The best thing I ever got that inspired me to teach kids yoga was an adorable set of yoga cards for kids.
It started me on the path to becoming a full-time kids yoga teacher, which I have been doing for the past six years.
Taking a kids yoga teacher training (where I got that first set of yoga cards for kids) was one of the best decisions I have made in my life and career.
The first kid’s yoga training course I took was just a two-day certification, but it was with a local instructor.
We received an adorable set of yoga pose cards for kids. They are hand drawn, and very adorable, but SO hard to find elsewhere!
So when I started teaching yoga in a public charter school, I began to worry about them getting worn out or broken.
I also realized what an ESSENTIAL part of teaching yoga these visual pose cards are.
The best and most useful tool for teaching kids yoga is a good set of physical yoga pose cards with images or drawings of kids doing yoga.
Books with yoga poses are great too, but the yoga cards are invaluable.
They are handy because they are sturdy, you can store them in plastic bags, use them for yoga centers, let kids explore the poses on their own, and reuse them from class to class.
If you are in need of some free resources for teaching kids yoga, check out my Free Resources Library for lesson plans, pose ideas, and games:
Kid’s yoga pose cards are a fabulous tool for many reasons:
- They are visual representations of poses that kids might be more interested in copying (rather than doing what an adult says).
- Kids can use them by themselves in centers or at home, or as a whole class.
- They can be passed around and looked at closely, or shared from afar.
- You can play all kinds of games with yoga pose cards.
- They can be scanned into a computer and used in a PowerPoint (time-consuming, but worth it… just don’t redistribute images or break copyright laws!!)
- Kids can make their own yoga sequences setting up the cards in order.
So once I had a (small) public school budget, I had to decide which cards to spend it on.
After some trial and error, and over 6 years of consistent use by my students, I have come up with the top six BEST decks of kids yoga cards you can find on Amazon.
Here are the six best sets of physical Yoga cards for kids explained and rated!
Ratings are entirely my own opinion, out of 10, with 10 being the best.
# 6: Kid’s Yoga Challenge Pose Cards
- Variety: 7
- Usability: 8
- Durability: 5
- Attractiveness: 6
Overall: 6.5
These cards are cute and simple in design, but slightly lower quality in durability. The mantras on each card are cute and useful sometimes, but there is no description of how to do each pose.
The poses in the set are pretty traditional (not too much extra variety). The partner poses are a great addition, for sure. That’s probably the best part of the set in my opinion.
Though the kids on the cards have some differences in skin tone, I think they are not quite as multicultural and therefore slightly less appealing to my students. Also, the background is all the same on every card. However, it is a great option and addition to any classroom or home.
#5 Yogi: Yoga Cards for Joyful Learning
- Variety: 7
- Usability: 8
- Durability: 8
- Attractiveness: 8
Overall: 7.75
These cards are super cute, hand-drawn, and have good image backgrounds. Each pose is in the deck twice (once just the image, the other with a description). They all have the same blue design on the flip side, which means my kids can play “Yoga Memory,” a great game! The set also comes with some cute cardboard dice that work well for individuals or small groups to use.
As a teacher, it’s harder to monitor how well they are treating the cards, but luckily the manufacturer noticed the previous negative reviews on Amazon and updated them recently! They are MUCH more durable than they were two years ago, I’m impressed with the higher quality.
Since the cards get used in a competitive game, they are at a higher risk for destruction, but they are sturdier than they used to be which is great! I would also prefer them to all be either vertical OR horizontal, not both. STILL, I have 3 sets now, and I love using them with my classes!
- Variety: 8
- Usability: 8
- Durability: 10
- Attractiveness: 8
Overall: 8.5
This is another favorite set. I actually use this one most frequently with my older students (ages 8-12) because the poses and pose names are the most similar to adult poses.
Yoga Pretzels are a set created by famous yogi Baron Baptiste. These cards are super durable, they are slightly larger than most other sets, and the colors and images are really easy to look at. There are adjectives around the edges which help describe how you might feel doing each pose.
Half of the cards are horizontal, and half are vertical, which isn’t how I’d design them. But the best part about these is the awesome set of partner pose cards that came with it! My students LOVE partner poses and having these images was super helpful in teaching kiddos how to do new postures as a pair.
There are breathing cards, relaxation cards, and game cards too. We love these!
- Variety: 7
- Usability: 8
- Durability: 7
- Attractiveness: 9
- Bonus points for Diversity: 3
Overall: 8.5
This is a newer set I found just last year in 2021. Crystal McCreary is a black author, educator, yoga, and mindfulness instructor and is just overall wonderful. On top of that, she created a beautiful set of kids yoga cards that represent kids with more diversity and help them recognize and manage emotions.
The wording on the backs of the cards is simple and easy to follow but can be used with all ages. There are cards for yoga poses, mindfulness breathing, meditations, and reflections. I love these; my students have also been very drawn to them!
- Variety: 10
- Usability: 7
- Durability: 8
- Attractiveness: 10
Overall: 8.75
This was one of the first sets I got as a public school teacher, and it has continued to be a favorite for me and my students. I also got the poster and matching book, and there is something super appealing about the images for my kiddos. I think it’s that the cute designs aren’t too complicated, and the designs are set on mostly white backgrounds.
I love that they are all vertically oriented, it makes them easy to organize and align for sequences. There are little poems on the back side, and there are 52 different poses, which is a LOT! We use these all the time. The ABC pose cards are great for all ages, especially younger kids working on their alphabet.
My #1 Choice: Enchanted Wonders A-Z Yoga cards
- Variety: 8
- Usability: 8
- Durability: 10
- Attractiveness: 10
Overall: 9
These are my new favorite cards, hands down! The drawings and images are SO beautiful. The cards all have bright colors, the kids are multicultural, the backgrounds are adorable. I just LOVE them. They are super sturdy cards, and slightly larger as well (like the Yogi Pretzels). The poses are little different, too, so it was nice to get this one for the variety of cards. It was great for promoting more storytelling with new pose names for each letter!
There are a few additional game cards which are nice, too. The images are half vertical and half horizontal, but I mind less with these since the backgrounds are all so beautiful. Mostly, I love the poses and images, and the adjectives to describe each pose is an added bonus!
One thing that the kids yoga world still needs more of is better representation of all kinds of kids: all colors, hairstyles, clothing, sizes, abilities.
There has been a significant increase in diversity and representation in the past few years, but it can continue to improve.
So, I recently created my own set of kids yoga cards (digital only at this time) that have more diverse students, kids with different hairstyles, and clothing.
These cards are the results! I love them because they are so representative of the kids in my school, which helps them feel valued.
Check out the Kumarah Yoga Kids Yoga Flow Cards here!
Print them out and laminate them to share with students or project them on a screen for even better visibility.
For other diverse Kumarah Yoga printable kids yoga cards, check out these options:
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Product on sale
Bundle- Three sets of Kids Yoga Pose Cards (128 poses!)$37.00 -
Full Size Kids Yoga Pose Cards – Set #3$15.00
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Full Size Kids Yoga Pose Cards – Set #2$15.00
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Full Size Kids Yoga Pose Cards – Set #1$15.00
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ABC Kids Yoga Pose Cards$9.00
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Kids Yoga Pose Cards for a Yoga Flow Sequence$15.00
What should you do with your set of kids yoga pose cards once you have them in hand?
- Use them at the front of class to show routines or sequences.
- Let the kids play with and use them on their own.
- Tell a story with the poses and line them up in order.
- Play games with the cards, or use them as inspiration for creating new games.
- Put all of the pose cards into Ziplock bags in a box. Let students choose a bag for their centers time and then create a routine, practice all the poses, or play a different card-based game on their own for a short time.
Having yoga cards in centers helps them build self-esteem, self-advocacy, and also just gives them freedom of choice, which they really need in school.
Don’t forget, in order to start teaching yoga to kids, grab a few different kids yoga pose card decks and share them with the kids in your life
- Kid’s Yoga Poses for the Perfect Yoga Flow
- Enchanted Wonders A-Z Yoga cards
- The ABC’s of Yoga for Kids
- The Little Yogi Deck
- Yoga Pretzels
- Yogi: Yoga Cards for Joyful Living
- Kid’s Yoga Challenge Pose Cards
Let me know your favorites and how you like these in the comments below 🙂
(Post updated January 2022)
I absolutely love all the themed yoga cards that Pink Oatmeal puts out on her website, and on the Teachers pay Teachers Resource web site. Yoga in Small Spaces yoga deck cards are also great to have!
Thanks for the article!
Gail Pickens-Barger
Hi Gail!
Yes, I agree, those yoga cards are definitely awesome, she does great work! I haven’t seen Yoga in Small Spaces so I will check those out for sure, too. I’ll make sure to write another post about digital yoga resources soon too! Thanks for reading 🙂
Maia