Eye Yoga and Exercices for Kids

May 12, 2022/ Lycée international français de Vilnius / Health

Ms Maja Mandzikasvili, Public Health Specialist

For a child’s eyes, something as simple as a trip to the park becomes the perfect visual workout.  Unfortunately, due to less time outdoors and a strong focus on technology (learning tools like tablets and computers), the majority of preschool and elementary school children are no longer getting the amount of outdoor eye muscle exercise needed to correctly develop their vision into young adulthood.

One of the options of helping your children to give their eyes rest is some eye exercises that relieve eye muscles and keep their eyes healthy. We can call such eye exercises an EYE YOGA. These yoga exercises will be applied to kids during their time at school and you can also try doing them at home. Some fun yoga exercises for kids that can help protect and keep those eyes healthy.

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.

The best way to do this exercise is to 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 your eyes for 3 seconds.
3. Open and close rapidly.

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