Happy New Year! It has been a wonderful year for Go Go Yoga for Kids. We have loved bringing the joy and fun of yoga to thousands of others through our Kids Yoga Lesson Plan Books, Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards, App, and most importantly our online Kids Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Training. We have now certified over 3500 people from all over the world and are sharing the love and joy of kids yoga with others.
I have always loved reflecting on the year and thinking about how we can help even more others in the next year. I am also such a fan of “Year-End Reviews” and “Best of” Lists. So without much further ado…
Here are your Top Kids Yoga Favorite Posts from this year:
Are you ready for the Summer Olympic Games? After last summer’s hiatus, the world is waiting, watching and ready. Get your whole family involved in the Summer Olympics by having your own Yoga Games!
Games are perfect for:
moving your bodies in good & healthy ways
building strength & flexibility
Practicing following directions and working together
Learning yoga poses and practicing them fun and engaging ways.
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!
Each game include videos, directions on 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.
“This book is so useful! As a kids yoga teacher, I am always looking for new breathing exercises, games, mindful activities, etc. to do each week so my students don’t get bored doing the same things over and over. It’s so easy to flip through the sections to find new ideas to mix up my class. There are different sections for teaching different ages and even family classes, which makes this a useful resource for classes of all ages.”Julie E.
“Finally a book that helps teaching yoga to kids fun and easy! As a mom I know how children love to learn through playing games. I love how Yoga Games & Activities includes such a variety of games for different ages and skills. I have already tried a few of the mindfulness games and balance games with my kids. Will definitely be a book that I refer to often for different ideas.” Angela F.
Over 150 yoga games, activities, poses, and challenges broken into categories and can be easily modified. Detailed descriptions for all activities including suggested age groups, needed props, ideal group size, and leader suggestions. These games and activities have all been tried, tested and kid approved!
Ideas 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 at home, school, camp or blub
The Go Go Yoga for Kids books offers a user-friendly approach to create engaging yoga activities for kids of all ages. I highly recommend these books to school teachers, yoga instructors, educators, and parents.
Teresa Anne Power
Author of The ABC's of Kids Yoga, Founder of International Kids Yoga Day
Stretch your body and your mind with Yoga Pose Memory! Help kids (and adults!) improve balance and flexibility while boosting matching and memory skills.
Learn and practice yoga poses as you search for matching yoga poses. Once a match is made, then the player must demonstrate that yoga pose. Once the cards have all been matched, the player with the most pairs performs all of the yoga poses in a sequence.
Learn and practice yoga poses with this fun and engaging Yoga Pose Game!
Kids love playing yoga games and they are a great way to get kids moving in good and healthy ways while practicing yoga poses and building strength.
Games are also perfect for allowing opportunities to work together as a team and practice yoga poses in fun and engaging ways.
Below are a few of our Featured Favorite Kids Yoga Games.
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY
Kids Need Yoga More Than Ever
Kids need yoga. Our world is changing, and our kids face different challenges and commitments then they have in the past.
There are many demands on kids’ time and pressure to do well and be successful at what they are involved in. This includes school, family, friends, sports, quickly changing technology and other interests.
Conclusion:
Kids need to learn how to be able to work through these demands in healthy and responsible ways.
Yoga is a skill that can benefit all kids no matter what activities they are involved in or what their interests and abilities are. Yoga meets everyone at any stage and provides incredible extrinsic and intrinsic benefits.
By introducing yoga to children through playing games, this helps create high interest and engagement. The children will better retain the poses and skills they have learned, will practice teamwork and leadership skills while having a lot of fun!
