The Yoga Zoo Adventure: Animal Poses and Games for Little Kids (SmartFun Activity Books) [Paperback]

Helen Purperhart (Author), van Amelsfort Barbara (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: SmartFun Activity Books

This ingenious book uses the postures and movements of zoo animals to teach yoga movements to children. The first part of the book covers theoretical and practical information for parents and teachers working with yoga. Part two takes readers to every part of the zoo, from the insect and reptile houses to the ape cage and the oceanarium. Here youngsters come face to face with a tiger, look in the eyes of a giraffe, do the monkey dance, and walk as gracefully as a flamingo. Part three introduces the rules of the yoga lifestyle through a number of animal fables. Part four contains background information about the animals described in the book.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Hunter House (August 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897935055
• ISBN-13: 978-0897935050
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Zoos

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, September 3, 2008

By 

A. Pohren (IA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yoga Zoo Adventure: Animal Poses and Games for Little Kids (SmartFun Activity Books) (Paperback)

The Yoga Zoo Adventure is a delightful book for children and parents alike. What a wonderful way to work both bonding time and exercise into a family's day. In today's society, is seems more and more difficult to find time and ways to really include vitally important family time in our daily lives. Through The Yoga Zoo Adventure, this can easily be done, as well as aiming for a more healthy lifestyle that is fun.

In The Yoga Zoo Adventure, your child will travel through a virtual zoo of their minds. Visiting such places as the Ape Cages, Desert Animal Compound, Reptile Building, Insect House, Predator Pavilions and the Aquarium just to name a few. Each section has easy to follow instructions for a yoga move that mimics the real action of an animal. An example of this is as follows:

Prowling like a shark:

~~ Lie on your tummy.
~~ Bend your legs up and point your toes toward the ceiling to make your "tale".
~~ Bring both arms behind you and entwine your fingers together.
~~ Slide your arms up to the middle of your back to make your "fins".
~~ Lift your head and swim like a shark prowling for food in the ocean by moving your tail back and forth and your fins up and down.
*taken from page 98 of The Yoga Zoo Adventure

Also included are fun bits of information on each animal, delightful games and songs and a great ending, complete with several pages discussing The Importance of Zoos and the animals that are included within the book. The Yoga Zoo Adventure is a great book for several reasons - it's fun, educational, promotes a healthy body and is a great tool to bring children and parents together. I have a 6 year old and a 2 year old and we had a ton of fun with this book. It states, on the cover, that the age range is 3 - 7, however I truly feel that The Yoga Zoo Adventure goes well beyond that age bracket.

Excellent and highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun book for parents and kids, February 29, 2008

By 

Kimberly Benyak "Kimberly Benyak" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yoga Zoo Adventure: Animal Poses and Games for Little Kids (SmartFun Activity Books) (Paperback)

This is such a neat book! My children are still too young (2 and 9 months) for these games and yoga in general, but I really look forward to using this book with them when they are a little older. As an actor and college graduate with a degree in children's theatre, I think this book would be ideal for teaching children creative movement and drama. It inspires me to one day want to use this book to teach such a class. I find the games and yoga very similar to classes I took as a young adult and college student. These games help a student to pay attention to all of their senses and how to use their body as an acting instrument (not to mention, it's great exercise for kids!). I think this is such a good book with so many different games and activities that teach a child creative movement, help them learn about animals and help them learn to use their imagination and pretend. I would recommend it highly to anyone looking for games to play with their children that are innovative and creative.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too few illustrations for kids - not recommended, June 5, 2011

By 

Dan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Yoga Zoo Adventure: Animal Poses and Games for Little Kids (SmartFun Activity Books) (Paperback)

Hi - I am disappointed with this book. My mistake for buying it. It is a book for adults to read to their children. There are very few pictures or illustrations for the kids to look at and then replicate. The beautiful illustrations on the cover are deceptive - very little of the inside of the book is like the front cover. The authors appear not to have the basic knowledge that body skills are well taught to young children via pictures. Yoga is a full body experience, not a language experience of reading and temporal lobe translation.