Contest: Win this Book
Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I
book by Angela Faith Miller, illustrated by Susie McColgan
US $12 softcover, $18 hardcover
This book review comes with thanks to the author, Angela Miller of AnimalsDoYoga.com. She sent me two complimentary copies. One I used in my kids yoga classes to see how it worked with real kids. One copy will go to a random reader who leaves a comment on this post – so please leave a comment for a chance to win!
Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I is a beautifully illustrated picture book. Eleven animal pictures go with the eleven yoga pose pictures. The pics are big and bright and the text is minimal. Click here to see a couple sample pages.
Animal Yoga is a Hit with Kids
Kids love animals so the theme is a winner especially with young kids. I also like the full-page pictures for holding up in front of a class.
When I introduced this yoga book to my preschool classes I wanted to see how the kids would follow along. I read it as written, without giving any extra directions. Most of the poses were easy for the 2 – 6 year old kids to do. In the thirty minute classes, we got through seven or eight poses. We also did a short relaxation/meditation at the end of class that was not in the book.
This book also has, what I consider for preschool kids, intermediate poses. These poses take more instruction and skill to teach, which is not given in the book. They also take time and patience for the learners and the teachers. For example, it took me about 6 minutes to help fifteen 2 – 4 year old’s learn to hold Fish pose for a few seconds. The pictures and text in the book don’t always give enough explanation to do the poses.
My Recommendations:
I recommend this book for Kids Yoga Teachers, Yoga Teachers with kids, and experienced Yogis with kids. The themes of yoga and animals will surely inspire children who like picture books. I think it would be especially fun to do as a family or one-on-one, and in situations where you have time to learn the Intermediate poses.
However there are no explanations of the yoga poses in the book. Beginners may want more info on the details of the yoga poses. I wish there was a short pose guide for beginners at the end of the book.
Once the kids learn the poses, I could see young yogis pulling out this book to do on their own. Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I could be a catalyst for a yogic lifestyle, a lifestyle that many of us wish we started when we were kids!
If you’d like to win the book, leave a comment on this post. Contest closes Thursday morning at 11 am (March 4, 2010) when I’ll announce the winner and do a post about Teaching Yoga to Preschool Kids.
hello! i was introduced to your classes by ynonne kaiser, whom i’ve been learning from for a few years now. i am a kindergarten teacher and do yoga with my students. next year i will sign up for your course (i am too busy this year!!) so i can have a lunchtime yoga club. i haven’t yet decided what age group i will offer it for, perhaps after taking your course i will know.
anyway i’d love to use the animal yoga book in my classroom, so am writing you this short note.
thanks very much and i’ll contact you in the fall to register for your course,
all the best,
ingrid
Thanks for dropping by the blog. It’s great to hear about yoga spreading into schools.
Thanks to everyone who entered! The contest is now closed.
Feel free to leave a comment with your feedback about the book though. Thanks to everyone for leaving a comment.
The random winner was Bryan. Congratulations.
Congratulations to Bryan and thanks to Aruna for making it happen! For those of you interested in getting a copy of the book go to my website http://www.animalsdoyoga.com and have fun!
Namaste, Angie
What lovely illustrations. This would be wonderful to use in kids yoga class or with my preschool/parents class. Thanks for the great give away.
I just led my first class for kids today. Wow … so much energy and curiosity! Thanks for all the great information and resources. This book is another good idea to keep in mind.
I teach Kids yoga in a big kinder garden in south korea belonging to a big university. I teach the kids yoga in english so we kill two birds at a time. The kids can learn yoga and English both, it’s my 3rd year in this kinder garden which has 240 kids. i teach the mothers of the kids too so this kind of book will help me a lot in nourishing my young students and their mothers.
Thank you in advance…
Ity
Oh, this book is so beautiful! Thank you so much for the chance to win.I am always looking to expand my toolbox with my little yogi’s expanding minds and imaginations! Thanks so much.
Hi Aruna,
This book seems to be very tempting to have it & make me progress to towards teaching kids yoga. As so far i hv been teaching Adults Yoga. Thks for the wonderful contest. Good luck to all the participants. May we all be inspired to have a wonderful association with Kids Yoga..
Regards.
Mamta
Hi Aruna,
This book seems to be very tempting to have it & make me progress to towards teaching kids yoga. As so far i hv been teaching Adults Yoga. Thks for the wonderful contest. Good luck to all the participants. May we all be inspired to have a wonderful association with Kids Yoga..
This book looks great! My daughter does yoga in preschool and I’ve been searching for a book/video or class which incorporates Mommy and Toddler….this looks like a book I could take home and use to practice yoga with my daughter.
This looks like a great book! Kids are always asking for more animal yoga poses in my classes and it is fun to have some great pictures to show them! Would love to have a chance to win a new resource!
I use books AND animal poses daily to teach preschool yoga. I recently used the book “Animalogies” put out by Scholastic and written by 5th graders as the basis for a class. With a bit of guidance, they had lots of responses to “White is to a polar bear as pink is to a…” and other analogies. It was lots of fun and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice our poses and make up new ones of our own!
Mary Liz
Always love the opportunity to win an additional resource to help inspire my creativity and fuel my class when I’m not as creative!
My kids and students are always happy to see new yoga books! I’m also always happy to see these books, too.
I would love this book. It seems perfect for my Kindergarten Yoga classes. I am always looking for new inspiration. In fact, just this morning another yoga teacher & I were discussing how to cue fish pose and make it safe for the kids.
Thank you for this opportunity! Namaste.
Thanks everyone for the comments! Keep ‘em coming – the contest stays ope till Thursday morning.
Many thanks to Aruna for alllowing me the opportunity to share my first book. I appreciate her support tremendously. When writing this book, my goal was to present the practice as a story. Simplistic language and repetition empowers early readers, fosters creativity, and helps to promote dialogue. Yoga is the ultimate vehicle of self expression.
Aruna, let me know if you want to partner up on another edition
Thanks again! You inspire us all.
Keep you eyes open for my next book, co-authored with my 5 year old daughter “The Yoga According to Carly” due to be released this Spring.
Namaste,
Angie
Thanks for your on inspiration for the book Angie. It is a very relevant topic for young kids. I look forward to reviewing the next one.
I would love to use this book with my students!
This looks like a handy, beautiful book — good to add to the repertoire, and for the kids who are much more visual learners than anything else! Thanks & Namaste!
I am an avid teacher of yoga, flamenco and tap who speacilaizes in teaching children of all abilities. Check out my blog at http://www.alwaysbdancing.blogspot.com
Great book!! We donated a yoga class to the community when i was getting certified and kids were so creative when it came to their animal poses!
Thank you for introducing the book. I have 3 small children, one of which is living with Autism, starting to show an interest in Yoga. The simplicity of the book and illustration will be of great value to any child.
Most of the kids I teach know how to do the poses already, so this book would be good when I”m not feeling ‘as creative’ when trying to prep for a class. I’m always making up my own stories, so this could be a good fall back. Just as ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” is. Thanks for the opportunity Aruna!
As a yoga teacher, school teacher and mother, I would love to see this book. It sounds great!!
Ann
The illustrations on the sample pages are beautiful. I can’t wait to see more of the book! Thank you for this give away opportunity. The children in my storytime and preschool classes will love doing yoga along with Angela’s book.
Jessie
Learning Tree Yoga
Have not seen this book, but looks wonderful! Love to have it for storytime yoga and kids yoga classes!
I hadn’t heard of this one. Sounds adorable and I think the kids would love it! Picture books are always engaging for this age, sparking imagination and creativity and inspiration to try things they might not otherwise try. Thank you for the opportunity to enter the giveaway contest!
Outstanding book! Vivid Pictures and the flow really helped my kids get creative. By the end of class, the kids were coming up with their own poses and telling why each was important. Publish more!!! Have you considered doing a TV show or Webinar on this?
Spiritual Libertarian
What lovely illustrations! This would be a good book to have when teaching yoga to children.
yogawithgaileee at gmail dot com
gaileee
I love your website! Thanks for the opportunity to try and win this book. It looks GREAT for my kids yoga class.
Even though there are no instructions, I would still love to have the book. Picture books are always good with preschoolers. Aruna, perhaps you could write the instructions/explanations and add it to the next edition of the book!! Thanks for the recommendation. Namaste.
I’d love to read this book to my class. Thank you.
Id like to try this in my yoga for kids class!
Super! My little one will surely love this one!