The official start of summer is with the arrival of the summer solstice on June 21st. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the longest day of the year. This is the moment when the Sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, which is its highest point. For those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day of the year and the arrival of winter. The solstice happens at the same moment for everyone, everywhere on Earth.
What makes this day even more special is that June 21st is also International Yoga Day which is recognized around the world since its inception in 2015.
What better way then to recognize both of these celebrations than with some family-friendly outdoor yoga?! Check out some of our favorite yoga poses and games!
Do you love yoga and kids? Keep the fun of International Yoga Day going all year long! Introduce the joy and fun of yoga to children while instilling the benefits they will have for life. Enrollment is now open for our Kids Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher Training! Find out more here.
“Mother’s hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts, forever…” –Unknown
Celebrate Mother’s Day with these Family Fun Yoga Ideas!
Back to Back Breathing:
Back to Back Breathing is a wonderful and relaxing way to connect with your children. It also builds mindfulness. Sit tall in a comfortable position with legs crossed. Slowly rest your back gently against your partner’s back. Encourage your child to try to notice your breath. Is it shallow or deep? Fast or slow? Can they feel your back move as they breathe? This is a really sweet partner exercise for any age and feels so comforting to lean against another person like that.
Family Trees:
Stand in a circle side by side and touch palms to help balance each other. Then take one foot and place it on our leg. Bring your branches (hands) up taller. Remember to switch legs. Notice how you are all stronger when you work together!
Legs Up the Wall:
Kids and adults both love this relaxing yoga pose! Scooch up close to a wall and lie flat on your back. Slowly raise your legs straight up against the wall which makes an L shape with your body. Keeping your legs together, flex your feet. Relax your arms to the side and keep your neck in a neutral and relaxed position. Close your eyes, and take a few moments and rest in this incredible restorative pose! This can also be done as Partner Legs Up the Wall Pose.
Toega:
Toega is the perfect yoga game to play with all different ages. What exactly is Toega? It is yoga for your feet! Kids love this simple exercise and it is good for them as well. All you need are some colored pom pom balls and bare feet! It is fun and easy to play. Find out how to play here.
Will it be an early Spring, or will there be six more weeks of Winter? The groundhog gets to decide with this fun yoga game for kids! Decide if it will be spring or winter with yoga poses such as Snowflake Pose and Warrior 2.
Select one child to be the lead groundhog. Have everyone begin in Child’s Pose with their foreheads to the ground as if they are hibernating groundhogs waiting for February 2nd.
The lead groundhog will emerge first from slumber, look around, and announce to the other groundhogs if it is Spring or Winter. Based on what the lead groundhog selects, then choose from the following poses:
Winter Groundhog Yoga Poses
Snowflake: Begin in Mountain Pose with arms outstretched above. Next dive forward and bring your arms to the ground as if you are a snowflake falling. Repeat this several times to represent lots of snowflakes falling.
Snowboarder: Stand strong in Warrior 2 with arms outstretched and your front leg bent. Try jumping and switching directions while landing in Warrior 2. Try to get a little hang time in your 180 degree jumps as if you are a star snowboarder!
Snowball: Lie on your back and hug your knees into your chest. Rock and roll back and forth as if you are a snowball being rolled. Do this several times. It is almost like getting a back massage.
Spring Groundhog Yoga Poses
Tree Pose: Get your Spring tree ready for leaves! Bring your foot to your calf and place your hands at heart center. As you become more steady, bring your foot to your thigh and move your hands overhead for tree branches. A tip for holding tree pose is to focus on a spot on the ground that is not moving.
Butterfly Pose: Sit on your bottom with a tall spine, bend your legs, and place the soles of your feet together. Flap your legs like the wings of a butterfly. How fast can your butterfly fly? Then try to go as slowly as possible.
Frog Pose: Come down to a squat position and bring your arms to heart center. Can you hop like a frog?
Take turns being the lead groundhog so everyone can practice several Winter and Spring yoga poses. Finally for the final resting position or Savasana have the kids roll up in a yoga mat or blanket as if they are quiet slumbering groundhog.
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!
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.
* 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.
Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities for Children
Recent Reviews for Go Go Yoga for Kids Yoga Games & Activities for Children:
The key to instilling a desire in our youth to take up yoga lies in making it fun for them, and Sara J. Weis’s Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games and Activities does just that! With over 150 yoga games, activities, and poses to choose from, this book is a must-have resource for parents and teachers who wish to introduce children to the mind-body health benefits of yoga. Included in the book are teaching tips for tweens and teens, a section on family yoga and games, as well as yoga crafts. Adapting yoga poses with play offers children an opportunity to experience balance in our constantly changing world, and GoGo Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games and Activities offers a user-friendly approach to create engaging yoga activities for kids of all ages. I highly recommend this book to school teachers, yoga instructors, educators, and parents. —Teresa Anne Power, award-winning author of The ABCs of Yoga for Kids and LittleMouse Adventures, kids’ yoga expert, speaker, and Kids’ Yoga Day founder.
Sara Weis is the most creative yoga teacher I know. In Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Games & Activities for Children, she’s yet again come up with dozens of fun ways to engage kids with yoga. Sara also draws on her many years of experience as a teacher to clearly explain each type of activity, as well as how the games should fit into an overall lesson plan. This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to help kids have fun while building their physical and social-emotional skills. —Catharine Hannay, founder of MindfulTeachers.org and author of Being You: A Girl’s Guide to Mindfulness
Take the guesswork out of creating captivating children’s yoga sessions – and have fun in the process- with Go Go Yoga for Kids: Games & Activities. Teacher Sara J.Weis has done it again with this guidebook brimming with activities, poses and games and the reasoning why everything enhances an immersive and interactive yoga experience. Consult the Leader Notes to customize the activities for different ages or put a fresh spin on things after heeding all of the wisdom inside! Either way, this latest installment in the Go Go Yoga series is a win-win for everyone involved. –Jenna Hammond, authorof Downward Mule
Check out some of our favorite yoga poses and games!
Kids and adults both love this relaxing yoga pose! Scooch up close to a wall and lie flat on your back. Slowly raise your legs straight up against the wall which makes an L shape with your body. Keeping your legs together, flex your feet. Relax your arms to the side and keep your neck in a neutral and relaxed position. Close your eyes, and take a few moments and rest in this incredible restorative pose! This can also be done as Partner Legs Up the Wall Pose.
bent. Try jumping and switching directions while landing in Warrior 2. Try to get a little hang time in your 180 degree jumps as if you are a star snowboarder!
