Yoga for Speech-Language Development

Yoga for Symbolic Play 115

Table 8.2 Categories of animals named in yoga poses

Jungle Farm Sea

creatures

Amphibians

and reptiles

Birds Insects

bear cat blowfish alligator crow bumble bee

elephant cow clam anaconda eagle butterfly

giraffe dog crab cobra/snake flamingo caterpillar

gorilla duck dolphin crocodile ostrich centipede

lion pig fish frog owl cricket

monkey rooster jellyfish iguana peacock dragonfly

tiger lobster lizard penguin firefly

octopus pigeon flea

seal stork grasshopper

shark swan inchworm

snail ladybug

starfish locust

sting ray praying

mantis

turtle scorpion

walrus

whale

In addition to animals, items of furniture, and modes of
transportation, children could pretend to be an element of nature,
such as a rainstorm. This could be enacted by having children tap
their fingers on different parts of their body at varying speeds
and levels of intensity to create a rainstorm soundscape. A group
of five-year-olds who are developmentally ready to engage in
cooperative play might enjoy this practice. Alternatively, the
rainstorm could be created individually or by an adult-child dyad.
For some yoga poses, children could add language to the physical
posture. For example, when producing volcano pose, children
could say words such as “bubble” and “boom” to accompany their
actions using language to support their pretend play. Flynn (2013,
p.143) suggests using the environmental sound “pssssh” to mimic