A lion’s roar serves many purposes: To warn, welcome, attract and scare. With sound, lions use their language to claim territory, attract members of the opposite sex and frighten enemies. Roars can be heard 5 miles away.
Instructions
- Sit on your heels and spread your the knees a little bit.
- Stretch your fingers into giant lion claws. Place them at the top of the thighs.
- Inhale. Puff up your proud lion chest with your breath.
- Exhale with a quiet, throaty rrrroar. Stretch your tongue out towards your chin. Open the back of your throat.
- Start with 3 quiet ones. Do 3 more ripping roars. Growl, grunt, yawn and purr too.
Remember R is for Roar. RRRRRRRRRoar. L is for Lion. LLLLLLLLion.
Note to Parents and Teachers
This pose opens the throat. It can help remedy bad breath. It is especially helpful in winter months and for colds. It pulls up phlegm, which should be spit out to help clear the body of excess mucus,
Activity Ideas for Home and Classroom
Ecological Echoes
Both boy and girl lions share the responsibilities in defending territory, hunting and raising their cubs. With their relatives, the females live in groups called prides on land that has been handed down from one generation to the next. Males form “coalitions” and try to infiltrate prides to find their brides…
Musical Musings
There are 3 different types of roars that make up the lion’s song. The prelude or beginning is generally soft, low moaning sounds. Then, it rises into a high-energy “roar” that generally goes from high to low and ends with “aaoouuu.” The finale is very staccato (short and quick) with grunts that sound like “huh, huh, huh.” *
Laughing Language
We have learned lions have many different sounds in their language.
- A is for aaoouuuu
- G is for grunt and growl
- H is for huh
- P is for Purr
- R is for Roar
- Y is for Yawn
Go through the alphabet. Can you find a sound for each letter? They might not be in lion language, but that’s OK.