2013 Week 17: Tatty Bumpkin's activity for the Week is DINOSAUR!

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

The activity of this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is DINOSAUR; in the sessions your child will go on an adventure with Tatty Bumpkin to a 'land that time forgot' - where Dinosaurs roam!


 

What DINOSAUR POSE Can Look Like!

 
Dinosaur pose is a chance for your child to let their imagination run wild! Encourage them to explore different shapes.

 

 

How To Do It (What to tell your child)

Imagine you are a dinosaur! What kind of dinosaur are you?

• Are you a tall, thin dinosaur? Stretch your arms up high to eat the leaves from the trees

• Are you a big, heavy dinosaur? Stretch your arms out wide and stomp your feet on the ground

• Maybe you are a little dinosaur creeping on the ground? Creep on your knees and forearms keeping your elbows bent

• Maybe you have spines all the way down your back? Pat down your back with your hands or ask a friend to gently pat down your back for you! 

Note to parents: 

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. When you do different dinosaur poses with your child you will give each other ideas on different shapes so sparking creativity & imagination.

 

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

The various dinosaur poses will give your child the opportunity to:

• Develop their body awareness (spatial awareness). As your child discovers and explores the different shapes they can make with their body they will be building up a more accurate picture or ‘map’ of their body. A growing awareness of their body shape and how it is changing will give your child ‘body confidence’ and encourage them to tackle new activities

• Enhance their creativity and imagination. Giving your child the time and space to come up with new ideas for dinosaur shapes and to think of different ways their dinosaur might move or sound will nurture their creativity, imagination and independent thought. Support your child’s ideas by demonstrating dinosaur shapes of your own, as your child will also learn a huge amount through looking at others.

 

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

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

In Tatty Bumpkin classes we use unique storylines, songs, rhythms and natural props to make the activities ‘meaningful’ for your child, and to give them the opportunity to use nearly all their senses. This ensures your child has choice and is supported in their learning.

Hence through the magic of a Tatty Bumpkin class Dinosaur activity becomes both a multi-sensory and an educational activity. In this week’s class your child will be encouraged to move their body into strange dinosaur shapes whilst stretching their hands up high to ‘munch’ leaves and using their feet to pick up fruit.

This week Tatty Bumpkin discovers she is in the land of the dinosaurs and, as summer is coming, the dinosaurs have arranged to go on a ‘Dino-picnic’ before stomping off to a ‘Dino- disco’! Tatty Bumpkin helps: the Stegosaurus to spread out the picnic blanket, the brontosaurus to set the ‘leaf plates’ on the blanket & the Raptor to put out the picnic fruit. Uh oh! The Tyrannosaurus wants to come too and he is very big and heavy. The beautiful picnic is in peril of being knocked over … Tatty Bumpkin will need all the help and ideas she can get to sort out this problem!

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