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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We are so excited to be heading to the Heartland Yoga Festival; June 22-24, 2018. If you will be in area, please stop by to say hello to Go Go Yoga for Kids and grab your free pair of yoga socks. It will be such a fun time!
Spring has finally arrived! It was a perfect day to celebrate with Kids Yoga in the Park with Go Go Yoga for Kids and Des Moines Parent. Over 50 kids, parents, and caregivers joined in the outdoor yoga fun.
First, we warmed up our bodies with Sunrise and Sunset Salutations followed by some Sunflower exercises. Next, we selected surprise poses from the Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards. We practiced and perfected our yoga poses by showing how strong we were with our Warrior 2 jumps, rowing in our Boat Pose, Down Dog kick ups, and the Tree Pose balance challenge.
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We practiced our poses with a fun Musical Mats game and completed the class with a very peaceful and relaxing Stillness and Savasana while listening to the sounds of nature all around.
Check out our Kids Yoga in the Park preview below. It was a windy (but sunny!) day. The audio isn’t perfect and we were able to get just a little glimpse of this fun class with video, but will give an idea of the fun we had!
Want to learn more about How to Plan a Kids Yoga Event and Class Like a Pro? See our best tips and article here. No it does not include fully charging your video camera 😉 These tips are very hands-on and practical.
Go Go Yoga for Kids loves all opportunities to bring yoga to children in fun and different ways. Toega is the perfect yoga game to play with all different ages.
What is Toega? It is yoga for your feet! Kids love this simple exercise and it is good for them as well. Feet are often scrunched up all day in shoes and socks, and Toega allows children to stretch their toes and build flexibility.
All you need are some colored pom pom balls and bare feet! It is fun and easy to play.
How to Play
Scatter the pom pom balls on the ground.
Try picking up the colored balls with your toes.
Then place the balls on your yoga mat or another flat surface.
When I play with Toega with kids, I like to change it up a little by having different challenges for the children. Sometimes I will challenge the older to kids to collect balls of the same color or size. Or I will have a time limit to see how many they can gather in 1 minute with their toes.
After the children have gathered up their pom pom balls, I like to bring a connection or close to the activity by having the children sort them in groups or “families”. I leave it open-ended and it is neat to see what they come up with for ideas. They will often sort by size and color, but once in a while I get an expected response and that is lots of fun.
By the way…I just LOVE my new Toega mat that I found here. It just makes it extra fun to play Toega.
It is no secret that kids need yoga now more than ever.In our technology and screen-focused world, yoga provides many benefits that kids might have difficulty receiving elsewhere.Physically, yoga enhances flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness.Mentally, it improves the sense of calmness, concentration, and relaxation. Introducing yoga poses for kids at an early age can help them learn healthy lifestyle habits and set the foundation for a fit future.
The following three yoga poses were selected for their physical and mental health benefits in young growing bodies.These poses are also wonderful for getting kids fit, flexible, and focused.Keep in mind that these are also adult yoga poses, so some of them may already be familiar to you.This is all the more reason to do them together with your children!You do not need to have a lot of space to practice these poses, and they only take minutes a day to generate results.
Read the rest of the article here from our guest post at Des Moines Parent to learn more yoga poses for kids.
Children love this Snow Much Fun kids yoga lesson plan. All you need is some names of winter yoga poses and some plush white balls. I found these balls on Amazon. I then attached a small sticker to the snowballs with the name of a yoga pose on each one.
I like to use a present box or holiday gift bag to put the snowballs in. It creates a lot more anticipation when the kids take turns drawing the pose (snowball) out of a box or bag. Select just 4-6 yoga poses for the children to learn and practice for each yoga class. It is best to focus on practicing a few yoga poses during a class instead of many.
After one pose is drawn, all of the children practice that pose before drawing out a new pose.
After all of the snowballs have been selected, then it is time to play some yoga games or practice balancing. Have the children try to balance the snowball on their head, hand, shoulder, etc.
Children can also use their snowball for a breathing exercise called the Snowball Race. Students line up their snowball at the back of their yoga mat. On your mark, get set and go! They try to use their strong breath to move the snowball to the end of their mat.
We are so excited to be heading to the 
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