Yoga with Friends: Partner Activities in Yoga Class
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Connecting with friends is a wonderful way to engage children in a kids yoga class. Partner activities work especially well in classes for the elementary school age group (5-10).
Below are three activities that can be done with partners/in pairs in a yoga class. Each of these activities includes yoga cards. so make sure you have a card deck available.
Find Your Pose Partner:
For this activity, you will need yoga cards that include 2 of the same poses (ex. 2 cards with dancer pose, 2 cards with tree pose, etc). You can use the Double the Fun Yoga Card Deck which includes 2 of every yoga pose or purchase multiple copies of your favorite yoga card deck.
Make sure you have the correct number of cards for each student to have a match (if you have an odd number of students the teacher can participate with one child). Place 1 card face down on each child’s mat. When you ring the bell children can turn over their card and then walk around the room to find the other card with the matching pose. When they find their match, both children should do the pose on their card while counting to 10 OR taking 5 deep breaths (you can set different “rules” each round). Once everyone has found their match and done the yoga pose on the card, collect the cards and start a new round.
Alphabet Back-to-Back Game:
Pull out 2 yoga cards with poses that start with different letters - for example Tree Pose and Downward Facing Dog Pose. Hold the cards up so everyone can see them and identify the names of the poses. Split the children into pairs and each child has a turn to draw the first letter of the pose on the other partner’s back - T = Tree Pose and D = Downward Facing Dog pose. Whichever letter is drawn on the partner’s back, that partner should do the yoga pose. Take turns and after a few rounds, select new cards and/or new partners so each child has the opportunity to practice 4-5 yoga poses.
Guess the Pose - Do The Pose
Pass out yoga cards face down on each child’s mat. Split up into pairs - each child takes their card with them and sits facing their partner. Taking turns, without showing cards to eachother, one child describes the yoga pose on their card without saying the name of the pose. When the other partner thinks they know the pose their friend is describing, they should do that yoga pose and their partner will let them know if they are correct. If they are not correct, the partner will keep giving clues without naming the pose until the other partner figures it out and does the correct pose. Then the partners switch.
Another variation to have the children do this activity without looking at their own card. Instead, they flip their card around and hold it on their forehead so only their partner can see the card, and that partner describes the pose on the card that their partner is holding up.
Andrea Creel, MSW, LCSW-C, E-RYT 200, YACEP
Andrea is the founder of Shining Kids Yoga, which began as an after-school program at her son's elementary school in 2014. She has been teaching yoga to all ages since 2005. Andrea completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Tranquil Space Yoga in Washington, D.C. In addition, she received specialized training in children’s yoga from the Radiant Child Yoga program, training in postnatal yoga from Baby OM, and training in therapeutic yoga from The Samarya Center.
Andrea is the author of Mystery Pose: A Yoga Guessing Game and the creator of two yoga card games for kids: Double the Fun Yoga Cards and Yoga Pose or Dare. She is also the creator and facilitator of the Shining Kids Yoga Kids Yoga Teacher Training, a 17-hour certification program in teaching yoga to kids.
When not teaching or practicing yoga, Andrea enjoys playing board games with her son, Quinn, singing karaoke, and trying out new restaurants and recipes with her partner, Ben!