Yoga cards are a fun and easy way to get little yogis active, engaged and moving through poses. The cards are a valuable visual stimulus that allows them to copy, mimic and interpret even the more traditional yoga poses to fit their movement expressions. Kids performing yoga postures often look different to how we would. Kids tend to stay within a safe range of movement; rarely will they put their bodies under stress or cause injury. Simply put, a little yogi likes to feel good, and if the pose does not feel good, they will either adopt it or skip it. The real trick with kids is to do just that, make yoga fun and make yoga feel good!
- Creating a Theme with Pictures
Yoga Cards are a super-easy way to draw kids into both the movement and sequences. Like the featured Granny’s Got Moves, Cards are fun, imaginative, and playful. The Granny’s got moves cards are a personal favourite for both myself and my little yogi as they have allowed for so much discussion around movement and age, enjoyment and routine over exercise and pain.
Another awesome themed yoga pictures are the star wars yoga. These are awesome to draw awareness to inner strength, mindfulness, chi energy and the power of meditation. - The Yoga Dice Game
Pick out six different yoga cards and place them in order from 1 to 6. Take it, in turn, rolling the dice, any dice will do, but we use the oversize blowup dice from Ikea.
Whatever the number on the dice, the corresponding yoga card is performed.
If I were using this game in a class, I would have six small piles of cards next to each number. The discarded card is then placed on the bottom of the desk to reveal the next yoga pose to use. The game generally finishes once the first pile of cards is completed. - Yoga Fishing
You will require extra equipment, a magnetic kids fishing rod from a classic fishing game, and multiple paper clips for this game. Place a paper clip on each card to allow the fishing rod to pick them up. Once your little yogi catches a fish (Yoga card), they can demonstrate it or instruct it to the rest of the class. - Rob the Nest
Best played with a few kids, each needing their mat as a nest. You will also need a double set of cards to play this game. Arrange each nest around in a circle formation with the cards upside down in the middle. Kids can only take one card at a time from either the centre or another kid’s nest. Each kid should place the card face up in their nest area before collecting another card.
When they find the matching card to create a pair, they should return to their nest to perform the move. Once the yoga pose is completed, the pair of cards are turned face down and taken out of play. The winner is the team (nest) with the most pairs or who performed the most yoga poses at the end. - Yoga Guess Who
Turn all the yoga cards face down. The lead yogi picks up one card at a time, looks at it but keeps the pose a secret. They then perform the pose to the best of their ability while the other kids guess the pose’s name. The first correct guess becomes the next lead yogi to pick a card. Depending on the age and experience of the kids, they may need help reading and remembering the pose names.
Alternatively, I like to use traditional poses, and we guess or ‘imagine’ what the pose looks like; an example of this might be thinking of an animal that looks like the pose. - Hidden Treasure
The hidden treasure is a simple game but a favourite within a yoga class or home. This game is where a yoga pose is hidden either under the yoga mat or in another suitable location. They then perform the pose on finding the card before looking for the next card.
Bedtime treasure consists of me hiding cards under the pillows and around their beds. After they have washed and dressed and are ready for bed, they can find their hidden bedtime treasure consisting of easy, relaxing poses. I have recently started mixing some breathing exercise cards into the bedtime treasure time activity. Bedtime treasure is not something I do every day, but occasionally after a big day or if an excellent wind-down process is needed.