2013 Week 14: Tatty Bumpkin's POSE for the Week is BEE!

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

The activity of this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is BEE POSE; in the sessions your child will go on an adventure with Tatty Bumpkin to help Bee get fit, with his ‘BEEfit’ Programme! Have you ever seen a Bee do press ups?

What BEE POSE Looks Like

Close your eyes and cover your ears then buzz like a bee!

Try buzzing like a bee in bed!

How To Do It (What to tell your child)

Start in lying, sitting or standing.  Take a deep breath in and then make a bee buzzing sound ‘Bzzzz!.’ Once you have the idea of buzzing close your eyes and have a go at buzzing again! Do you hear the buzzing in your head? Does it feel nice?!  Try to do three or four long bee buzzes with your eyes closed remembering to take a breath in before you buzz. Be careful do not to more than 3 breaths in a row, otherwise you may feel dizzy!

Note to parents: If your child is younger, you may need to guide their hands over their ears until they get the idea, then step back and see if they can do the activity by themselves. Do stop your child from doing more than 3 breaths in a row otherwise they may make themselves dizzy.

 

Want to Make it Harder?

In lying or sitting, close your eyes and gently put your hands over your ears to block off the sound. Take a breath in, buzzing as you breathe out. Does the buzzing seem louder? Just do 3 buzzes at a time.

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

Bee pose will help your child to:

• Become more aware of their breathing – This is a useful starting point for your child as they will then begin to associate deeper slower breath with feeling calmer ….

• Calm themselves -  as your child takes  deeper, slower breaths in Bee pose  their heart rate will automatically decrease and this will help them to calm down if they have become over excited or over tired

• Focus on a task which they find daunting or difficult. Often we find it hard to tackle a difficult task, even as adults, as the anticipation makes us anxious and raises our ‘levels of alertness’ too high for us to think straight. Think about a time when you were trying to complete an important form or exam. It is the same for your child. As they slow their breathing and buzz in bee pose, especially with their eyes and ears ‘closed’, your child is learning a way to self – regulate their ‘levels of alertness’ bringing themselves back to a ‘just right level of alertness’ so they can confidently & calmly approach something new. 

Doing activities with your child is a great way to bond with them. Research shows that children, especially boys, bond with others when they move with them. Doing bee pose with your child can be both fun and give you the opportunity to slow your breathing, calm and possibly lower your levels of anxiety if you have a difficult task ahead.

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

Through the magic of a Tatty Bumpkin class Bee 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. We construct the class to give children opportunities to both raise their ‘levels of alertness’ and to calm themselves, this prevents them from becoming either overexcited or bored, keeping them at the ‘just right level of alertness’ for learning.

If your child is attending a Tatty Bumpkin class this week they will be doing the calming Bee pose, combined with the more alerting Frog and Fish poses. This variety of activity, changing both body position and pace, will promote your child’s engagement and concentration skills both vital aspects of the learning process.

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 Bee pose inside a story, means your child will get involved in the story and find Bee pose and the other activities more meaningful and hence more fun to do. This week Bee asks Tatty Bumpkin for help with his ‘Beefit’ programme as he has become too heavy and cannot fly! Bee starts: stretching like his friend the Starfish, doing press ups like his friend Cat, he even swims like Fish – yes bees really can swim! Tatty Bumpkin encourages Bee on his quest, seeing that he is really concentrating and putting in the effort – but I am sure she needs more exercises ideas for the ‘Beefit’ programme. 

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