yoga abc's

I do not pretend to be an artist. But, hey, look what I made:

These cards have been so beneficial in my yoga classes. There are lots of yoga pose flashcards to chose from out there, if you'd like to buy some, but if not, just cut up some construction paper and make stick figures like I did. :)

So, when I decided that I wanted to build a yoga activity around making letters of the alphabet out of our bodies, I wondered how I would make the flashcards? I had some ideas about how to create some letters. So a 'T' would be easy. I can make an 'A'. But how about an 'M'? And how on Earth would I make a 'Q'? 

And then I found these!

Buy them here: http://rainbowkidsyoga.net/shop.html

These cards are so, so great. I had each student pick four of their favorite cards. They had a lot of fun looking through all of them. And what's better, is that on the Rainbow Kids Yoga website, they give a little paragraph for each letter, explaining how you get into the pose. For instance:

 G – Giraffe; Balance on your bottom, bend your knees slightly and lift your feet off the floor, extend your arms towards the sky and then round your arms to reach for some leaves to nibble on while you curve into a G shape. Giraffes get to practice their balancing skills and improve on their core strength while tasting different leaves in the jungle.

So not only do the kids work their core, practicing this funny shaped boat pose (navasana), but they are creating the letter 'G' with their bodies, engaging their brains as well as their tummies. When they go home and practice, maybe they forget what they did to get into the 'G'. Then they think, "Okay, 'G' is for Giraffe...what was the giraffe doing? Oh yea! Reaching for leaves and balancing on his bottom."

This was a great find for me. I got these beautiful cards and tons of games to go along with the cards.

Here are some of my yogis:

                                     

M is for Mermaid

 Z is for Zebra

 B is for Butterfly