5 Winter Yoga Poses and Activities for Kids

By Tvisha Patel, Pretzel Kids Content Writer

The cold winter days bring warm and cozy feelings, and nights full of hot chocolate and talks by the fireplace. 

However, a lack of sunlight and outdoor movement can take a toll on our bodies and our kids. Days often feel gloomy and we’re constantly looking for that feeling of calm and happiness. For this reason, it’s important to prioritize self-care.

During the winter, it’s important to keep kids active because it can help enhance the mood and keep their bodies healthy. A great way to keep them moving is to practice winter themed yoga poses. It’s equally important to play fun yoga games whether it’s indoor or outdoors. 

So, join us and learn about the top 5 winter yoga poses and activities for kids! 

Top 5 Winter Yoga Poses to Try 

1. Snowboard Pose

Snowboarding is a fun activity that helps you get outside and stay active during the winter. 

So, let’s do snowboard pose! 

This pose is similar to Warrior I pose. To do this pose, start in an upright standing position. Step one foot back, and keep the other one in front. Bend your front knee into a lunge. Raise your arms above your head and keep your balance. Close your eyes, and while you’re in this stance, imagine yourself snowboarding and try to maintain your balance.

2. Polar Bear Pose

Polar bears are animals that immediately remind us of winter. To remind us of their quiet and steady nature, let’s try polar bear pose, similar to downward dog pose. Start in a tabletop position, on all fours, while keeping your knees hip distance apart. After that, raise your knees off the mat, move your stomach toward your thighs and raise your hips toward the sky. Keep your legs straight with a very slight bend to prevent locking your knees. Feel the calm and steady sensation in this pose. 

3. Fireplace Pose 

The winter is known for cold weather, snow and warming up next to a toasty fireplace. We want to feel calm and collected and relieve our worries at the end of the day, right? To calm your mind, grab your mat and let’s do fireplace pose, aka savasana. This is where you lie down completely on your back, and bring your hands alongside your body. Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose and exhale with a deep sigh. Allow this pose to help you relieve the tension in your body and mind. 

4. Skiing Pose

Skiing is a very popular winter activity that people do with their friends and family. It also allows for a bit of fun during the winter season. To do this pose, aka chair pose, let’s start by standing with your feet together. Take a deep breath in and lift your arms up straight, and keep your spine neutral. As you sink down into a chair pose and bend your knees, hold the pose and keep your focus until you try again after 20-30 seconds. As you repeat this with kids, they will build their balance and focus. 

5. Deer Pose

Deer are animals that remind us of winter and the holiday season. Deer have a calm personality and they tend to avoid stressful habitats. Similarly, let’s relieve our stress through a cobra pose, which we’ll call deer pose in this case. Imagine the serene landscape of white snow and a calm deer passing through it. You can start by lying down on your stomach and putting your palms on the ground under your shoulders. Bend your elbows and as you take a breath in, lift your chest off the floor, roll your shoulders backward and keep your lower part of the ribs on the floor. Take deep breaths as you repeat. This pose can help kids relieve stress in their physical bodies and in their minds. 

Best Calming Winter Yoga Activities for Kids 

Play Indoor Yoga Activities

The cold winter days can be very hard and it gets tough for kids to remain active. Children can get overwhelmed, so it’s best to add in fun activities that can help them stay calm, too.

Remember the days where we used to do word searches and color? Let’s bring those days back. Pretzel kids has prepared a winter-themed printable set that you can use for hours of fun activities! 

Mindfulness and Yoga by the Fireplace

There are many mental and physical health benefits of yoga. Kids go through tough times as they’re constantly facing new situations in life. As we mentioned, the winter season requires us to take extra care of ourselves and kids because it can get very gloomy sometimes. Yoga helps to reduce stress and anxiety. 

To help calm the mind and body, try some yoga classes for kids online in front of a warm fireplace. You can access this Pretzel Kids Winter yoga class online!

Are you ready to tackle this winter season with yoga? 

There is always a routine that you can build to help you and the kids get through the winter season. Yoga can help kids focus more in school, relieve stress and get physical activity into their routine. 

We hope you’ll try out the fun activities this winter!