Yoga & Mindfulness Games for Tweens and Teens
Tweens and Teens classes are vastly different to toddler and preschooler classes, and even family yoga classes. But I still incorporate a level of playfulness and fun in these older classes, and they often request we play games.
Make yoga and mindfulness fun and engaging for tweens and teens with these game ideas.
1) Human Knot
Super fun group game to break the ice, encourage team-building, problem solving skills, coordination and communication.
Ideal number of players: 8-20, more challenging with more than 10, possible with as few as 4 people. Smaller numbers more manageable for younger age groups.
Age: at least 6yrs +
Set up the game:
- All players stand in a circle
- Must be an even number of players
HOW TO PLAY:
All players extend their right hand into middle of circle and hold hands with someone in the circle. **Important to note: you cannot hold hands with the two players standing next to you.
All players extend their left hand in to middle of circle and hold hands with someone DIFFERENT to who they held hands with first.
The goal of the game is to untangle the knot of hands without letting go of the hands you are holding.
After untangling, you will be standing in a regular circle holding hands, without any joined hands in the middle. Some players may be facing in, others may be facing out.
There will be lots of bending, twisting, going over and under each others arms.
Players may have to readjust hand grip to be more comfortable.
Sometimes an extra player or myself has to stand up on a chair to inspect the knot and get a better perspective and offer suggestions.
Extra challenge - time the game and see if next round you can beat the time!
My classes love this game and always want to play at least 3 times.
Check out this game on Instagram here.
2) 60 seconds of Silence
Goal - get as close to 1 minute on the stopwatch as you can.
My tweens class introduced this mindful game to me and honestly it’s become a fave! They do it in the classroom with their teachers at their desk and they love it.
The children have to confidently be able to count to 60, so suitable for 7yrs up I would say.
HOW TO PLAY:
Get the children to lay down in a comfortable position or sit at their desk with their head down.
Start a stopwatch and ask the children to begin counting 60 seconds/1 min in their head.
Once they think they have reached 60 seconds, they can sit up.
See who gets the closest to exactly 1 minute. I wait until the last person has sat up to reveal the results
You’ll be surprised how quickly or slowly some children count.
Hint: 1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi is too slow !
An awesome mindful break! 👌🏻
3) HOLD YOUR PLANK
This is a fantastic game that gets the children to stay longer in plank or another challenging pose.
HOW TO PLAY:
Everybody comes into plank pose.
The group needs to count to 10, one at a time, in any order.
If two or more people say the same number at the same time, you have to start again from 1.
For example, the teacher starts “1", Person 2 says “2”, Person 5 “says ”3’, but then Person 3 and Person 4 say “4” at the same time, so the group has to reset and start counting again from 1. This is all whilst holding plank !! :)
Rest when resetting the count.
Definitely one of my faves to build strength and endurance (not sure it is the children’s fave though!)
4) YOGA POSE, 2, 3, 4, 5
This is a great memory game that can be played in pairs or in a group with an even number of children.
Take turns , one at a time, counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
When it is back to 1, that person will choose a yoga pose instead of saying “1”,
Continue like this: “Yoga Pose”, 2 , 3, 4 , 5 for the next round. Everybody should be saying a different number to the first round.
Next round, replace “2” with a different yoga pose.
It will continue like this: “1st Yoga Pose”, “2nd Yoga Pose”, 3, 4, 5.
Keep going until you have a yoga pose for each number, that is, a sequence of 5 yoga poses.
To start off with, you can say the number that corresponds to the yoga pose as you do the pose. Once everyone has the sequence down, instead of saying the number, just do the pose.
5) PICK UP STICKS
A great game that requires focus, hand-eye coordination, strategic thinking.
HOW TO PLAY:
Write yoga poses/ breathing exercises on paddle pop sticks.
Scatter the paddle pop sticks in a pile on the floor so that they are all over the place but also somewhat on top of each other.
Each child mindfully and carefully picks up a stick without moving any of the other sticks.
Then do the yoga pose/breathing exercise on the stick
If you move any other sticks, you stick you turn.
Good to play after the children have been participating in yoga for awhile to test their knowledge and memory of yoga poses.
Great to play with chopsticks too!
6) YOGA JENGA
Just like pick up sticks, Yoga Jenga requires focus and concentration.
HOW TO PLAY:
Write yoga poses, partner poses or breathing exercises on each wooden block.
Take turns to carefully remove a block from the tower without collapsing the tower.
Do the yoga pose or breathing exercise on the block.
ENJOY! Let me know what your favourite games are in your tweens and teens classes.
I will add more yoga games soon! x