Book Review: Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers

If you like yoga and want to introduce it to your kids at home or in the classroom, Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers by Meghan McDougall and illustrated by Hayley Lowe.

The book takes readers through a kid and adult yoga class where the kids imagine being trees in the jungle and mountains by the beach. As they go through the poses, the story gets sillier, featuring a wild pig lounging in the grass, chimps throwing food and watching TV, and gorillas having a dance party.

It all comes back to a restful conclusion at the end of the class (and the book).

This is a fun read that kids will probably want to follow along with and try to do the poses as you read. There are drawings of gorillas along with the Sanskrit and common English name for each pose in the back of the book for reference.

One thing I really liked about this book is that the illustrations show kids of all sizes, shades and skill levels. When the kids do tree pose, for example, some barely lift their foot, or have it just above their ankle in addition to one who looks more like what you’d imagine tree pose to look like. You can see the wobbles as they try to find their balance.

This is an important lesson in yoga and in life, that we all start where we are and it looks different for everyone, but we all try our best.

The book is aimed at listeners in the pre-k to kindergarten range, and it would be a good one to have on hand for a rainy day when you need to get some wiggles and sillies out. Just make sure you don’t skip the calm stuff at the end!

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Pownal Street Press. Suggested retail price $21.95.

Johnny Appleseed Day is sometimes celebrated on Sept. 26 because that is John Chapman’s birthday, but even if you’re just doing an apple unit study for fall it’s a great time to talk about Johnny Appleseed.

And that’s the place to start, that Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman who was born in 1774 in what was then the province of Massachusetts Bay. He traveled west when he turned 18 and despite the image of him randomly tossing apple seeds everywhere, he was really a deliberate planter of apple tree nurseries, which he left in the care of others and checked on every year or two.

Learn a little more of his story with these cute coloring pages (though not entirely historically accurate, they’re still cute) from Homeschool of 1. They also have a Johnny Appleseed themed word search printable.

This pin of a Scholastic News page doesn’t link to a website, but it gives you some basic information and a true and false quiz you can use with kids.

Crystal & Co. has a cute apple themed counting mini book you can print and use with your Johnny Appleseed unit. They also have some coloring pages with a bit of handwriting practice. Or practice cutting with the Johnny Appleseed themed worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Make a Johnny Appleseed puppet to help tell the story with this craft with a free printable template from Simple Everyday Mom. You’ll also find some cute printable worksheets there to learn his story and put it in the correct order.

Color, cut out and assemble this Johnny Appleseed drawing from Homeschool Preschool. They also have an apple seed counting activity you can use for practicing one to one correspondence.

Tiaras and Tantrums has a free printable apple unit that includes Johnny Appleseed facts and coloring pages, as well as how to say apple in different languages, tracing apple vocabulary, art project ideas, science experiments and more.

And if you need more apple themed activities to go with your Johnny Appleseed celebrations, check out my posts on apple crafts and apple learning activities.

Have you read?

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