I met Bea more than ten years ago when both of our oldest children were at the same preschool. Our girls weren’t even in the same class but we both had sleeping toddler girls in strollers that first painful week when we were required to wait for hours on a different floor just in case our preschoolers freaked out. At least, that is my version of the school policy.
It turns out that we both nursed our kids well beyond the first year and I found Bea to be a friendly and welcoming mom in the midst of total strangers. It was also Bea who introduced me and my entire brood including my husband to yoga after she became certified. Quid pro quo, I introduced her to blogging!
When I spoke to her about yoga poses for kids, she immediately mentioned Yoga Pretzels, a great oversized deck of cards. Turns out that I had a set of these from the nice folks at Barefoot Books. My youngest likes to use these cards when he wants to “learn” yoga. My oldest actually hates doing yoga; she has very tight hamstrings and has to do yoga to keep from being injured. And my middle daughter has crashed my yoga class as the only child practitioner in her class. After years of gymnastics, she’s really flexible and can do the entire Vinyasa flow. She says it makes her feel calm which is a good thing.
Yoga for Kids
My kids’ idea of yoga is before-bedtime-on-the-bed-goofing around using these cards like one might play Twister. They have a tendency just to pick a card, any card, and do the pose. I have an ulterior motive; I want them to stretch out to maintain their flexibility (or, in my daughter’s case, increase it) to prevent injury from the other high-impact sports they play.
Bea put together a brief sequence that uses a fraction of the Yoga Pretzels cards. Here are the images for the pose but the back of each card gives detailed instructions on how to get into the pose, and I highly recommend getting Yoga Pretzels!
- down dog
- cobra
- cat
- rock
- gorilla
- mountain
- airplane
- lying twist
- bridge
- all is well
And All is Well indeed!
108 Awesome Yoga Poses for Kids: STOMP Like a Dinosaur! FLUTTER Like a Butterfly! BREATHE Like the Sun! by Lauren and Brian Chaitoff
Yoga poses are presented with easy-to-remember kid-friendly names such as “owl,” “pigeon,” “rainbow,” and “butterfly.” There is also an option to move within each yoga pose making it dynamic, a feature that children will enjoy! I also like the narrative that describes each pose as a story. The pages are well designed and hold a lot of information including the Sanskrit names for each pose. Pair this book up with the Yoga Pretzel card deck; the deck can determine which pose to do and the yoga book can give more detailed information. [nonfiction book, for ages 4 and up]
Unicorn Yoga by Gina Cascone and Bryony Williams Sheppard, illustrated by Jennifer Sattler
Unicorns demonstrate basic yoga poses that readers can try. If the instructions and illustrations are not specific enough, use the Yoga Pretzel cards since they show human anatomy. The picture book story is also a complete yoga flow sequence. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Exercise Motivation to YogaBox
Yoga for Kids Bedtime Picture Book of the Day
Mom Yoga Retreat: Getting Centered and Finding Happiness
Free Resources to Keep Kids Active
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
OMGoodness!
I have to have them!!
They look brilliant!
To The Monkey Adventures,
The Yoga Cards are a lot of fun and a great way to introduce kids to yoga!
My daughter would love this set! My kids did yoga in preschool last year and they really enjoy it! They also sometimes do the yoga for kids ondemand.
Thanks for the sequence and I am highly considering this set!
To Ann,
I’m glad you liked it. My yoga instructor swears by these yoga cards and she has two kids who like them too. I trust her judgement, we’ve been friends since our oldest kids started preschool.
Wow! what a plethora of resources this site is!
To Pam,
Thank you so much. I’m trying to figure out the best way to organize all my posts. I just hit the 900 mark. Hope you were able to find what you were seeking.
Okay, I’m going to have to get these, too. They are wonderful! My daughter loved doing yoga videos when she was younger, and I think she’ll have fun with these, and the 2 yo will just copy whatever she’s doing. Yay.
To Craftwhack,
Let me know if your kids like them too! I do love watching my kids do yoga poses for fun!
Kids are always enthusiastic about new stuffs. Letting them know they’d be joining you in exercise routines would be new to them.
Hi Mark,
I agree. Kids think yoga poses are fun! They get silly with the cards which makes it fun. It’s actually great for my oldest who has tight hamstrings too.
These cards are so exciting to me… as a practitioner, a mother, a daycare owner, a marketer…. on all levels. They should be a shower gift!
Thanks for sharing….
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
The cards are fun and make yoga accessible and instanteous which is great for kids. They all seem to be so flexible naturally that yoga comes very easily for them compared to me! What a great idea to use this as a gift.
where can I buy these cards, please..
Hi Sussy,
The Yoga Cards are from Barefoot Books. Here’s the link: http://store.barefootbooks.com/yoga-pretzels.html