The good folks over at Addriya have done it again. Created another fab yoga card deck, this time with a focus on small spaces.

Yoga for Small Spaces includes 52 large sized (5″x7″), heavy duty cards that can withstand lots of use. Each card features a yoga activity which can be done in a small space such as an office, classroom or airplane. The front of each card has a fun graphic which shows the pose and an object the pose is inspired by. The back is packed with information including step-by-step instructions, benefits, modifications and a positive affirmation.

One of the things I like best about the cards is the color coding system. Each card has a border which defines the health and behavior benefits such as Red: to help ground and support especially good for people that are nervous, anxious or fearful or Yellow to help foster self-esteem, risk-taking and leadership. I find this super helpful as a reference tool when preparing classes.

For years I have taught a popular Yoga with a Chair class in schools and for professional development workshops. Everyone is always amazed at the thorough and fun workout you can get by sitting in a chair. This yoga deck added to my repertoire of poses and is handy for a quick yoga game.

So if you think you can’t do yoga unless you move the furniture or have a yoga mat, block, strap and other props, think again. With Yoga for Small Spaces yoga can be done anywhere and the poses are ideal for all ages and abilities.

You can purchase your own deck for $19.99 from the Addriya on-line store.

To enter to win leave a comment below sharing the most unique location you’ve ever done yoga.

Additional Entries:

• Follow Addriya Yoga on Facebook and comment back here
• Share this review on Facebook with an @yogainmyschool.com mention (multiple entries allowed-max of one per day)
• Tweet it including an @DonnaKFreeman mention (multiple entries allowed- max of three per day, one hour apart): “Small Spaces Yoga Cards #giveaway @DonnaKFreeman @addriya“

Addriya generously donated resources for this review and giveaway. The opinions expressed here are completely my own.

Contest ends Friday, October 14th at 9:00 pm MDT. Winners will be contacted by e-mail and will have 48 hours to reply. Winners names will be published here, on Facebook and Twitter.

Update: Congrats to Julie Johnston who was very excited to win the Yoga for Small Spaces card deck.

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I teach yoga to children ages 4-8, on a weekly basis, at a local yoga studio and I have used many of the activities from Donna Freeman’s fabulous book “Once Upon a Pose”.  I also teach parents and teachers how to do yoga with children and I wanted to share how effective and fun the game “Sea Shells” has been with my students.

One of the children’s favourite activities is the “Sea Shells” game, which my students request on a weekly basis.  I always encourage creativity in my yoga classes and I enjoy empowering children and fostering self-confidence within them by letting them ‘direct’, ‘lead’ and ‘teach’ the class through a yoga pose or share an idea that we all can try.

I have also been blessed to teach highly intelligent, fun and inventive children, so when we started playing “Sea Shells”, I started with having them run to the Sea and to the Shore and then calling out “Sea Shells” and having them do a Yoga Pose.  They loved it and we played it so often that I started adding distinctions like Deep Sea vs Shallow Water, and Shoreline vs Shore.  This all happened gradually and each week, the children and I would add something new until a story started to emerge.

Each part of the story has a different area of the room that the movement or activity has to be performed in.  We ended up with so many movements and activities, that I created a map.  We also used some of the poses that are from my book “What I See, I Can Be:  A Guided Yoga Flow for Children”.  This is a wonderful activity because children like to run, which gets their heart rate up, they find it fun wondering what will come next that they will have to dash off to, and they get to incorporate yoga poses into a story.

When I call out “Sea Shells” they choose which yoga pose they are going to do.  I encourage them to choose a different yoga pose every time that I call out “Sea Shells”.  I also leave the “What I See, I Can Be” Full Size Poster in a place that they can easily reference, in case they need an idea for a yoga pose.  This helps alleviate any potential stress for young children who may not be able to remember all of the poses or think of a new yoga pose to do in the excitement of running from place to place, and allows them to focus on the fun aspect of the game.  This is also an excellent activity because other than the poster, no equipment is required and every one is a winner.

The story goes like this:

“All the children get into the car – mom and dad are taking us to the beach”. – The children then do an excellent abdominal yoga pose by sitting on their bottoms, bend their knees, put their feet in the air and press on the imaginary gas pedals, and their hands are on the steering wheel straight out in front of them.  They drive the car to the beach and I call out – “Faster, Slower, Turn to the right, Turn to the left, Stop at the light, Go again, See the Beach Entrance, Find a Parking Spot”.  This encourages them to hold the pose longer, as they pretend to drive their cars.

“Everyone we have arrived.  Time to get out of the car”. – The children stand up.

“Run to the Shoreline and put your Toes in the water.  Check the temperature of the water”. – They go to the shoreline.

“Swim to the Deep Sea” – Using their arms they swim as they run to touch anywhere on the back wall.

“You see Dolphins swimming and playing. Go in and join them” – They do the Dolphin Yoga Pose, by placing their hands and forearms on the ground and with their feet behind them, they push their bums into the air as they would in Dog Pose.  Then they make their heads move in a circle by coming forward with their body as far as they can go (usually just passed the fingers) and then they swoop back as far as they can go (usually around the elbows).

“Sharks are Circling” – They run in a circle.

“Children in the playground”. – They go to the back corner and pretend to be in a playground.

“There is a Large Boat in the Deep Sea” – They do the Boat Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be”.

“There are large butterflies on the beach.  Join the Butterflies” – They do the Butterfly Pose from the Yoga Match Game.

“There is a Row Boat in the Shallow Water” – They get up and go to the Shallow Water and they sit on their bottoms, raise their legs in the air and balance in a V pose and move their arms as if rowing the boat.

“Time to Fly a Kite” – They do the Triangular Kite Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be”.

“Time for a healthy lunch.  Join Mom and Dad on the Picnic Table and have a Picnic.” – front wall in the middle – sitting down pretending to eat.

“Have to wait after eating before going swimming – Put on sunscreen and Sun tan on the Beach to catch some sun rays”.  – They do the Meadow Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be” on the beach.

“I see Oysters on the Beach” – They do the Oyster Pose from “What I See, I Can Be”.

“Trees in the Forest” – they do Tree Pose along the front wall.  (Chairs in a Circle in the Forest – If there are enough children, they make a tight circle with their left shoulder facing into the middle of the circle and their right shoulder on the outside of the circle, and slowly and carefully, they can squat down, until everyone is sitting on someone else’s knees and then they raise their hands in the air.  This is known as the Yoga Chair Pose, but in this case, with some support from each other.  Again, everyone is a winner.)

“Making Sand Castles on the Beach” – they use their imaginations and build sand castles.

“You found a 5 pointed Star Fish on the Beach.  Be a Star Fish” – the children lay down and make 5 points with their 2 arms and 2 legs and 1 head.

“It’s finally time to go swimming.  Splash in the shallow water”. – the children pretend to splash around.

“Lily Pads in the shallow water” – the children do Full Lotus Pose or Half Lotus Pose, with legs crossed.

“Frog squatting on the Lily Pad” – the children do the Yoga Squat Pose, with knees bent, feet apart and pointing at 45 degrees outward, bum close to the ground, back straight and head pointing to the ceiling.

“Frog jumping off the Lily Pad and eating flies” – the children jump up out of the squat pose and stick their tongue out to catch flies.

“It was a great day and it is time for a photo.  Take a picture” – Children pretend to take a picture.

“Smile and Do Your Favourite Yoga Pose for a Group photo” – children smile and freeze in a Yoga Pose as I pretend to take a group photo.

“Catch the last rays of the sun before leaving” – children do the Meadow Pose from “What I See, I Can Be”.

During these 24 steps, I will call out Sea Shells randomly 6-7 times as we are going through the story and the children then choose a yoga pose to do.  We hope you have as much fun playing “Going to the Beach” as we have!

Click here for a pdf version of “Going to the Beach” along with the map.

Teacher and yoga instructor Janet Williams is the author of the children’s picture book “What I Can See, I Can Be: A Guided Yoga Flow for Children.” She promotes healthy, active living and the protection of the environment. She can be found at Children’s Yoga Books.

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Gaint Yoga Board Game

Using sidewalk chalk create an over-sized game board with squares that are at least 18″. Alternatively use carpet samples from carpet retailers who discard samples regularly. Create a game board using a circle, oval or figure eight: this makes it less competitive as there isn’t a start or finish. You will need double the number of squares as participants, minimum. If you have a class of 10 kids then your game will need at least 20 squares.

Make one or two over-sized dice out of cereal boxes, the bigger the better. Paint them white, or cover with white paper, and add dots. You can use one die if you have a smaller group or want to make a smaller game board. Using two dice requires a looping game board with 24+ squares.

You can vary the game squares according to age and ability of the players. Little ones will be happy playing and moving. Using photos clues (picture of a tree for tree pose) helps pre-readers and those with special needs. Older players will want more of a challenge.

Some suggestions for game squares include:

• poses – tree pose, warrior pose, mountain pose – standing poses work well as no mat is necessary
• create a pose
• chant ‘om’
• trace a labyrinth
• color a mandala
• sun salutation
• draw a flower, tree, rainbow, superhero, etc.
• move forward 2
• move backward 3
• roll again
• chant “Sa Ta Ma Na“
• gratitude – write things you are thankful for in a notebook
• volcano, flower power or bunny breathing
• blow bubbles
• yoga card deck
• stuffed animal yoga
• Babar does yoga – I have a pose-able Babar figure that kids love to move into various asanas. Check out his vinyasa flow sequence.
• pebble pickup – pick up small rocks or marbles with your toes putting them into a container
• mindful eating – use raisins or other small, tasty, healthy, non-allergy snack
• singing bowl
• hoop yoga
• self massage – hand or foot massage works well
• eagle pose with a feather
• balance on a yoga block
• read a kids yoga book
• trivia challenge – various cards with yoga related trivia (Who is BKS Iyengar? What does ‘yoga’ mean? etc) question on one side, answer on the reverse.
• trade places with another player

How to Play

To begin have every child stand on a different square. Choose an order for turns (youngest to oldest, whatever works). Whoever is first rolls the dice and moves the required number of squares. Once on the new square they perform the action. Child #2 takes their turn, followed by child #3, etc. I try to create squares which allow for the child to continue the action while everyone else has a turn so they don’t have too much down time or get bored while waiting. If two players land on the same square let them share and perform a bonus partner pose or bump one forward.

Play the game until children lose interest or time is up. Be sure to include time for savasana so that players are able to integrate and reflect upon their experience before sending them on their way. Everyone is a winner!

If you enjoyed this post be sure to subscribe (RSS or e-mail) to get new content and ideas on teaching yoga to kids and teens direct to you. You will also want to explore our Yoga Games page which has loads of fabulous ideas.

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Body Chalk Board

Divide group into pairs. Sitting in easy pose (sukhasana), often referred to as criss cross, with one partner in front of the other use your partner’s back as a chalk board. Using a finger draw numbers, shapes or letters of the alphabet on the ‘chalk board’. The person whose back is the ‘chalk board’ guesses what is being drawn. Wipe the ‘chalk board’ clean with flat palms from top to bottom or side to side before switching roles.

For more of a challenge send a message via the ‘chalk board’ that the person in front writes down letter by letter as it is received.

To encourage sensory development and awareness do the same thing using other parts of the body: stomach, soles of feet, palms of hands. This is a wonderful game for children with sensory processing challenges (SPD, Autism, ADHD, etc).

Visit our Yoga Games page for more amazing & fun yoga games to enjoy yoga with kids and teens.

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Musical Mats

Teacher Prep

Set out one yoga mat per participant. I often do this in a circle, oval or large rectangle with all mats facing into the center. Onto each mat place a yoga pose card. Try ABC Yoga Cards for Kids, The Kids Yoga Deck, Elevator Series Pose Cards, or make your own using our alphabetical list of poses. Have a bunch of fun, upbeat music uploaded to your iPod.

How to Play

Before beginning to play, review all poses to make sure everyone knows what they are expected to do and how to practice the poses properly and safely. Have students stand in a circle on the outside of the mats. When music plays students walk, skip, hop, walk backwards, etc. (something different each round is fun) around the mats. When the music stops each student claims a yoga mat and performs the corresponding pose on the mat’s yoga card. Encourage students to find a new mat each time.

Teacher’s Assistant Variation

Put out enough mats for one per student minus one (i.e. 15 students, 14 mats). Each time the music stops one student will be left without a mat. They are the Teacher’s Assistant and get to help everyone else perform their pose, giving suggestions and encouragement. Sometimes children will delay choosing a mat in order to be the Teacher’s Assistant. Make it understood that everyone will only get one opportunity to be the assistant. If someone really doesn’t want to be the assistant make a pose into a partner pose and go onto the next round.

Partner Poses Variation

Choose a partner. As the music plays walk together around the mats, holding hands or arms linked if desired. When music stops claim a mat and perform the partner pose which corresponds to that mat. This is great fun for a Family Yoga class or anytime you want to build connections and develop cooperation and social skills.

Themed Musical Mats

Pick a theme and choose only yoga poses and music which correspond to the theme. This is great for birthday parties, to reinforce concepts in a school unit (Insects, Shapes, Amazon, etc) or for seasonal yoga classes (Valentine’s, Cinco de Mayo, Halloween, etc)

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Conveniently packaged in a sturdy box, these 52 over-sized cards (two for each letter of the alphabet) are easy to use, kid friendly and packed with educational potential. I’ve used this card deck extensively over the past month. Every time it has been a hit with students, educators and parents, many of whom have asked where they can pick up their own set.

Research shows that learning is enhanced through movement. The ABC Yoga Cards for Kids helps parents, teachers and yoga instructors develop age and ability appropriate lessons which are fun and meaningful.

What sets this card deck apart is the accompanying instructor card which corresponds to the pose card. Here you’ll find all kinds of helpful suggestions for developing reading readiness, questions to stimulate further discussion and inquiry, and early learning skills helps such as categorization, attributes, opposites and spatial concepts.

Developed by Christine Ristuccia, a Speech-Language Pathologist, this deck of cards goes above and beyond the ABCs of yoga for young children. To truly explore the many ways this resource can be applied to language learning Ristuccia has poured an immense amount of knowledge and skill into the accompanying ABC Yoga Card for Kids Instructor Guide. What I really appreciate is the breakdown of exactly how to use yoga to enhance language skills into ages, from 12 months to 8 years old. I swear the entire Chapter 2 of this manual is highlighted in my copy.

Addriya has generously provided a Learn with Yoga Package Set (retail value of $54.95 USD) to one lucky Yogainmyschool.com reader. This set includes:

• one deck of ABC Yoga Card for Kids
• a copy of the ABC Yoga Cards for Kids Instructor Guide
• a Yoga for Kids Classroom Border

These products can be purchased separately or as a set from the Addriya on-line store.

To enter to win leave a comment below telling how you’d use these resources.

Additional Entries:

• Follow Addriya Yogaon Facebook and comment back here
• Share this review on Facebook with an @yogainmyschool.com mention (multiple entries allowed)
• Tweet it including an @DonnaKFreeman mention (multiple entries allowed): “ABC Yoga Card for Kids #giveaway @DonnaKFreeman @addriya“

Draw date is January 31, 2011 at 8:00 pm MST. Enter often – you definitely want this in your kids yoga library of resources!

Update: Congrats to Bryan who won the Learn with Yoga Package Set. Upon learning of his good fortune he said:

I’m always thrilled to find new ways of bringing yoga to children — I’m actually on my way to lead a yoga and art class for 1st and 2nd graders, and can’t wait to bring the yoga cards in with me next week “Once Upon a Pose” seems to come with me to every kids yoga class I teach, too, so thanks a bunch for all these great resources.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this give-away. Watch for our monthly reviews of great yoga resources to use in your classes.

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A cool group activity that you can do with your class is to create a yoga choose-your-own-adventure story.

Start off the activity by telling the first few sentences of a story and doing a yoga pose or sequence of poses to represent the actions. For example, you might say, “Once upon a time there were a dog and an eagle in a boat…” and follow with Down Dog, Eagle, and Boat Poses. Everyone does the postures before moving on to the next storyteller.

The child next to you then adds on a few sentences and presents his or her poses for everyone to do. Each child follows, adding on story and postures in succession.

When you do this activity, you will have to moderate the ideas to a certain extent. First of all, make sure that the story remains decent/appropriate…sometimes kids can get carried away with their creativity (typically with violence or scatalogical humor). And second, make sure the story doesn’t overshadow the postures. The real point of the exercise is to use creativity as a conduit for the yoga poses. Everything should either be a real pose or at least a made-up posture that involves stretch, strength, and/or balance.

This is a really engaging game for kids, as it gives them a fun, creative medium, and they love having a chance to be in charge.

This post courtesy of the Mini Yogis Tip of the Week by Shana Meyerson.

In this interview Shana, founder of Mini Yogis, shares her extensive expertise of teaching yoga to children and teenagers.

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Do You Hear What I Hear

Before you leave to walk somewhere, especially if you are going on a route you’ve taken many times and want to engage the participants attention, ask the children to help you guess the number of different sounds you’ll hear along the way. Then while walking, say “I can hear a _____________” and wait until the others hear that sound too. Keep walking and let everyone have a turn identifying sounds. Keep a running tally of all the sounds. Can you recall each one? In order?

Alternatively you can do this game while stationary. Have everyone sit comfortably, or lay down, and close their eyes. Tune into the various sounds around you. The hum of the lights, music playing in the distance, a clock ticking, air conditioning or a furnace turning on or off, a friend’s breath, your own beating heart. Mentally note each sound, then move on, continually scanning for ones which weren’t even aware of before this moment. After a few minutes, open your eyes and share with the group the sounds you heard.

Do You See What I See Variation

Instead of “I can hear” use “I can see” and point out to each other anything interesting you see. You could also be specific and look only for a certain type of thing. Only red things? Only new things, such as a recently bloomed flower or newly painted fence?

For a complete listing of yoga and mindfulness games visit the Yoga Games Page.

Photo by cesarastudillo

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One at a time, each player adds their stick to a central design which can be either abstract or specific (house, animal, etc). It takes concentration and cooperation to carefully place each stick into an ever evolving larger picture. This activity also develops the pincer grasp and fine motor control essential to learning how to write.

Meditation Activities for Kids: Stick Art

Stick Art is a fun art combined with meditation activity.

To do this activity you need a number of sticks. In this case we’re using multicoloured Bendaroos because they help us to make circles.

The idea here is that each person participating takes a turn to put down one stick. They do it silently, without verbal communication.

This activity helps to develop the pincer grasp which is a fundamental grasp needed for writing. So if you have a child who is struggling with their writing abilities, or has poor penmanship, this is a really great game to help them develop better writing skills.

And you can kind of discern what these ladies are working toward as they do their Stick Art. Sometimes its an abstract picture. In this case we have a gentleman with really funky hair.

So thank you ladies for showing us how to do Stick Art.

Make sure you subscribe into your RSS reader or e-mail inbox so as not to miss any of the amazing tips and suggestions for teaching kids yoga in fun and creative ways.

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Bringing out a bag of colorful soft feathers adds instant excitement to yoga class.   Feathers allow kids to see the breath, add a fun twist to bird poses of any kind, and make for some fun yoga games!  Feathers can even make savasana more special.

Pranayama Practice

Even the youngest of yogis can become more aware of breath and the connection between breath and emotions.  Simply holding a feather in front of your nose during kid-pranayama practice (which might consist of Bunny Breath to energize or Take Five Breath to calm down) makes breath visible.  Try blowing soft enough to move the fluffy part of the feather and then hard enough to move the stiff part of the feather.  Can you see your feather move, fast or slow, depending on how you’re breathing?  How does “fast” breath make you feel?  How does “slow” breath make you feel?  Practice Ujjayi breath by holding the feather under your nose and keeping your lips sealed like an envelope.

Floating Feather Game

Celebrate the power of breath by playing this game with yourself or a friend.  Using only your breath (no fingers or toes), keep your feather afloat.  Don’t let it touch the floor!  Try playing a little feather-volleyball with a friend.

Find the Feather Game

“Find the Feather,” is an intuition game.  Invite one yogi to be the “seeker”, and ask her to hide in the corner of the room, with no peeking.  Then, hide the feather under another yogi’s mat. Invite the seeker back and ask her to guess where the feather is hiding.  Talk about what it means to “go with your gut” and use your intuition.  You’d be amazed how many times the yogi will find the feather on the first or second try!

Bird Asanas

Feathers make learning our bird poses even more fun.  Hand out feathers when working on Eagle pose or Flamingo.  Let the kids be inspired to feel the source of their asanas even more fully given the feathers.  Decorate your pigeon with a feather or two or allow your swan to ruffle its feathers in movement.

Savasana

Feathers are great to use during savasana/ relaxation.  You can give your savasana-students “Feather Massages.”  As always, ask kids if they want to be touched.  (I have students put a thumb up in the air during savasana if they want an adjustment or massage.)  Lightly move the feather across the third-eye area.  Kids will lie really still in anticipation of a feather massage, so this helps in savasana management!  You can also gently place a feather on the belly or chest during savasana so there is an awareness of how breath effects the body when it enters and leaves.  You may even want to place several feathers around each relaxing yogi and lead the class through a “Bed of Feathers” guided visualization.  All of these techniques keep young yogis more still during savasana time.

Let your imagination soar as you and your students invent even more ways to use feathers in yoga class!  Even hanging some feathers in the yoga space can act as a constant reminder of this important, but invisible, part of the yoga practice.  Breathe deep, and let the feathers fly! 

Sarah Herrington is a full-time kids and Vinyasa yoga teacher in Manhattan.  For the past several years she’s taught 25 kids yoga classes a week in the public school and charter school system in NYC.  She has completed trainings through KarmaKids Yoga, MiniYogis and YogaEd, along with the training of teaching daily.  Her kids classes are infused with the joy and fun of yoga, and her Vinyasa classes with the power of intention, mindfulness, and breath.  She can be found online at: http://www.sarahherrington.com

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