School’s out for summer and we’ve got five free kids yoga games you can bring out anytime the afternoon feels like it’s dragging or one of your kids says “I’m boooored.”
1) Yoga Freeze Dance: Play fun music and have your kids dance around. When the music stops everyone strikes a yoga pose. To add challenge, every time you pause the music they have to do a different yoga pose and if it matches someone else, they're out!
2) Act Like An Animal: Using some animal crackers, small toys or animal cards, draw them out of a box/bag/spread and whatever one you get you become that animal. If they know the pose, great! If they don't, tell them to move like that animal (ex: tigers pounce, or gorillas use their fists as legs to move around)
3) Mirror Game: In pairs, decide who is the leader. The leader moves their body slowly at first (can do poses or not!) and the other person mirrors their movements. Going slow first is important to establish a rhythm and make it achievable. As you get comfy you can do fake outs or make it harder. The goal is for the partner to be able to successfully follow! Switch! BONUS CHALLENGE: Hold a stick or dowel between your two bodies for extra connection!
4) Yoga Dice: Using any dice in your home, have the kids roll it and the number that comes up is the number of limbs/body parts that touch the floor!
5) Pass the Squeeze: An Appleseed favourite! Sit in a circle with everyone holding hands. One person thinks of something. It's good to have a reference for this as opposed to pulling anything out of thin air. Ex: someone we hung out with this week, or a dinner we had this week, or something that is in this room. The person with the thing in mind "sends" it through a hand squeeze to the next person and they continue to "pass" it along. When it gets to the last person they say what came to them. Often it's correct!
I hope these games provide your family and summer with a little ease. And if summer isn't your vibe, I wish you a swift countdown to fall alongside me.