How to Use Yoga cards with Kids

Kids naturally love to play games and they are a great way to get them moving around.  It also helps practice teamwork, communication skills, and provides the perfect opportunity to practice yoga poses!

The pose cards include the animal pose, an instruction of how to do it and an affirmation (mantra) to say when doing the pose.

I’d like to share with you some ideas for playing with out yoga cards for kids. These games can be adapted for different age levels by making simple adjustments. These cards can be used during a kid’s yoga class, in the school, at a camp or at home with your children!

1. Corners

Choose FOUR yoga cards and have a different yoga pose card placed in each corner of the room. The children move around the room to music. When the music stops, an assigned person (who has been blindfolded), calls out a yoga pose. Those children standing in that corner (doing the pose) must then sit out.

• Musical Mats

Place yoga mats in a circle with a different Yoga Card at the top of each mat. Play some music and have children move around the mats in a circle. When the music stops, the children must choose a mat and hold that pose. Remove a mat and pose card each time.

• Yogi Says

Similar to Simon Says, the leader calls out different actions as they go through the deck of yoga cards. For example, “Yogi says, Tree pose”, “or Yogi says, dog Pose”. However, if the leader calls out a pose without saying, “Yogi Says…” and another person does that pose, then they sit out.

• Create a yoga Story

Pick THREE to SIX yoga pose cards and create a yoga pose sequence. You could make up a story or situation to go with the sequence. For example, Eagle + Tree + Snake: You could pretend to be an eagle soaring in the sky. You then see a tree and come and land on it. While you’re in the tree you swoop down to meet a snake.

• Yoga Pose Charades

Gather together a deck of only the pose cards and place them facedown. Each player takes a turn at selecting the top yoga pose card, without any other players seeing the card. The player demonstrates the pose on their selected card, and the rest of the children have to guess the name of the yoga pose. Repeat the process until each player has had a turn.

• Yoga Pose Brainstorm

Gather together a deck of only the pose cards and place them facedown. Each player takes a turn at selecting the top yoga pose card, they do that pose and then brainstorm a list of other things that could represent that pose. For example, possum pose could be monkey, jelly fish or sloth. This game is fun to play to engage children in making up other names for poses and builds imagination!

• Yoga Bingo

Give children a blank piece of paper and then get them to draw a square in the middle. Get them to draw THREE lines vertically along the page, and then THREE lines horizontally up the page. They should then have NINE squares or rectangles to draw in.

1. Ask them to write or draw NINE yoga poses in the squares (with each square having one pose written on it!) If they are unable to write their words, you can do this for them! Remember to tell them that it’s more fun if they choose different ones from each other.
2. You then take the deck and choose a card and call it out. If a child has that pose, they must do the pose and then put a counter on it, or colour in that square.
3. The person that fills up a row first or fills all their squares is the winner!

• Yoga Pose Memory Game

Here’s how we played the Yoga Pose Memory Game:

1. The first person does a yoga pose (or you can pick a yoga pose from a Yoga Pose Card Deck).
2. The second person does that first pose and then adds another yoga pose to the sequence.
3. The first person then does the first two poses and adds on another pose.
4. Play continues as long as you like!