Making Kids Yoga a Fun Experience with Books

If you are teaching kids yoga, you have to be creative, quick on your toes, and ready to go with the flow. If you are a parent in a kids or family yoga class, you’ve got to follow the teacher and adopt that same quick-footedness. Kids move as fast as a cheetah on the prowl and you’ve got to be ready. The last thing you want your kiddo to say is “this is boring!” One of my back-pocket tricks is books! Kids yoga is much for more fun with stories and picture books. But why?

Kids thrive when they get to experience multifaceted classes. I don’t know why we adults want to heavily categorize and compartmentalize things, but we do and with that, we forget that we are whole humans who have multiple interests and talents. Kids know this and they want their programs and their play to reflect this reality! They don’t see literature as separate from movement, or math separate from art. I’ve noticed when I blend these, kids have so much fun and end up learning something new every time!

Stories give more depth and animation to the yoga poses they are practicing. When they see beautifully illustrated pictures of bears breathing or zebras stretching, they are transported into the book with their yoga friends. Books make yoga more fun by removing the hesitancy some kids feel when trying something new.

Silly characters encourage kids to come out of their shells and outlandish plots help your students or children connect to each other. All of this adds up to a fun experience that is more than just a class for them. Books can help you plan a class, take up time, or simply start a home yoga practice with your child in a way that is developmentally appropriate and consistently flowing effortlessly.

So, give books a try. These are some of my favorites and have a permanent place on my personal and studio bookshelf because I just love them so much and so do my students (and my own 6 kiddos!).

Do you have a favorite that I haven’t listed? Add them in the comments!

P.S. By shopping through the link above, I earn a small commission for which I am eternally grateful <3