How to Play with Yoga Cards for Kids (+ Printable Poster)
Learn, be active, and have fun!
Yoga cards for kids provide an engaging and easy way to practice yoga poses, whether your child is a beginner or an expert yogi. Introduce one yoga pose at a time or put a few yoga poses together to create a meaningful story sequence. Make the yoga experience relevant and meaningful to your children, and no doubt, they will be coming back for more.
Use the yoga cards in your home, classroom, or studio. Or take yoga cards with you on your travels. Yoga cards also encourage independent creative play. Let children’s imaginations run wild, while they move their bodies!
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18+ Simple Ways to Play with Yoga Cards for Kids
Today, I’d like to share with you nine ideas for playing with our yoga cards for kids:
1. Sort Poses and Keywords
Use the category color band on each card to help match the keyword and corresponding yoga pose. Then you can practice the poses associated with each keyword. Talk about your favorite pairs and which ones are easiest to remember.
2. Create a Yoga Story Sequence
Pick three to six yoga pose cards (with or without their matching keyword card). Then create a yoga pose sequence. You could make up a story or situation to go with the sequence. For example, Dancer + Tree + Eagle cards: you could pretend to be a fairy who goes to a ball in the trees and dances with an eagle.
3. Play a Yoga Pose Card Flip Game
Place only the pose cards facedown together in a pile. One player flips over the top card, and everyone has to “strike a pose.” You could do this with pose cards, keywords cards, or the whole pack.
4. Play a Memory Game
Place all the yoga cards upside down in rows. Take turns flipping up two cards at a time. If the player gets a yoga pose matched with its keyword, then that player keeps the pair. The game continues until all pairs have been matched up.
5. Guess the Yoga Pose
Gather together a deck of keyword cards and place facedown. Each player takes a turn at selecting the top keyword card and has to guess the matching yoga pose. For example, if the player picks a “dog” card, he or she has to say or act out Downward-Facing Dog Pose. If the player can’t remember the matching yoga pose, then he or she can ask her friends for help. Repeat the process until each player has had a turn.
6. Gather Theme Yoga Cards
Choose one category of cards to gather together (ex. Travel, Earth, People, or Animals). Create a logical, safe yoga sequence with all or some of the yoga pose cards in that particular category. For example, in the Earth category, you might choose Seed + Flower + Tree to create a flow sequence.
7. Yoga Pose Charades
Gather together a deck of only the pose cards and place them facedown. Each player takes a turn at selecting the top yoga pose card, without any other players seeing the card. The player demonstrates the pose on their selected card, and the rest of the children have to guess the name of the yoga pose. Repeat the process until each player has had a turn.
8. Brainstorm Keywords
Gather together a deck of pose cards. Pick one yoga pose card at a time and brainstorm a list of other keywords that could represent that yoga pose. For example, Squat Pose could be a duck, monkey, frog, or ape.
9. Create a Calming Sequence
Using the entire Yoga Poses for Kids Cards deck, have each child come up with his or her very own signature yoga pose sequence (maybe three to five poses, depending on the age and needs of the child) that could be used to help calm their bodies and minds. Spend some time going over their sequence, ensuring that it’s easy for them to practice and remember the sequence.
10. Play a Yoga Cards Dice Game
How to play a dice yoga game with yoga cards for kids:
- Grab a die from a board game you have at home.
- Write the numbers 1 through 6 on sticky notes, one note for each number. I wrote both the numeral and the number symbol found on dice.
- Have your child pick out 6 yoga pose cards from the deck.
- Stick a number note on each yoga pose card. I put the yoga poses in a logical yoga flow with standing poses first, followed by floor poses, and resting poses.
- Roll the die and practice the yoga pose associated with that number.
You could use a large die if working with a large group of kids. This simple dice yoga game would be great to bring traveling with you because all you need is a set of dice and yoga cards. Your child can easily change up the game by simply sticking the numbered sticky notes on different cards.
My daughter and I playing yoga dice game. | Dice game: Picture credit to Infinite Kids Yoga. |
11. Play a Yoga Poses Card Game
How to play a yoga poses card game:
- Sit on the floor, facing each other, and deal five cards to each player.
- Each player takes a turn flipping over one card from his or her own row of cards.
- The player who flips over the card showing the child in a pose becomes the “owner” of that card. Once the keyword match for the pose card is flipped over, all the players do the pose and hold it for ten seconds. The player who flipped the matching card hands it over to the “owner” of the pose card, and the game continues until all the cards are “owned.”
- Each player should always have at least five cards. Each time a pair is found, the player who hands over the matching card draws another card from the deck.
- If you have both flipped over all of your cards without finding a matching pair, then take turns drawing from the deck. The player with the most pairs wins.
Download the Yoga Poses Card Game instructions here.
12. Play Yoga BINGO
Download thirty Yoga BINGO cards that have the twenty-five yoga poses from our Yoga Poses for Kids Cards (Deck One) or customize your own. Click here to get started!
13. Play a Yoga Pose Memory Game
Here’s how we played the Yoga Pose Memory Game:
- The first person does a yoga pose (or you can pick a yoga pose from a Yoga Pose Card Deck).
- The second person does that first pose and then adds another yoga pose to the sequence.
- The first person then does the first two poses and adds a another pose.
- Play continues as long as you like!
Here’s an example of how our memory yoga game looked:
Anamika: Chair Pose.
Me: Chair Pose. Dancer’s Pose.
Anamika: Chair Pose. Dancer’s Pose. Warrior 3 Pose.
Me: Chair Pose. Dancer’s Pose. Warrior 3 Pose. Warrior 2 Pose.
Anamika: Chair Pose. Dancer’s Pose. Warrior 3 Pose. Warrior 2 Pose. Triangle Pose.
Me: Chair Pose. Dancer’s Pose. Warrior 3 Pose. Warrior 2 Pose. Triangle Pose. Eagle Pose.
See How to Play a Yoga Pose Memory Game here.
14. Play a Yoga Pose Spinner Game
The other day, my daughter and I were looking for something fun and active to do indoors on a rainy afternoon. We got out her fidget spinner and a deck of yoga cards and played a yoga pose spinner game. It was super fun!
How to Play a Yoga Pose Spinner Game:
- Grab a deck of yoga pose cards.
- Place a Post-it note under one corner of a fidget spinner to act as a pointer.
- Pick out six yoga pose cards and arrange them in a circle around the spinner.
- You might want to use Blu Tack or something similar on the bottom of the spinner to make sure it doesn’t spin away.
- Spin the spinner and then practice the pose that the pointer lands on.
You can change the pose cards after a few rounds and play again!
15. Play a Move It Game
Practice counting while learning yoga poses for kids in this move it game yoga-style!
How to play a Move It Yoga Game:
- Grab a deck of yoga pose cards. Take out just the cards that have yoga poses on them.
- Grab a deck of number flashcards and pull out 1 to 20—or make your own 1 to 20 number cards using notecards.
- Make a pile of yoga pose cards and another pile of number cards, all face down on the table.
- The first player flips over a yoga pose card and a number card then practices that yoga pose while counting to the number on the other card.
16. Play a Popsicle Stick game
How to Play a Breathing Exercise Game with Popsicle Sticks:
- Write the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on large popsicle sticks, one number on each stick.
- Print out three breathing exercise cards (or yoga pose cards).
- Write the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on sticky notes, one number on each note, and place one note on each of the breathing exercise cards.
- Pick out a numbered popsicle stick.
- Practice that breathing exercise with the corresponding number.
If you’re working with a larger group or if you want to practice more breathing exercises, then you could easily add more numbered popsicle sticks or more breathing exercise cards.
17. Play a Skittles Yoga Game
Wondering what to do with your leftover Halloween candy? Play a Skittles Yoga Game!
Here’s how to play:
- Pour a bunch of Skittles into a cup.
- Have each child take out a Skittle.
- Depending on the color of the Skittle, they will practice the matching yoga pose, for example:
- RED – practice Star Pose.
- ORANGE – practice Chair Pose.
- GREEN – practice Warrior 2 Pose.
- YELLOW – practice Warrior 1 Pose.
- BLUE – practice Warrior 3 Pose.
Variations:
- Use Yoga Pose Cards to pick different yoga poses to match the colors.
- Try the game with Partner Yoga Poses, Chair Yoga Poses, or Breathing Techniques.
- Ask children to pick three Skittles and practice three yoga poses together.
- Use colored beads or dice instead of candy.
- Make the list more open-ended for older children. For example: RED: Practice your favorite yoga pose. ORANGE: Do your favorite breathing technique. GREEN: Grab a friend for a partner pose.
18. Would you Rather Game
This “Would You Rather?” game is great for playing in many different situations–from one child through to a large group. It’s also a great game to play online in your kids yoga Zoom class.
How to play:
- Get out yoga cards, which could be the regular 3×5 size or printed on 8.5×11.
- The teacher (or chosen child helper) pulls two cards from the deck, shows the two cards to the class, and then says, “Would you rather practice (card 1 pose) or (card 2 pose)?”
- Either one child is picked to make the choice, or you see what the majority picks.
- Everyone then practices that pose together.
- Play continues for as long as you like!
This game is fun to play to engage children in the choosing of the poses. It’s also a great way to introduce new or thematic poses. For example, if you’re introducing a new topic in your classroom, you could use this game as a way to build prior knowledge and vocabulary on that topic.
How Others Play with Yoga Cards for Kids
Bonnie says:
“I am a speech language pathologist in the school system. When I tell you I use them every day, I am not kidding! We move through centers every 12-15 minutes, and before we move to the new center, we gather on our carpet, and a specific student gets a turn at picking a new pose. They LOVE IT! We can have 8-9 different centers in one day!”
Lisa says:
“One young lady led a yoga class with them already!”
Denise says:
“I used the cards yesterday as I was teaching a summer camp, and they already had the theme of kings/queens/gnomes. After acting out a yoga story about the kingdom, we played a game of memory, and I pulled some of the cards that we acted out in the story.”
Christine says:
“We placed some yoga cards in the classrooms and took pictures of staff and children doing simple yoga poses together.”
Lisa says:
“I did another Memory game with an 11-year-old yesterday. After studying the 12 cards for a minute, we put all of the animal cards face down (from the Good Night, Animal World book) and then took turns holding the pose names while the other chose a card. We then had to try to remember where the animal matching pair was—if we got a pair, we did the pose.”
Jodi says:
“I place a yoga card under each yoga dot for the students in my PE class. We play music for them to dance around. Once the music stops, each child finds the yoga card under her yoga dot and practices the yoga pose.”
Claire says:
“Last week I had a group of year 6’s (age 10-11) and the energy was really high in the room. I decided to hand the lesson over to them and see what they came up with. They each chose a yoga card and got into groups of 4-6. I gave them some time to come up with a story to link the poses. The results were fantastic and really diverse. I certainly wouldn’t have come up with as many ideas as they had. Their breathing and relaxation practice that followed was much calmer than usual because they had used up their creative energy and were ready to be guided. A great learning curve for me … Pass over the control!”
We hope you enjoy playing with the yoga card deck as much as we do! What other ways could you use the yoga cards for kids? Do you have your own games you use the yoga cards for?
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