We all know yoga has many benefits, but I’m sure there are plenty of kids out there—especially the ones that are a little wild—who would struggle to follow a yoga routine from start to finish!
There’s nothing quite like watching active kids participate in animal yoga, those wild ones calm down in minutes. It’s a relaxing, quiet activity that’s keeping their body focused.
The benefits of Animal Yoga for Kids
- The physical action of yoga refines balance and coordination
- It develops focus and concentration
- Yoga boosts self-esteem and confidence
- It strengthens the mind-body connection
(Â Visi Talik on Parents.com, 2014)
When you take animal yoga outside, children will also:
- Build animal empathy
- Strengthen their connections to place
- Enhance their knowledge of the natural world, and
- stimulate their senses
Animal yoga for kids is relaxing, builds breathing awareness and self-inquiry, while also being a safe and calming activity for kids. It connects your child to their natural world too.
How to enjoy Animal Yoga with the kids
- Take your children outside.
- Ask your children to move into a circle.
- Â Go around the circle and get children to say the name of an animal that they feel close to, or can relate to.
- Now ask your child to make up their own pose that represents the animal they chose.
- Â Get the children to close their eyes.
- While your children hold their pose, ask them to imagine that they are the animal they chose. Or, if they were an eagle they could imagine themselves flying over the the tree tops.
- Â Go around the circle and try each other’s animal yoga poses.
- After the children try each other’s poses, sit down and talk about what they visualised.
Animal Yoga Cards
Want to make Animal Yoga even easier to embed into your home or classroom routine? The packs include 12 yoga cards in each pack, three posters and 2 fun, interactive dice. They’re printable so you can start right away!
   
               Try our kids animal yoga poses:
Snake animal yoga pose
 Owl animal yoga pose
 Hedgehog animal yoga pose
 Frog pose
Giraffe Pose
 Animal Yoga is perfect for schools, childcare centers and home. It’s also the perfect activity to relax your group before starting a new activity, rest time or bed!
Get the our printable nature and animal yoga cards at our shop!
   
As always, you have lovely innovative ideas and do a fantastic job. I send them through to my daughter who teaches young children. Thanks.
Thank you so much Vicki. That is so lovely of you to say. I got little goosebumps. Thanks for reading!
We enjoy animal yoga too and yours have come up with some different animals that we’ll have to try! 🙂 Love the idea of doing it in the bush too!
Thank Bek. I think we may schedule another animal yoga day soon. I have to let the neighbors know too!
Such a lovely post with some fun inspiration! I love that you had your children practice the animal yoga poses outside. They look fully engaged.
I teach a preschool yoga class and often incorporate various animal poses. You can check out a recent animal yoga sequence that I shared over at Playful Learning…
http://playfullearning.net/animals-winter-yoga/
Thanks for that link Monique. Love it! What a great couple of poses too!
Great post Penny. Two fantastic ideas. I will be adding these to my camp files! Thank you!
Thank so much Mary. Glad you like them. I’ll probably add this to my camp file too! 😉
I love the idea of going outside and thinking of animals like this. What an amazing connection to make.
As I preschool teacher I do have a recent dilemma though, which I would like your thoughts on. I have a parent this year who has said she doesn’t want her child to do yoga, as it is a form of prayer, and thus goes against her own beliefs. Can I do yoga and give it a different name, or is that also offensive to the Yogarians out there?
Lisa, there’s a little show called Wabaloo where these animal-like creatures do Yogo (it looks very similar to yoga but with some movement). I don’t know if it would be offensive to name Yoga something else. Personally, I think you can call it what ever you like. I think it’s great for children!
I love it, that first picture is awesome. I can see my son really getting into this. thanks
I have a good friend who writes kids yoga books full of animal poses – such a great way to introduce kids to yoga in a fun and interactive way.
This is such a creative way to get kids into yoga. I love it.
Looks like great fun for kids, pinning 🙂
This has come as perfect timing thank you Penny. My little Possum is actually showing quite an interest in stretching and moving her body in ways that is like yoga. She seems to do it very naturally. I’ll be using your ideas to help extend her interest. Thanks soooo much!
Great post Penny! Doing them outside just adds to the appeal.