2013 Week 3:Tatty Bumpkin's Activity for the Week is BLOWING FEATHERS!

By Sue Heron – Training Co-ordinator Tatty Bumpkin and Paediatric Physiotherapist

The activity of this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is BLOWING FEATHERS, in the sessions your child will go on an adventure and encounter the ‘Caring Feather’. With Tatty Bumpkin your child will explore the many different ways the feather helps the ‘Baby Bird’. 

What FEATHER Activity Looks Like

Take a deep breath and blow a feather high into the air!

How To Do It (What to tell your child)

Stroke the feather over your skin, how does it feel? Stroke your arms, legs, feet and forehead with the feather, does it feel different on your feet compared with your forehead? What words would you use to describe the feeling: soft, tickly? 

Now put the feather on the back of your hand and see if you can blow it up high into the air. Take a big breath in and then do a big blow out just under the feather.

Note to Parents: Younger children, 2 – 3 year olds, may need the support of an adult or friend to hold the feather, so they can concentrate on blowing.

Blowing a feather together!

Want To Make it Harder?  

Turn your hand over and place the feather on the palm of your hand. Try to keep your palm really flat, as this will make it easier for you to blow the feather into the air.

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

When your child concentrates on blowing the feather they will become more aware of their breath, as this activity encourages them to take deeper, slower breaths. As your child takes slower breaths their heart rate will also slow and their blood pressure will lower slightly, this helps them to calm down and relax.

If you give your child opportunities for relaxation and ‘quietness’ during their day, along with ideas on how to do this, they will become more aware of their ‘levels of alertness’ and will be able to self-regulate these levels when they become too excited.  

The action of blowing feathers also encourages your child to:

• Activate their tummy muscles

• Strengthen their hand and wrist muscles as they support the feather

• Develop their eye hand co-ordination.

Exploring, investigating and talking about the nature of the feather: how it feels, moves and looks, enhances your child’s wonderment of their environment along with their vocabulary.    

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

Through the magic of a Tatty Bumpkin class blowing feathers can become both a multi-sensory and an educational activity. In Tatty Bumpkin classes we always try to stimulate a variety of senses, to add to the fun, give choice & to help the learning process. During this weeks class your child will have the opportunity to investigate the nature of their feather to the lovely Tatty Bumpkin Feather Song.

All our classes are linked to the new 2012 EYFS framework meaning that your child will have the opportunity to progress in all areas of their development, giving them a truly holistic experience. 

Children love doing things together, by watching others they also learn a great deal – often finding out a better way of doing things.

Tatty Bumpkin will be doing FEATHER ACTIVITY this week when the ‘Caring Feather’ tumbles to the ground in front of her, amongst the snowflakes and the last of the winter leaves. The ‘Caring Feather’ then tells Tatty Bumpkin his special story; he tells her how he kept the Baby Bird warm, taught the Baby Bird to fly and protected the Baby Bird from cats … I am sure there are many other ways the feather helps the Baby Bird – do you have any ideas?

Wrapping the pose inside a story, means your child will get involved in the story and find the poses and exercises more meaningful and hence more fun to do. In this story your child will have the opportunity to wonder at their environment and investigate the nature of feathers. Find your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html