The Yoga Zoo Adventure: Animal Poses and Games for Little Kids

By Helen Purperhart and Barbara van Amelsfort

This ingenious book uses the postures and movements of zoo animals to teach yoga movements to children. The first part of the book covers theoretical and practical information for parents and teachers working with yoga. Part two takes readers to every part of the zoo, from the insect and reptile houses to the ape cage and the oceanarium. Here youngsters come face to face with a tiger, look in the eyes of a giraffe, do the monkey dance, and walk as gracefully as a flamingo. Part three introduces the rules of the yoga lifestyle through a number of animal fables. Part four contains background information about the animals described in the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Aug 28, 2008
• ISBN: 9781630265915

Book preview

Introduction

I still remember my youngest daughter’s beautiful sense of wonder during a family outing to the zoo. It was her first conscious visit to the zoo, when she was old enough to observe and understand what she was experiencing. Carmel is very interested in animals, especially things that crawl, fly, and buzz. So we went through the zoo full of expectation. Carmel thought everything was wonderful. The monkeys were fun. Coming face-to-face with lions and tigers was exciting. The huge elephants and the giraffes with their unbelievably long necks were fascinating. She knew about bears, because she had a teddy of her own.

On the path in front of the lion’s enclosure, Carmel found a tiny dead mouse, and instead of looking at the amazing lions, she and her older sister became totally absorbed in the mouse. Their excitement over the ordinary mouse was extraordinary, and we were all enlisted to gather twigs and leaves in order to give him a proper burial.

All in all, the day was a great success, and the children learned a lot. It was such a memorable experience that for months afterward if someone asked Carmel where she had been with Mum and Dad, she always said to the zoo. Of course, if asked now what she’d seen there, she would likely say a dead mouse and a teddy bear. The mouse was the highlight of the day for our daughters, even more interesting than all the other amazing and exotic animals they saw.

That delightful visit to the zoo sparked the idea for this book—a collection of animal-themed yoga exercises especially for young children, ages three to seven.

The Yoga Zoo Adventure begins with practical information for parents and teachers. This section explains what yoga is and its benefits to children. It also provides advice on how to structure and conduct the lessons.

The second part of the book is a guided tour through the zoo. It includes numerous yoga-based exercises—all played as games, many with songs and stories—in which children use their bodies and their imaginations to emulate the shapes and movements of various animals. The book’s straightforward, step-by-step instructions make the exercises easy to teach and to learn, and the games, songs, and stories create a playful experience children are sure to enjoy.

Next, a collection of animal fables helps children to learn the underlying philosophies of yoga in a simple and lighthearted way.

The last section of the book provides information about zoos and the animals that live there. You can use this information as a reference to deepen your knowledge of the animals—all the better to answer the inevitable questions that will come from the children as they make this journey through the animal kingdom.

The main aim of The Yoga Zoo Adventure is to motivate teachers and parents to take a relaxed and playful approach toward yoga for children by integrating exercise with music, dance, storytelling, breathing, relaxation, and play. If this book prompts people to laugh, play, move, discover, and enjoy together, then it has achieved its purpose.

Guidelines for Parents and Teachers

What Is Yoga?

Yoga existed in India for a couple of thousand years before we began counting time. The word yoga means binding. Through the practice of yoga, you bind—or integrate—the physical, mental, and spiritual elements of your life. Yoga is the way to consciousness of the unity and connectedness of everything in the universe: people, animals, plants, earth, air, water. Yoga also means the search for the oneness, the truth, and the freedom that exists within us. The development of qualities such as courage and trust are preconditions for reaching this inner peace. Learning the art of relaxation is also of huge importance in this endeavor. Of course, no one can achieve this idealistic state of being with one hour of yoga a week. It takes time and effort, sometimes a lifetime of effort. However, yoga can help instill these qualities in children as well as adults, who can then find their own ways of mastering this in their daily lives.

In essence, yoga is concerned with stilling your thoughts, which begins with simple forms of self-discipline and self-control. These techniques for living more consciously and more healthily are described in ancient Indian texts, the most well-known of which is that of Patanjali, who set forth the eightfold path of yoga in the form of rules for living.

The Eightfold Path

The first step on the path of yoga covers the five abstentions, which involves abstaining from the bad habits of violence, lying, theft, gluttony, and greed.

The second step on the path of yoga takes the form of the five precepts. These grow out of the abstentions and involves acquiring five good habits: purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-directed learning, and devotion.

The way of yoga begins with improving and developing your physical body to its optimal point through various yoga postures. These exercises bring physical health, strength, and suppleness. They are the best-known elements of yoga and form the third step on the yogic path. Only when you have achieved a certain amount of mastery over your body can you achieve mastery of your mind—over how and what you think.

The fourth step on the yogic path is the practice of breathing exercises. These help with gaining control of your energy to bring more vitality.

The fifth step is the practice of directing your attention inward, independent of the senses. This helps to bring about emotional rest.

The sixth step is the practice of focusing on a specific point or image, such as a candle flame, flower, or mantra, in order to increase spiritual

Reviews for The Yoga Zoo Adventure

[kconcannon_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My teachers at my school use yoga with their students. This book is great for group activities, so will be very useful for my school collection.

[memasmb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a great book to use with my grandsons to tie our visits to the zoo and to stay flexible.The book is very clearly written and easy to follow. We had so many laughs just getting into the positions.Bought a second copy for my other two grandsons...good book to add to a young family's collection.

[leesylou · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A cute book and valuable resource for parents and preschool teachers. This book has a series of exercises suitable for ages 3-7 which are based on traditional yoga poses and activities. The individual activities are designed to engage young children at home or school. They are presented with stories, parables, music, and toy prop suggestions to make them more engaging than simple introspective yoga might be for this age group.The animal themes allow for incorporation with unit studies and related teaching tied to zoos, nature, wildlife, farm life, travel and similar ideas. A section of animal parables is included at the back, and animal facts of interest to young children are sprinkled throughout the book alongside the exercises mentioning those animals. Also included in the concluding sections are brief essays on the importance of zoos in general and on select animals (listed alphabetically) of interest to children, from caterpillars to zebras.This is a worthy addition to the home or early childhood education library, and would make a good gift to preschool educators or primary school physical education professionals.

[ajpohren · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Yoga Zoo Adventure is a delightful book for children and parents alike. What a wonderful way to work both bonding time and exercise into a family’s day. In today’s society, is seems more and more difficult to find time and ways to really include vitally important family time in our daily lives. Through The Yoga Zoo Adventure, this can easily be done, as well as aiming for a more healthy lifestyle that is fun.In The Yoga Zoo Adventure, your child will travel through a virtual zoo of their minds. Visiting such places as the Ape Cages, Desert Animal Compound, Reptile Building, Insect House, Predator Pavilions and the Aquarium just to name a few. Each section has easy to follow instructions for a yoga move that mimics the real action of an animal. An example of this is as follows:Prowling like a shark:~~ Lie on your tummy.~~ Bend your legs up and point your toes toward the ceiling to make your “tale”.~~ Bring both arms behind you and entwine your fingers together.~~ Slide your arms up to the middle of your back to make your “fins”.~~ Lift your head and swim like a shark prowling for food in the ocean by moving your tail back and forth and your fins up and down.*taken from page 98 of The Yoga Zoo AdventureAlso included are fun bits of information on each animal, delightful games and songs and a great ending, complete with several pages discussing The Importance of Zoos and the animals that are included within the book. The Yoga Zoo Adventure is a great book for several reasons - it’s fun, educational, promotes a healthy body and is a great tool to bring children and parents together. I have a 6 year old and a 2 year old and we had a ton of fun with this book. It states, on the cover, that the age range is 3 - 7, however I truly feel that The Yoga Zoo Adventure goes well beyond that age bracket. Excellent and highly recommended!

[barbwebb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is designed for ages 3 to 7, but it was easy enough to engage my older children, along with our toddler, in hours of laugh-out-loud, adventurous fun. I’ve recently incorporated yoga into my own life and thought it would be great for my children to join me. The Yoga Zoo Adventure offers the perfect blend of simple yoga positions and creativity, offering a fresh approach to encouraging movement, self-expression, and relaxation. The book contains easy to follow, step-by-step, instructions for games and activities, along with stories and a special learning section on zoo animals. Not only fun to complete, it’s a joy to read.A great way to engage your children with the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle, or a fun book to pick up on a rainy day.

[charlottem_63 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My children are grown so I don’t have any one to test the exercises on. I collect children’s books partly for the stories, and especially for the art work. I realize that it is a teaching manual, but my children would have wanted more illustrations to emulate.

[picklechic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is such a neat book! My children are still too young (2 and 9 months) for these games and yoga in general, but I really look forward to using this book with them when they are a little older. As an actor and college graduate with a degree in children's theatre, I think this book would be ideal for teaching children creative movement and drama. It inspires me to one day want to use this book to teach such a class. I find the games and yoga very similar to classes I took as a young adult and college student. These games help a student to pay attention to all of their senses and how to use their body as an acting instrument (not to mention, it's great exercise for kids!). I think this is such a good book with so many different games and activities that teach a child creative movement, help them learn about animals and help them learn to use their imagination and pretend. I would recommend it highly to anyone looking for games to play with their children that are ionnovative and creative.

[neilandlisa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful and fun book! As someone who's practiced yoga for years, I've always been curious about yoga for kids. This book is a terrific resource for parents, teachers and friends who'd like to expose kids to yoga in a fun and lighthearted way. With the animal fables, this also makes a great read-along book. Recommended for ages 3 to 7, all of these 106 poses and games seem safe (even though a few may be challenging for the youngest) and I'd imagine kids would have a blast with this book. I know I had a lot of fun reading it and let's just say I'm a little over the age limit. ;)A terrific effort.

[takieya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful introduction to the world of Yoga for young children. It creates fun activities that will help children learn about Yoga in ways that might be more fun. I highly recommend this book to parents of children seeking a resource that will encourage growth, and allow their children to learn about the wonderful world of Yoga.

[kcnjamie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was wonderful! It is full of fun and adventure. It brings together the art of yoga and the enjoyment of going to the zoo. This allows kids an outlet for their imagination while reaping the benefits of yoga. The book has 106 actvivties or games that start from a child waking in the morning, riding in a bus to the zoo, visiting all animals in the zoo, riding back home in a bus, and eventually going to bed. These activites teach kids life skills and while allowing them to broaden their imagination.The book also has animal fables and a section with descriptions of all the animals. This allows parents/teachers to have a resource to explain to the kids all the specifics related to an animal.All in all this is a great book and a great resource for parents and teachers.

[kaelirenee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Think your little acrobat is too young to understand the Sun Salutation? Then why not try the Zoo Dance? Most of this book isn't what we typically think of as yoga; it's more like guided pantomime with songs thrown in. But considering the folks you'd be doing this with, pure yoga is probably going to far. Unlike our grown-up yoga, this isn't meant to be a quiet activity where we concentrate on our breathing (depending on your point of view, this is either very good or very bad). It is intended for parents and child-care workers who are already familiar with and comfortable with yoga, those who know the difference between down dog and plank. Many of the activities are best done in groups, which makes this good for teachers, daycare workers, scout leaders, and church nursery schools. But it is easy to pick and choose parts of the book to do with the kiddo, so it can be done with just a parent and a child. One aspect that I didn't like that many would like is that there was so much text talking about the trip to the zoo, talking the child through the experience. There are also updated animal fables at the end of the book and animal facts, which can be added to the yoga lesson or taught afterwords (which I think takes away from the premise of yoga, but some folks want everything to be a teachable moment). This would require lots of preparation and memory on the part of the group leader. I plan to use this book more as inspiration for handfuls of poses to do with my son (4 years old). The Zoo Dance has already been a huge hit. He's been watching me do my Sun Salutations for about 2 years and has been trying to copy me, so I added this. He can do all the movements and is not in danger of hurting himself. Just a quick aside-my son has autism, which makes this book even more exciting. Children with autism typically love animals, so having animals encorparated so completely with this book makes it even better for us. He gets to play pretend (a big deal with ASD children), think about animals, play with Mom, and get some much-needed gross motor skills work done (makes this a good one for occupational therapists, too).Wisely, there are no inverted poses in this book and it appears that lots of consideration went into selecting poses that were not too difficult and that wouldn't hurt little bodies (or teachers who may be new to yoga). However, so much time is put into describing the zoo outing, I don't think enough time is spent explaining how to ease into a pose, transition to other poses, or what to look out for in children who are trying to hard. Recommended ages are 3-7. I agree that a 3 year old can do a number of the poses, but I'd strongly suggest picking a couple and adding slowly, practicing yourself to make sure you can do them while watching your wee one to make sure he's doing it safely. As his skill and attention span increase, add more. Pay attention to your child's balancing abilities and gross motor skills, too. While all kids should find the Lion's Yawn simple enough, many kids won't be able to do the Flamingo Stand safely or correctly until they are 5 or 6.

[mckait · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book had me from the very beginning..." 1. Feeling the Sun: *The sun has risen, and the sunbeams shine through the window onto your face*lie on your back with your arms by our sides *feel the warmth of the sunbeams on your body * feel the sun warming your face, your chest, your tummy, your arms, your hands, your legs and your feet."It begins like a guided meditation... a fun guided meditation for little ones. It moves on to stretches, waking your fingers, shaking to wake your body, and playing at simple activities such as tooth brushing. This is using techniques similar to what I see used by our OT's and PT's every day and putting them into a fun and entertaining context. I work with special needs children in the pre-school level, ages three to five. This book has so much that will be beneficial to them. Much of what is in this book can be used with even the lower functioning children in our classes. Typical pre-schoolers will be challenged to use their imaginations and to play together. So many of the poses and postures are those used by the children in their play during the day. To take them a step farther will be simple and fun for everyone. It is like bringing some of the fun of a visit to the zoo into your living room, classroom or your own backyard. I was surprised and pleased to find a section on Animal Fables. Not only the can the children learn to move and stretch their bodies and their imaginations, but they will be learning from these wonderful stories as well. Turtles, Starfish, Lions and Owls and so much more. One of the best things about this book is the way it not only encourages parents to spend time with their children, but gives them ideas and information on how to make it more fun.This is going to be a very well used book in our classroom.