Children's Book of Yoga: Games & Exercises Mimic Plants & Animals & Objects

#59, 2006

I recently checked out several books on this subject from my local library, and this is the first of the bunch I’m ready to review.

I wasn’t particularly impressed. I’m looking for a book (or books) which will give me some creative ideas for sequencing yoga classes for children, and also more specific things about safely doing certain poses, and really helping children progress in their yoga practice. This book didn’t cover either of those things to my satisfaction.

Also, (and this is just a personal preference which I’m aware not everyone shares), but I get annoyed when people start making up new names for poses willy-nilly. Sure, I get that kids (and some adults) would rather do “Tree” than Vrksasana – that’s show more not the problem. But some authors have decided to just make up new names for poses that already have perfectly serviceable English names. For example, this author decided to call Bhujangasana “Rattlesnake,” which I found really stupid, since the pose is already commonly called “Cobra.” Why confuse things by adding unnecessary new terminology? Plus, when I teach kids, I might use a common name if I think it makes it easier for them to “get” the pose, but I make sure they hear the Sanskrit, too – kids aren’t dumb, and they’re more than capable of learning these things, when adults make an effort to expose them to the information. /mini-rant. :D

This would probably be a decent first book for a parent or teacher, who just wants to expose the children in their life to a bit of yoga, but I didn’t find it particularly helpful in planning out classes on an ongoing basis. show less