difficult poses by themselves or within the group. This builds trust and community.
Although the official Opposite Day has been declared on January 25, kids love to celebrate Opposite Day anytime. A fun way to do that is with The Opposite Yoga Pose Game and dog pose.
Kids love this yoga game and it really stretches their minds as they think creatively and move their bodies in different ways. Kids don’t necessarily need to have an understanding of all the yoga poses to be able to play. Use The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards to help this game be even more successful and fun for kids.
Have the child think of an opposite yoga pose for it. For example; Down Dog Pose could be Boat Pose. Or Frog Pose would become Happy Baby Pose and the opposite of Mountain Pose is a Headstand.
The next child then selects a card and everyone demonstrates the opposite of.
Continue around the circle until everyone has had a turn.
**If the child cannot think of what an opposite yoga pose, he or she can make one up or the group can help them think of one.
How many more opposite yoga poses can you think of? It is okay if the children (or you) do not know the name of the poses they are making. Just make them up and have fun!
A helpful tip is to look at the pose card and see what they can come up with. This is a fun game that allows collaboration and teamwork within the group. It is the simple act of moving their bodies in creative and different ways that will produce many benefits.
Kids love yoga games! Yoga games are often a favorite part of the class as children naturally love to play games. Games are also another great way to get kids moving, build strength, follow directions, work together and practice yoga poses in fun and engaging ways.
I also love how games help break the ice with new groups and allow kids to get to know one another. Games also lead to laughter and provide opportunities to maybe step outside a comfort while working together to achieve a goal.
I like to have a repertoire of yoga games that can be played and used in a variety of situations such as varying group sizes, ages, indoor, outdoor yoga games. I also like to include games with partners, quiet and mindful games, games that bring the energy level up and games that bring the energy down.
These games could be used during a yoga class, a school setting, camps, during other kid-related activities, or a home with your children.
I do recommend having a set of yoga pose cards to when playing the games. We useThe Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards and they provide a great visual and are about the only prop or material needed.
The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards
As you dive in deeper with some of our favorite kids yoga games, please feel free to adapt for varying age levels, setting, age appropriateness, and number of children. This can be done by making a few simple adjustments.
A huge tip is that you spend no longer than 10 minutes playing a yoga game. Keep the interest level and excitement high. Always end on a high note which leaves them wanting more
The goal of yoga games is to get kids excited about practicing many different yoga poses, while they gain strength, improve balance, experience teamwork and have fun!
