The Best Yoga Poses for Growing Kids
Read the rest of the article here from our guest post at Des Moines Parent to learn more yoga poses for kids.
Get 40 more yoga poses for kids with our Kids Yoga Challenge App. Now available in your App Store.
How to teach Mindfulness and Mantras to Children
Affirmations and mantras can be an important tool to help children develop positive foundations on which to grow. A positive self-belief system built in childhood will hopefully stay with a person throughout their life. While attending the National Kids Yoga Conference, I got the pleasure of meeting Erin Hurley, an elementary school guidance counselor from Virginia. Erin was also named “School Counselor of the Year” for her school district.
She is the kind of guidance counselor that any of you would love to have your children work with and learn from. Erin has a kind and creative spirit and truly cares about children. Plus she definitely understands the importance of introducing yoga and mindfulness to children so they will have these skills for life.
Erin shared with me how she uses the Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards when she works with students in her elementary classrooms. She has loved using these pose cards with her students as they are visual, age-appropriate, and include simple yet memorable mantras.
Each yoga pose card has a corresponding empowering mantras for success such as “I am strong” or “I am fair and equal.” This ensures that the students are not only receiving the health benefits of each pose, but also the mental and mindfulness benefits as well.
Erin shared with me one incredible activity and lesson plan that she did with her students that I wanted to pass along. This lesson could be done anytime throughout the school year, but would tie in nicely with the beginning of the school year, Thanksgiving or a kindness theme.
Mantras and Mindfulness Kids Yoga Lesson Plan
This lesson would work well with children 
ages 5-11.
First, brainstorm with the students about positive qualities that they see in themselves. For example being kind, honest, hardworking, caring, strong, etc. Write these qualities on the board.
Next, the students took the “hand template” and wrote qualities that described themselves. They did this by writing around the hand template. 
Finally, the students were able to put the yoga poses and mantras for success together to practice and perform. This absolutely made the lesson even more memorable as it ties together so many different types of student learning such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning. 
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Want more kids yoga lesson plans?
Black Friday Fun With Go Go Yoga for Kids
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Family Yoga Games with Go Go Yoga for Kids
It was a beautiful day for some family fun and outdoor yoga at Family Fun Day. We spent the morning playing family yoga games, trying new poses, and getting kids excited about yoga.
Triangle Pose is a favorite! Learn how toPlay Triangle Tag here
Yoga Jenga is still fun…even when the blocks fall over.
Roll the Yoga Dice and see what pose to practice.
Kids love to try partner yoga poses. The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards were perfect for trying to master many different poses.
Want more Family Yoga Fun?
Welcome to a fun family yoga class! We will move into some yoga poses that will help you feel calm, comfortable and strong. Then we will move into some partner yoga poses, a Plank Challenge, and then a relaxing stillness and savasana which is so good for your body.
1. First, begin in Child’s Pose. Bring your forehead to the ground. This is a very centering and grounding pose. Let’s take a few deep centering breathes in and out of your nose. We have had some crazy weeks, our schedules have changed, we miss our schools, our teachers, our friends, but it is going to be ok. We will have a strong body and mind and we will get through this.
2. Move into Tabletop position and let’s move through Cat Pose and Cow Pose. You may be on a screen a bit more than normal and it is important to keep our spines fluid and flexible.
3. Go ahead and step forward into Ragdoll Pose. Sway side to side. Let your arms and head hang. This is a great release for your lower back and a very centering pose.
4. Now move into Gorilla Pose. This is a fun pose! Bend your knees as much as you want to. Place your hands under your feet. Maybe you can just reach a few fingers under there. That is ok! Let your head hang. Can you make some gorilla noises?
5. Now reach overhead to mountain pose. Feel strong and tall. Pull your shoulders back. Look up above your hands. You are strong. LET YOUR HEART SHINE. Go ahead and close your eyes. It feels good and strong.
6. Now take a big inhale and on the exhale dive forward over your feet. This is almost like you are diving into a large swimming pool. We can’t wait to do that this summer!
7. Next step back into Down Dog Pose. Would you like to be taller? This pose lengthens and strengthens your leg muscles. Walk out your dog. Think about taking your dog for a walk after he has been cooped up all winter!
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Learn New Yoga Poses With The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards
Learn a new pose every day of the month! These 30 colorful progressive 4×6 yoga cards for kids are perfect for practicing balance, maintaining flexibility, and gaining strength.
Each pose is given a 1-5 starred level based on difficulty. Children can work through the levels at their own pace, create hundreds of yoga routines and flows, and enjoy practicing the partner poses with others.
Each 4×6 pose card is complete with an empowering mantra and 15 Bonus Yoga Games to play using the yoga cards. An adorable drawstring bag keeps all of the pose cards together and easily accessible for practice.
Learn more here or purchase directly from our store or on Amazon.
Celebrate National Yoga Month with Kids
September is National Yoga Month which is a perfect opportunity to educate others about yoga and leading a healthier lifestyle. What better way to do that then by learning some new yoga poses and introducing them to kids? Get fit, flexible and focused together as a family or at school.
To celebrate National Yoga Month get your free illustrated Kids Yoga Pose Guide. Enjoy learning the Best 9 Yoga Poses for Kids. More good news is that they are beneficial for you as well!.
If you are up for even more of a challenge this month, check out our Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards which include 30 Progressive Yoga Poses complete with balance, flexibility, partner poses, and 15 bonus yoga games to use with the cards.
These pose cards come in a fun burlap drawstring bag to keep it all together. It is also fun for kids to draw out and select a new pose to try.
You can learn a new pose each day of National Yoga Month! Good luck, have fun, and keep us posted on what you did to celebrate this fun month of yoga.
