Spotlight on Kids Yoga Stories - Part 1

Here we have a demonstration of one of our favourites from The ABC's of Australian Animals:  D for Dingo (Three-Legged Dog Pose): "A Dingo stretching its legs after a long sleep in a stony cave"!

 

When it comes to New Year's Resolutions, I tend to find 3 recurring goals right up the top:

1. To spend more time with family,

2. To focus on improving my fitness and reducing stress levels, and

3. To read more!

This year, together with our (almost) three year old son, we plan to make gains in all of these areas and a whole lot more - all thanks to Kids Yoga Stories! In this post, I'd love to share our experiences with a couple of the books in the Kids Yoga Stories series.

Our starter pack for our growing collection of Kids Yoga Stories!

* Disclaimer: Whilst Luke's Beach Day and The ABC of Australian Animals were generously given to us, all opinions here are my own. Having enjoyed these books so much, we have recently purchased a copy of Goodnight Animal World (and a couple of extra copies for gifts!)

Although we are by no means experts, it's no secret that we are big fans of yoga, and we love our Baby Yoga - A Bedtime Ritual! So we really look forward to trying Goodnight Animal World to add to our repertoire of calming night time activities (to expel some excess toddler energy!!) Until then... on with some thoughts on Luke's Beach Day and The ABC of Australian Animals...

The books are beautifully illustrated by Emily Gedzyk, and are described as interactive, fun and educational kids yoga books. Luke's Beach Day follows Luke, his teacher and classmates on a trip to the beach. The story itself stands alone as an engaging tale (even without the yoga actions), and weaves in plenty of educational elements raising little ones' awareness of the environment and how to care for it. Every page introduces a different pose related to the story - pigeons, sharks, crabs, sailing boats and more. At the back of the book, is a list of the poses included throughout the book, and an extremely useful and easy to understand guide describing how to get the most out of the book.

For my little boy, so far, we've not managed to read and practise all poses in one session - in fact, sometimes, we'll just look at one page/pose - but I think that's OK. The beauty of the book is that it can be used in so many ways. B likes to randomly pull out the book and open to different pages. I just follow his lead, and tell him a little more of the story or the pose on that page, and we spend a bit of time on that. With so many poses and possibilities, the books are a valuable addition to any child's home library. I also love joining in with the poses and talking about the story with B - it's one of our 'things' ... Mama-Kiddo bonding time:-) Sometimes he will study the picture and have a go at the pose himself, and other times, he follows my lead. 

[You can get hold of your own copy of Luke's Beach Day via: Kids Yoga Stories or Amazon]

Choosing a page...

Rather than a full story as such, The ABC's of Australian Animals follows the alphabet from A through to Z, with an Australian animal pose for each. For each animal, there is a description, telling something interesting about that animal. Again, the book can be used in different ways, and can be graded up or down to make it easier or more challenging as required. For us, living in Australia, it is a nice way to learn about our native animal friends - there were even a couple of surprise animals (A and U in particular)!

Both books can be used/read any time throughout the day, taken on trips to the beach or zoo/animal sanctuary - or even looked at before or after excursions to prepare and consolidate learning.

Certainly the pictures are bright, clear and colourful enough for even young children to pick up and enjoy independently. However, to a large extent, I think the books value depends on how kids are encouraged to use them. For us, they are most fun trying out and practising random poses just whenever the mood hits!

[You can get hold of your own copy of The ABC's of Australian Animals via Kids Yoga Stories or Amazon. There is also a colouring book which compliments this book too, which can be found via Kids Yoga Stories]. 

Showing me he's ready to move on, walking away from the book like a dingo:-)

Among the many benefits, I love that the books encourage: 

• Connection 
• Relaxation 
• Imagination
• Spatial awareness and gross motor fun!

And... both of these books come in both ENGLISH and SPANISH editions!

For more kids' yoga inspiration, be sure to follow my new but ever growing Pinterest board: Kids' Yoga Resources!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to check out: 

Spotlight on Kids Yoga Stories - Part 2 for an interview with loads of top ideas for involving kids in yoga, with the talented author and yogi behind the wonderful Kids Yoga Stories series: Giselle Shardlow!
Baby Yoga - A Bedtime Ritual

Aeroplanes and Gross Motor Fun!

Thanks for visiting Kids' Play Space!

'til soon, 

happy playing!

Anna 

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