Eye Yoga and Exercises for Kids

With the upcoming summer days approaching, it’s hard to keep the kids still. When my little ones get a little tiresome and cranky, my husband probes me to just give them the iPad - but I know better. I care about my kids happiness but I also care about their eye health. It’s important to their vision and child development.

Here are some fun yoga exercises for kids that can help protect and keep those eyes healthy:

Up and Down Round and Round

These exercises can be done slow or fast. It’s fun to do the exercise alongside your kids and encourage counting out loud. Remind your kids to keep relaxed and breathe through the exercises. Make sure to isolate the movement to just the eyes and keep the head still.

Eye Shifters

1. Look all the way to the left
2. Shift eyes to the other side to look all the way to the right
3. Bring gaze back to the left
4. Repeat 20 Times

Up and Down

1. Look all the way up toward your eyebrows
2. Lower your eyes all the way down to your nose
3. Bring eyes back up to the ceiling
4. Repeat 20 Times

Round and Round

1. Draw big circles in a clockwise motion with your eyes
2. Repeat 10 times each direction

You can also use the game ‘Follow the Finger’ to help your children flex those eye muscles. Simply use one finger as a point and have them follow it from side to side, up and down, and round and round.

Blinking rapidly

Blinking keeps the eye clean and moist by sweeping tears over the eyes and brings nutrient to the eye. Long hours staring at screens impacts the eyes causing them to blink less. Blink patterns are important to prevent as this can lead to dry eyes and strain on the eye muscles.

The best way to do this exercise is have a blinking contest. This contest can be done in pairs or groups while everyone is facing each other. The opposite of a staring contest, this exercise tests who can blink the longest.

1. Relax facial muscles and loosen jaw.
2. Close eyes for 3 seconds.
3. Open and close rapidly.

This exercise will have your kids laughing until they cannot blink anymore.

Protection against Blue Light

If your kids are anything like mine, their eyes are constantly glued to an iPad or TV watching the latest YouTube video or TV show. It’s the absolute worst late at night, because screens emit harmful blue light that will keep the kids up beyond bedtime. That’s why blue-light glasses have been a life saver. Wearing these glasses filters harmful blue light out to keep your children’s eyes healthy.

The best part of these exercises are that you can do them with your children. It’s easy to get caught up that we often forget about our own health. Let these exercises be a reminder that there’s nothing more important than our health.

Christin Lee is a yoga instructor, entrepreneur, and lifestyle blogger living in NYC with a passion for universal human rights. She currently writes for InsiderEnvy a site focused on travel, health, and eyecare.