Good Night, Animal World: A Kids Yoga Story

A lot of movement-themed picture books are not the best bedtime picks because they can rile up little ones and make it hard for them to fall asleep. But Good Night, Animal World -- a new children's book by yoga teacher and independent author Giselle Shardlow -- was written to be read specifically at bedtime.

The yoga-inspired text and the illustrations by Emily Gedzyk are all meant to help wind children down at night so they can relax and sleep well. What a great premise -- and one that definitely got me excited (especially as a mother) to look inside this book!

Inside, six characters take readers to six parts of the world -- Australia, England, Guatamala, India, Tanzania, and the United States -- to say goodnight to animals from those specific regions. Each page shows an illustration of an animal, accompanied by some simple text (some imagery about the animal and a goodnight message) and a yoga pose. The 13 poses in the book, chosen for their calming potential, include forward bends, restorative poses, gentle twists, and some inversions.

Below is the "turtle" page from the book, followed by a book trailer that includes other images from the book plus some book reviews -- all set to relaxing music, of course!

It's actually hard to see how children wouldn't be calm after finishing this book. "Embrace their creativity and let them experiment with the poses. Whatever helps them release extra energy before bedtime is the perfect pose," says Giselle. The poses are even laid out in a sequence that facilitates flow from one pose to the next. And my favorite part of the book? The resting pose at the end! Just thinking about it is making me super sleepy… I think I need to take a rest!

This post is part of a blog tour hosted by Mother Daughter Book Reviews, where you can also see the full schedule for the tour. To learn more about author Giselle Shardlow and her series of Yoga Kid Stories, go to her website at www.kidsyogastories.com.

Read & Romp Roundup: January 2014

Here's the January Read & Romp Roundup for your weekend reading…especially those of you who are stuck inside because of the rain or snow. There are some real goodies in this roundup, so enjoy!

At OMazing Kids, Angela shares two new additions to her collection of snow-themed picture books. Ladybug Girl and the Big Snow is the newest book in the popular Ladybug Girl series by David Soman and Jacky Davis. And One-Dog Sleigh, by Mary Casanova and Ard Hoyt, is a fun rhyming book about a whole bunch of animals squeezing into a single sleigh. Read Angela's post for her ideas on which yoga poses go best with the books!

To keep with the winter theme, Yoga & Creative Movement with Elly provides some yoga-inspired winter activities to keep your little ones busy if they are cooped up inside. Her post includes a short poem about a melting snowman, which would be great inspiration for some creative movement!

Reshama at Stacking Books posted about the new picture book Penguin Cha-Cha by author and illustrator Kristi Valiant. The book's main character, Julia, is sure she saw the penguins at the zoo dancing, but they just don't seem to want to do it again…at least not while anyone is watching. Read Reshama's post to hear more about how Julia tries to get the penguins to dance and to see some gorgeous illustrations from the book!

I'm so happy that Marta from A Bilingual Baby joined us again, this time with a post -- in both English and Spanish -- about a unique picture book version of The Nutcracker. Published by Usborne Children's Books with illustrations by Anna Luraschi, this book is recommended for preschool-age children, who will especially love pressing the buttons on the right-hand side of the book to hear different Nutcracker tunes by Tchaikovsky!

Dance educator Maria Hanley wrote two blog posts related to picture books and creative movement in January. Her contribution to the Book to Boogie series for the Library as Incubator Project discusses how to incorporate movement into story time with the classic picture book The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd. On her own blog, Maria's Movers, Maria shares movement ideas to go with the rhyming picture book Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows and Kurt Cyrus.

And last but not least, Renee at Mother Daughter Book Reviews is signing bloggers up for a blog tour in March 2014 for the new picture book Good Night, Animal World. The book is the newest in a series of Kids Yoga Stories written by yoga instructor Giselle Shardlow with illustrations by Emily Gedzyk. Sign up for the tour if you want to join the fun!

Guest Post for Little Yogis: Ready... Set... Stretch!

The picture book Stretch, published in 2009, is the third book in Doreen Cronin's series for little movers. (You can read more about the series here.) If you compare the covers of Wiggle and Stretch, you can see that the dog from the book has evolved over time. He seems just a little bit crisper and a little bit cuter than he did when the series began, don't you think? He's also gotten even more creative and is now doing yoga!  

Today's guest post is by speech-language pathologist and children's yoga specialist Angela Moorad, who is also the founder of OMazing Kids Yoga, LLC. Angela was nice enough to take time out of her busy schedule to share her ideas for using the book Stretch in yoga classes for kids, including those with special needs. Thanks so much, Angela!

I typically develop each of my OMazing Kids Yoga lesson plans around a children's picture book. Books provide a clear beginning and end, and they provide visual information for us to build on during class. Many of the children I work with have special needs, so providing this extra structure is helpful for them. 

One of the characteristics I love about Stretch is that it provides opportunities for multiple yoga poses and activities on each page, so it's easy to adapt to the needs of any child or group. The book also provides good opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary, rhyming words, adjectives, inferences, and skills for prediction.

Can you stretch to the ceiling? Can you stretch to the floor? 

You can stretch with a whisper, you can stretch with a roar!

Below is a partial list of poses and activities I use with the book. I don't do all of them with every group of kids, but I pick the ones that are the best match for the kids' needs, interests, and abilities on any particular day! All of the poses and activities are inspired by words and images from the book:

• Dog pose: We typically do upward facing dog rather than downward facing dog in my OMazing Kids Yoga groups because of contraindications to downward facing dog for certain medical conditions.
• Cat pose: There is a leopard in the book, so I have the kids do the cat pose, name different body parts, and then pat "spots" onto the different body parts.
• Fish pose: We don't use the traditional fish pose in OMazing Kids Yoga because of the risk that many of our kids, especially those with Down Syndrome, might hyperextend their necks. Depending on the kids in the group, we either do the sign for fish or lay on our bellies and do a swimming motion.
• Mountain pose: We actually do the mountain pose with one arm lifted high, to represent the Statue of Liberty, which is shown in the book.
• We also do many yoga poses for other animals and objects that appear in the book, including a giraffe, mouse, lion, crab, peacock, boat, and tree.
• Blowing feathers: Using white craft feathers that "fluff" at the bottom and have a stiffer top, we notice how just a little puff of air is needed to move the fluffy part of the feather, while a bigger breath is needed to move the stiffer part.
• Apple picking: This stretch can be done either sitting or standing. I have the kids stretch their arms over their heads to reach apples high in a tree. Depending on the kids in the group, I may also hold up a picture of an apple to give them something to actually reach for.
• Namaste yarn game: One child holds a ball of yarn, says something he or she likes about another child in the class, and then rolls the yarn to that child. The second child does the same thing with another child, and this continues until all the children have had a turn. At the end of the game, the pattern of yarn that the kids have formed shows them how we are all connected.

Want to hear the entire book Stretch? Watch Sesame Street's Elmo and Maria read and discuss it during the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll here. And finally, here is a coloring sheet I made to use alongside the book in OMazing Kids Yoga. We often do simple coloring as part of relaxation at the end of class.

Angela Moorad holds a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and has more than 21 years of experience working with children with a wide range of developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. She also teaches adapted yoga for children with special needs at the J. D. McCarty Center, volunteers to teach children's yoga at Oklahoma City Educare, and founded OMazing Kids Yoga, LLC to promote inclusive yoga for children of all abilities. OMazing Kids Yoga has a Facebook page, blog, and YouTube channel where Angela shares her ideas and experiences.