2013 Week 5:Tatty Bumpkin's Activity for the Week is GLOOMY CLOUD POSE!!

By Sue Heron – Training Co-ordinator Tatty Bumpkin and Paediatric Physiotherapist
 
The activity of this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is GLOOMY CLOUD. In the sessions your child will go on an adventure with Tatty Bumpkin and her friends to cheer up the Gloomy Cloud, giving him suggestions for different shapes he can be: a cloud train, a cloud boat even a cloud frog, that will soon cheer us all up! 

 

What GLOOMY CLOUD Pose Looks Like

We might be sad sometimes!

How To Do It (What to Tell Your Child)

Sit on the floor, slump your shoulders and make your body very droopy. Do a ‘sad’ face and imagine your whole body is feeling sad! Take a deep breath, puff out your cheeks, and let the air out in a big sigh. Now imagine you are happy; sit up tall, puff out your chest and smile your biggest smile! 

Note to parents: If your child is younger, play a peek-a-boo game with them, encouraging them to mimic your expressions i.e. say “1, 2, 3, sad cloud” and make a sad face, then say “1, 2, 3, happy cloud” and make a happy face!
 

Want to Make it Harder?

Look in a mirror and try to make different shapes with your face. Can you make a ‘cross’ face or a ‘shy’ face? Did you know that if you make a smiley face and giggle, it makes you feel happy!

Go on - Give yourself a smile!

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

It is good for your child to explore their emotions and to realise that they do not have to feel active and happy all the time. This is all part of learning how to manage their feelings and behaviour.

Whilst doing Gloomy Cloud pose, your child can:

• Mimic your facial expressions i.e. ‘smiling’ faces & ‘gloomy, sad’ faces

• Learn the ‘labels’ for different emotions  i.e. ‘sadness’ or ‘happiness’

• Take a big breath & imagine their whole body is feeling ‘heavy’ and ‘sad’.

Through using emotional gestures & words in symbolic play, your child becomes more aware of their own feelings & those of others, and practises expressing their own feelings to others.  Remember to follow a ‘sad’ face with a ‘happy’ face!


 

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

Through the magic of a Tatty Bumpkin class Gloomy Cloud pose 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. 

If your child is attending a Tatty Bumpkin class this week they are likely to be doing Gloomy Cloud pose and then being cloud shaped frogs to Tatty Bumpkin Frog song whilst reaching for a fluffy white cloud!  This will make the activity truly multi-sensory for them and will promote both their eye-hand co-ordination skills and their sense of rhythm. 

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.

Wrapping the Gloom Cloud pose inside a story, means your child will get involved in the story and find the pose and the other activities more meaningful and hence more fun to do. 

In Gloomy Cloud story your child will go with Tatty Bumpkin to visit the gloomy but magical cloud and he might well need suggestions on different shapes to turn into– perhaps he could become a dinosaur cloud? 

Find your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html