As many of you know, my hubby is Australian, but we currently live in the United States. And Christmas is another opportunity for us to talk to our daughter about her Australian heritage. This year, we’ll be using yoga and books to discuss the upcoming holiday, Aussie-style. For a lot of animal or nature books, we read through the books first then act out a few of the animals in kids yoga poses.
Two Australian Christmas books that we love are The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas by Michael Salmon and Santa Koala by Colin Buchanan and Glen Singleton. The books not only teach about various Australian animals, but also provide pictures of the hot summery Christmas season in Australia, which is a contrast to the snowy winter holiday in North America.
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Christmas in Australia through kids yoga and children’s books
This Christmas in Australia yoga sequence is inspired by The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas. After reading the book, act out these twelve kids yoga poses. Don’t get caught up trying to practice perfectly aligned poses. Have fun with the movement. You don’t have to practice each pose, either. Just follow your child’s interest and energy level. The twelve animals and yoga poses are:
The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas
Yoga for Kids
12. Twelve Possums – Eagle Pose
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose. Wrap one leg around the other, bring your bent arms out in front of you, wrap your arms together the opposite way, and bend your knees slightly. Pretend to wrap yourself around a branch like a possum.)
11. Eleven Lizards – Horse Stance
(Stand with your legs apart, with your feet facing slightly outward. Bend your knees and stand firm like a horse. Bend your arms and raise them up to look like a frilled-necked lizard.)
10. Ten Wombats – Child’s Pose
(Come to sitting back on your heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest in front of your knees, rest your arms down alongside your body, and take a few deep breaths. Pretend to rest like a wombat.)
9. Nine Crocodiles – Plank Pose
(Come down to a plank on your hands and toes like a crocodile lingering by a river’s edge.)
8. Eight Dingos – Three-Legged Dog Pose
(Step back to hands and feet, like an upside-down V. Then gently lift one leg up at a time, like a dingo stretching its legs.)
7. Seven Emus – Dancer’s Pose
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose. Stand on one leg, reach the opposite leg out behind you, place the outside of your foot into your hand, bend your torso forward with your free arm out in front for balance, and arch your leg up behind you. Pretend to be an emu standing tall.)
6. Six Sharks – Shark Pose
(Lay flat on your tummy, lift your shoulders, and clasp your arms behind your back. Imagine gliding through the water like a shark.)
5. Five Kangaroos – Chair Pose
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-width apart, bend your knees, and hop like a kangaroo.)
4. Four Lyrebirds – Lunge Pose
(From Mountain Pose, step back with your right foot, bend your right knee, and rise onto your right toes. Come to a right lunge with your arms stretched out behind you. Pretend to be a lyrebird stalking through the bush.)
3. Three Galahs – Warrior 3 Pose
(Stand on one leg. Extend the other leg behind you. Bend your torso forward and take your arms out in front of you to pretend that you are flying through the sky like a galah.)
2. Two snakes – Cobra Pose
(Lie on your tummy, lift your head and shoulders off ground, place your palms flat next to your shoulders, and hiss like a snake.)
1. One Kookaburra – Pigeon Pose
(From Downward-Facing Dog Pose, bring right foot to rest behind your right hand, angling your right foot slightly inward, and perch like a kookaburra on a tree branch.)
We hope you enjoyed your Christmas in Australia through books and kids yoga. How else could you bring Australia to your Christmas celebration?
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The Twelve Days of Australian Christmas
Australia Yoga Books Pack
Enjoy an Australian adventure!
Come along with Luke as he hops like a kangaroo, perches like a sea gull, and rests like a sea star on an Australian beach. Then curl up like a koala, hop like a kangaroo, and waddle like a wombat as you act out an Australian animal for each letter of the alphabet. Finish up by coloring in the Luke’s A to Z of Australian animals book. Age group: Preschoolers to Early Primary ages 3 to 7.
The Australia Yoga Pack includes:
– Luke’s Beach Day
– The ABC’s of Australian Animals
– Luke’s A to Z of Australian Animals Coloring Book
Australia Yoga Books PackOther Australian-related articles that you might like
12 Children’s Books about Australia
Australia in Action: A Yoga World Cultural Tour for Kids
This post is part of the “Christmas in Different Lands” series by Multicultural Kid Blogs. Join us each day up until December 25th to learn about how Christmas is celebrated in various countries around the world through food, craft, kids activities, and traditions. You can also link your Christmas post on the MKB host page. Merry Christmas!
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I love how you are linking yoga and books together. I’ve never heard about 12 Days of Australian Christmas before – sounds like a wonderful book!
What fun! Thank you as always for sharing these fun yoga poses! And I bet kids in Australia loves having some books that show how Christmas is where they are!
Ohh this book has made me even more homesick!
I know, right?! So true. 🙂