Yoga Spinner from Upside Down Games

We received free product from Upside Down Games and BlogsRelease to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. 

Do you know about the award-winning Yoga Spinner from Upside Down Games? We were recently introduced to this fantastic movement game and love it! Although we don't have a lot of experience with yoga formally, I have a 4 1/2 year old who loves gymnastics and this has been the perfect game for her!

Here's some back-story...

I've never really been a sporty, athletic girl. I twirled a baton in elementary school and played field hockey in high school but was never really comfortable playing anything else. As a child, I'm not sure if it was lack of coordination or feeling self-conscious or a combination of both, but whatever it was even forced me to quit dance class partway through the first lesson! I view my husband as much more athletic than me, having played both football and basketball, and probably other things too.

Like most parents, we wondered what extracurricular activities would excite my daughter! She was initially interested in soccer and we played a couple of seasons before she just completely stopped playing partway through a season. She, seemingly, out-of-the-blue, became tearful and uncomfortable at every game. Her anxiety was so high and her relief so evident when halfway through one game I told her we could leave. Her relief was even stronger when I began giving her the choice about whether to even go to the field. Soccer was done.

We have a gymnastics facility about a mile from our home so I brought up that option one day and she was interested! I was concerned that we'd get there and have the same response as soccer so I signed her up for a "trial" class. Well... she walked through the door and never turned back! She's been in gymnastics for a year and loves it! Nothing makes me happier than seeing her so happy and enjoying something that she's also really good it.

Sadly, gymnastics class only happens for an hour a week. Notice the italics? Yeah... that's because gymnastics actually happens nonstop during awake hours in our home. I spend way more time than I'd like saying "be careful!" as she does her "moves" all over the house. I actually walked in to pick her up at pre-k yesterday and she had her classmates lined up and was in front of them leading gymnastics stretches!

I don't ever want to tell my daughter that she can't do her "moves" - it's exercise and so good for her body and spirit! That being said, I do need her to be safe (i.e., don't do handstands next to the fireplace!).

Insert the Yoga Spinner! This is a great solution for kids who love to move but need some guidance - a way to structure my daughters "moves" to save her poor ears from having to hear me say "be careful!" all the time! It has been such a fun game for her (and dare I say me!). We love playing this game together and have found it be both entertaining and therapeutic. She has gotten her grandparents playing as well... next up is Daddy!

Here's how it works.

You get this very cool spinner - that opens up and holds all the super high quality cards.

Each card has an image of a yoga position for you to replicate! The white cards contain images and instructions for replicating a yoga position - as a team.

The object of the game is to collect one of each colored card. We have so much fun playing that we typically keep going until all the cards are used up.

I can tell you that we love this game but maybe it's best to hear the details from the voice of the child:

"I like these kinds of moves. I like to use the spinner because I like to do the smiley face where you take a card away from your partner. The other thing I like about it is when we play the game because you get to do the moves. I like the spinner because you open it to get the cards out. I like about it because even when we haven't played it 'til a long time I still like it. The white cards are my favorite because your partner gets to do it with you." 

See what I mean? If you read 4 1/2 year old talk, you know that's a good review!

We highly recommend the Yoga Spinner and can't wait to try more of Upside Down Games' creative products that promote healthy, structured, fun!

You can order your own Yoga Spinner on Amazon or on the Upside Down Games website.