2014 Term 3 Week 2: Tatty Bumpkin's Pose for the Week is Spider!

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

The posture for this week is SPIDER.

This week Tatty Bumpkin finds herself back at Wobble Farm – what a relief – as there is so much tidying up to do after all the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

As she dusts her house with the help of her friends cat and horse, Tatty Bumpkin comes across a very sad mummy spider….
Find your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html

 

Spider Pose – Children and Toddlers

 

creepy, crawly spiders!

Description of Pose 

Note to parents – It is always best to do spider pose with your child or toddler so they can copy you; this is especially true if your child is younger. Recent research demonstrates that doing activities and movements together helps the bonding process between parents/carers and their child.
Find a clear area of floor or carpet.Ideally take off your shoes, so you can tickle each other’s toes then move onto your hands and knees ready to crawl as creepy spiders. As you crawl around the room try saying the Tatty Bumpkin spider rhyme:

"Creepy crawly, creepy crawly little spider go,
Creepy crawly, creepy crawly tickling your toes – tickle each other’s toes!
I can be a spider too and crawl close to the ground
Where’s that little spider gone?
He’s nowhere to be found"

Want to Make it Harder? 

See whether you can crawl backwards or even sideways (older children).

Games to Play in Spider Pose with Your Child

Make a spider obstacle course - Scatter some cushions on the floor and see whether you can crawl over them without losing your balance too much. Then see if you can crawl round a table leg or a chair!

Blowing game with your own spider web and family - Draw a spider’s web on a big piece of paper and place it on the floor. Then put a spider toy in the middle of your web (or maybe make your own spider out of a baked potato and twigs). Scrunch up some little pieces of paper, or break up a scouring pad into little bits - these are your baby spiders. Lie on your tummy with your child and see if you can both blow the baby spiders back to their mummy (or daddy) in the web.
Toddlers will find it difficult to blow instead they might enjoy picking up the baby spiders and putting them in the web
N.B. Supervise this activity with younger children and toddlers as they are likely to put the paper/scourer bits in their mouths if left to their own devices!

 

 

Blow those baby spiders home!

Hiding spiders! – Toddlers will be more likely to crawl with you if you give them a canopy to crawl under. Drape a piece of spidery fabric, or dark material, over two chairs and encourage your toddler to crawl underneath it with you to hide!

Why Spider Pose is ‘Good for Me’ - Children and Toddlers

As you child crawls in spider pose they will have the opportunity to:

Strengthen and activate their core muscles. When your child crawls in SPIDER pose they increase the activity in their shoulder, back, tummy and hip muscles. Activity in these ‘core’ muscles will aid you child’s posture and balance in both sitting and standing

Activate their shoulder muscles. Activity in their shoulder muscles will help your child to refine their fine motor skills e.g. writing and dressing skills. If your child complains of hand ache when they hold a pencil, it maybe because they are overusing their hand muscles. Children can stress their hand muscles either by holding their pen too tightly or by not using their shoulder muscles enough to support their arm. In either case spider pose will be a great activity for them as crawling will strengthen their shoulder muscles and also gently stretch and relax their hand muscles

Refine their visual tracking skills especially looking up and then down. Your child has to do this ‘tracking’ action many times during their day, when they look up at a person, or at a whiteboard, and then down to their paper, so it is important the action is as smooth as possible.

Strengthen the connections between the right and left hand sides of their brain. These neural connections enable your child to: smoothly co-ordinate the right and left sides of their body and to retrieve, sort and sequence information. If these connections are not well established a child may have difficulties with knowing their left from right sides. Later on this may lead to a tendency to reverse numbers, letters and words i.e. b/d, on/no.  

Develop their sense of rhythm and increase their levels of alertness for concentration. Crawling to Tatty Bumpkin spider rhyme or song will improve your child’s sense of rhythm. Spider pose is also quite ‘alerting’ and so can be an ideal ‘movement break’  i.e. if your child is finding it hard to maintain concentration on a desk activity, suggest  they spider pose for 30 secs (time them) and then see if this helps with their concentration.

Spider Pose – Babies

Spider Pose for Younger Babies 

 

Description of Pose

N.B. Remember, when you are doing the poses with your baby, never force the movements and keep looking at your baby to make sure they are comfortable. 
This adaptation of spider pose is ideal if your baby is about 4 mos or younger and has yet to gain good control of their head and upper body in the sitting position.

• Settle your baby on their backs on a mat in front of you
• Make sure you gain good eye contact with your baby then crouch forward close to them

Do the actions to the Baby Bumpkin Spider rhyme/song with your baby – see below. Remember to make different facial expressions to your baby and give them lots of smiles!
As you do the rhyme with your baby encourage them to:

• Keep their head in the middle, by keeping good eye contact with them
• Make purposeful and varied arm and leg movements. You can gently progress your baby’s’ movements by encouraging them to reach up with their hands, and kick out with their feet, further away from their bodies in different directions.

“Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly little spider go - Firmly but gently ‘tickle’ up both your baby’s arms - starting at their hands, moving up towards their shoulders and finishing on their upper body.
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly tickling your toes! Continue tickling down your baby’s body and both their legs – gently give their toes a tickle!
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly little spider go – Repeat from first line above i.e. Firmly but
gently ‘tickle’ up both your baby’s arms - starting at their hands, moving up towards their shoulders and finishing on their upper body.
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly tickling your toes! Repeat from second line above i.e. Continue tickling down your baby’s body and both their legs – gently give their toes a tickle!
I can be a spider too and crawl close to the ground – Point at yourself and nod your head at your baby. Then come forward right down close to your baby, resting on your forearms either side of their head/upper body.
Where’s that little spider gone? – Do a puzzled expression at your baby – maybe make a puzzled gesture taking your hands out to either side.
He’s nowhere to be found!”–Hide your face in your hands, then open them and say a gentle ‘boo’ to your baby.

Spider Pose for Older Babies Who are not Crawling

Description of Pose

• To do spider pose in sitting your baby needs to have their hands free to wave around, hence they will need to support around their middle. If you do the pose with your baby on your lap then they can also move their legs.

• It is best to do this adaptation of spider pose with the help of a partner so they can sing/say the Baby Bumpkin spider rhyme (see below) to your baby, and do the actions with them, whilst you’re supporting your baby. If this is not possible try doing the pose sitting in front of a mirror with your baby in front so they can lean against you for support.

To help your baby to improve their balance in sitting and enhance their reaching skills guide your partner to:

• Gain good eye contact with your baby and generally keep still – initially your baby will be using vision a great deal to keep their balance, especially if they are younger. Therefore if they can look at something steadily ahead of them, this will help.

• Encourage your baby to move both their arms and legs in various directions for tickles! This will help your baby develop both their sitting balance and their reaching skills.

Whilst your partner is doing spider song and the tickling your baby, try to give your baby just enough support so that they feel happy. You can vary the level of support you give your baby by altering the position of your hands – to give your baby more support, position your hands higher up their body. If your baby is older they may need less support, if this is the case position your hands lower e.g.

• If your baby is not able to sit by themselves, but is becoming increasingly confident in sitting, they will need support around their lower body or hips

• If your baby is able to sit by themselves with their arms free you will still need to provide them with some support around their hips so they do not completely lose their balance when they move their body to the spider tickles.

Actions to Tatty Bumpkin Spider Pose Rhyme/Song

 
“Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly little spider go - Firmly but gently ‘tickle’ up both your baby’s arms - starting at their hands, moving up towards their shoulders and finishing on their upper body.
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly tickling your toes! Continue tickling down your baby’s body and both their legs – gently give their toes a tickle!
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly little spider go – Repeat from first line above i.e. Firmly but gently ‘tickle’ up both your baby’s arms, but this time encourage your baby to vary their reaching position i.e. prompt them to reach out a bit more towards you or to reach slightly upwards or downwards.
Creepy, crawly, creepy crawly tickling your toes! Repeat from second line above i.e. Continue tickling down your baby’s body and both their legs, but this time encourage your baby to vary their leg position i.e. prompt them to kick out a bit more towards you or to kick out to the side.
I can be a spider too and crawl close to the ground – Point at yourself and nod your head at your baby. Then come forward close to your baby and smile at them!
Where’s that little spider gone? – Do a puzzled expression at your baby and make a puzzled gesture with your hands out to either side.
He’s nowhere to be found!”–Hide your face in your hands, then open them and say a gentle ‘boo’ to your baby.

‘Why Spider Pose is Good for Your Baby’ 

As you do spider pose with your baby you will give them a chance to:

Strengthen and stretch out their arms and leg muscles. Encourage your baby to reach up towards you and out to each side as you tickle them. As your baby moves their arms and legs up against gravity and away from their body they will be strengthening their arm and leg muscles

Increase their body awareness. As you tickle your baby from their hands down their whole body to their feet your touch will be helping your baby become more aware of where their body starts and finishes and how each part  of their body relates to each other. Research in child development has demonstrated the importance of babies building up an image of their body in their minds which they use as a reference to refine their movements.

Develop their postural control (balance and body position) body and reaching skills. Reaching skills and postural control have a positive effect on each other i.e. reaching games will improve posture, and improved postural control will refine reaching skills. Therefore when you do spider pose with your baby, encourage them to purposefully reach out with their arms and kick out with their feet towards you. Babies rely on vision a great deal to keep their head in the middle and hence their balance. So if your baby is younger, and they are doing spider pose in lying, encourage them to keep looking at you as this will help them to keep their head in the middle over their body (early balance skill). If your baby is older, and they are doing spider pose in sitting, encourage them to keep looking at your partner as this will greatly help with their sitting balance. If you are doing spider pose in sitting with your baby remember to vary the support you give them by moving your hand position so that they have the opportunity to refine their sitting balance

Increase their levels of alertness. Spider pose uses movement and touch to help your baby increase their levels of alertness. Hence try doing spider pose with your baby if they are a little drowsy after being still for a while, i.e. after being in a car seat or buggy, to help them become more active. Remember to keep looking at your baby to make sure that they are not too tired and do not do the pose for too long as this may over-excite them

Develop their communication skills. Spider pose offers you the chance to make many different faces and expressions at your baby – the peek-a-boo encourages your baby to learn to anticipate gestures and add meaning to them. Seeing, copying and responding to gestures is an important part of early communication.


 

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

In Tatty Bumpkin classes we use unique storylines to make the activities meaningful and to fire the imagination.

All our classes are multi-sensory comprising of:

• Adapted yoga poses and activities which both stimulate and calm the body senses

• Dedicated songs and rhythms which are relevant to the stories

• Bespoke hand-woven props to look at and feel. Tatty Bumpkin has its own range of fairly traded animal props to back up the yoga poses and bring the stories to life. Our teachers are supported to use natural props in the classes which are great to feel as opposed to smooth plastic

We have carefully linked each Tatty Bumpkin to the new 2012 Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Importantly supporting children to learn ‘how to learn’ not just focusing on what on they learn.

So … The Adventure This Week ..

In this week’s adventure Tatty Bumpkin finds herself back home, on Wobble Farm, and she quickly sets about cleaning and dusting her house with her animal friends.

On finding a gloomy mummy spider Tatty Bumpkin asks her why she is so sad?

Mummy spider tells Tatty Bumpkin that she is sad because her baby spiders have gone off to play and she does not know where they are!

Tatty Bumpkin has a think and decides that mummy spider should spin her web in a very obvious place and put a spider treat in the middle. This will surely entice those pesky baby spiders to come home. But where should the spider build her nest? Tatty Bumpkin and mummy spider need some ideas…

This story will give your child an opportunity to:

 
1. Develop their core stability and awareness of their left and right hand sides whilst doing spider, cat and horse poses
2. Increase their sequencing skills as they pretend to spin spider webs
3. Use gestures or words to express their thoughts i.e. Feeling

• ‘Happy’ with Tatty Bumpkin when her friends offer to help her with the cleaning
• ‘Gloomy’ with mummy spider
• ‘Mischievous’ with the baby spiders
• Develop their sense of rhythm as they crawl in different directions to the Tatty Bumpkin Spider song
• Problem solve with mummy spider and Tatty Bumpkin and come up with their own ideas on where mummy spider could spin her web
• Develop their fine motor skills as they play with the baby spider props
• Practise their blowing skills as they blow the baby spiders home
• Have fun with their friends – tidying Tatty Bumpkin’s house after Christmas, joining hands to make a giant spider’s web and blowing together to help the baby spiders home! 

Make a huge spider's web!

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

2014 Term 3 Week 1: Tatty Bumpkin's Pose for the Week is Starfish!

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

Happy New Year to everyone! The posture for this week is STARFISH.

To ‘get away’ from the January rain and wind Tatty Bumpkin decides to go on an adventure to the sea.  As she runs over the hot sand and breathes in the sea air she suddenly comes across a starfish, who is frantically waving his arms at her!

Guess what? The starfish loves shoes and he proudly shows Tatty Bumpkin his collection of trainers, smart shoes and slippers – but which shoe to wear when? 

Tatty Bumpkin might need your help – I mean which shoe would you choose if you were going to visit jumpy frog?

Starfish Pose – Older Children

 

5 arms are the best!

Description of Pose 

Note to parents – It is always best to do starfish pose with your child so they can copy you; this is especially true if your child is younger. Recent research demonstrates that doing activities and movements together helps the bonding process between parents/carers and their child.
Find a clear, non-slip area of floor or carpet. Ideally take off your shoes, so you can use your feet to help you balance. Stand with your feet wide apart and stretch both your arms out to the side - in the shape of a starfish. See how wide you really are! Have your grown over Christmas?

Want to Make it Harder? 

Start by standing quietly, with your feet together and your arms by your sides, imagining you are on a beach.  Then jump into a starfish shape imagining you have seen one on the sand.
In standing or lying practise waving your five starfish tentacles: wave one leg in the air, then the other, then wave your arms and finally your head – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! Ask an adult for a little bit of support if needs be.

Note to parents – If your child is finding it hard to balance on one leg as they wave their other starfish leg, it is best to offer them some support so they can experience balancing in a ‘straight position’. If your child keeps trying to balance by themselves in a crooked position i.e. with their legs wrapped round each other this might become a habit. As soon as your child starts to ‘get the idea’ of balancing in a good position, stand back, and let them try by themselves. Maybe suggest they use a wall or a chair rather than your hand for support.   Image Courtesy of www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com

 

Balance using a chair to help

Games to Play in Starfish Pose with Your Child

Do starfish pose to the ‘Starfish rhyme’ - This is a great poem with actions about starfish, hold a streamer or ribbon in each hand to make it even more fun.

North beach – Stretch your hands above your head
South beach – Take your hands down to the ground (remember to bend your knees if this is more comfortable)
East beach – Take your hands over to your left side
West. – Take your hands over to your right side
In the sea – Jump forwards as if you are jumping into the waves
Out the sea – Jump back onto the sand
Starfish are the best! – Wave your arms and legs as dancing starfish!


Try being a starfish on a piece of driftwood - Find a low wall, bench or log. Make sure it is safe on either side. Walk down your piece of driftwood then imagine you’re a starfish balancing. Image courtesy of happyhooligans.ca.

Maybe a starfish on a piece of driftwood?

Why Starfish pose is ‘Good for Me’ - Older Children

As you child does starfish pose they will have the opportunity to:

• Find out more about their body shape. Your child might be quite surprised to see how far their arms can reach. This awareness of body shape results, in part, from stimulation of the proprioceptive sense (the receptors are in our muscles and joints). As your child grows they will benefit from having reminders on how their body shape is changing, this will give them a deeper body confidence and increase their understanding of their own bodies. 

• Stretch out their chest arm and leg muscles. Encourage your child to hold their starfish pose. As they move their arms and legs out to either side they will not only be stretching their arm and leg muscles but also giving the muscles across their chest a good stretch. Starfish pose is a great stretch to do after sitting for a while - the perfect antidote to the IPad or mobile phone!

• Progress their balance skills and core stability. Encourage your child to wave with their five starfish arms in turn (their legs and their arms and their head). As your child waves each of their arms and legs in turn they will be honing their balance reactions which form part of their ‘postural control mechanism’. This ‘mechanism’ keeps our bodies balanced up against gravity whilst we are sitting, standing, waking etc. and is part of normal development. It largely matures during the first seven years of life.  As part of their developing postural control your child will learn to activate their core muscles i.e. the muscles round their shoulder, back, tummy and hips. Your child will use their core muscles when they are sitting on a chair in the classroom so they can attend to the class, read or write or maybe on the sports field so they can smoothly kick or catch a ball.

• Increase their awareness of their right and left hand sides. Starfish pose is great for developing your child’s awareness of their right and left hand sides in a fun lively way. They will be moving from their right to left legs and moving their right then left arms as they imagine they are waving starfish. 

Starfish Pose –Babies and Toddlers

For Babies 

Stretch out like a starfish!

Description of Pose

N.B. Remember, when you are doing the poses with your baby, never force the movements and keep looking at your baby to make sure they are comfortable. If you feel any resistance, or your baby becomes unsettled, do stop. Once your baby has settled, gently try the pose again, perhaps making clicking sounds or using a toy to distract them. If your baby remains unsettled, do not persist with the pose instead ask your Baby Bumpkin teacher for advice.

This adaptation of starfish pose is ideal if your baby is about 3-4 months or younger and has yet to gain good control of their head and upper body. Settle your baby on a mat in front of you.
Then, put your left index finger in your baby’s left palm (this will encourage them to grasp hold of your finger and helps your baby feel ‘in control’) and gently grasp hold of your baby’s right leg just above their ankle.
Now, slowly and carefully, bring your baby’s right foot and left hand together over their chest and then ‘open’ them out diagonally to either side. The first time you do this ‘opening’ movement do not add in a stretch – this gives your baby a chance to get used to the action. As you repeat the pose add in a gentle ‘diagonal stretch’. Keep looking at your baby to make sure they are comfortable and say ‘Streeetch’ to your baby.
 
Remember:

• Never to ‘force’ your baby to stretch out if they do not want to
• If your baby is under 5 months, they will not yet have ‘full’ movement at their elbows, shoulders and hips so be very careful not to over-stretch these joints – be guided by your baby and stop if  feel any resistance
• As you do the stretch make sure the back of your baby’s head and neck stay on the floor and that their spine is extending back rather than flexing forwards.

Hold the stretched position for a few seconds (if your baby is happy) then gently let go so your baby can ‘relax’ (remember to say, ‘relax’ to your baby as you do this movement). Repeat the sequence with your baby’s other hand and foot to give them a stretch on the opposite diagonal – stretching out their right arm and left leg. Repeat the whole starfish pose a few times gently ‘stretching’ and ‘letting go’. After you have done a few repetitions of the stretch, see if your baby can anticipate the movement and do the action more by themselves. To encourage this: wait at the beginning of the movement and, whilst doing the movement, see if your baby starts to ‘take over’.

 

For Older Babies/Younger Toddlers

Streeetch!!

Description of Pose

If your baby is about 4 months or older they are likely to able to sit on your lap for a short time with support just around their lower body or with their hands held.
Find a comfortable place to sit on the floor with your baby, you may find it more comfortable to sit up against a wall so your back is supported. Guide your baby to sit in front of you or on your outstretched thighs so they can rest back against you for support if needs be. If possible guide your baby’s legs out to either side.
Place your index fingers in your baby’s palms and gently guide their arms out to each side – so they are stretching out like a starfish!
See if your baby can anticipate the movement by saying, “1, 2, 3 starfish!” as you do the movement. Hold the stretch for a few seconds, if your baby is comfortable, then bring their hands back to their middle so they can ‘relax’. To make starfish pose more fun and meaningful for your baby, either do the pose in front of a mirror or opposite another baby or person who is also doing starfish pose –either way your baby will then be able to see what their arm movements look like.

For Toddlers

Standing starfish!

Description of Pose

If your toddler is still unsteady on their feet it is best to do starfish pose with the help of another adult or older child.
Start by holding your toddler gently around their hips facing the other person. Ask the person opposite your toddler to move into starfish pose spreading their arms and legs out to each side, this will hopefully encourage your toddler to copy them. Meanwhile keep supporting your toddler round their hips – this will help them keep their balance whilst allowing them to move their arms and legs out to the side. Make the game more playful by:

• Giving both the person demonstrating starfish pose and your toddler ribbons to hold in each hand – this may make it easier for your toddler to follow the change in arm position
• Starting the game by being be very still (standing on the beach), then saying “1, 2, 3, Starfish!” at which point everyone moves/jumps into starfish pose!

If your toddler is older they may not need the support at their hips. If this is the case, start by standing opposite your toddler with your hands by your side encouraging them to stand still with you. Then Count out “1, 2, 3, Starfish!” and move quickly into starfish pose. Repeat the movement several times so your toddler ‘gets the idea’ and hopefully starts to join in. Once they have the idea of suddenly moving into a starfish shape, try guiding your toddler to walk round the room with you (as if you are walking down the beach). As you walk say “1, 2, 3 starfish!” and both move into starfish pose.

Games to Play with Your Baby/ Toddler in Starfish Pose

Do starfish pose to the ‘starfish rhyme’ – this is a lovely little rhyme all about starfish which you may well have done in your Baby Bumpkin classes.  Start with your baby either lying or sitting in front of you (if you are in sitting you might want to do the rhyme in front of a mirror so your baby/toddler can see their movements).  Place your index fingers in their palms so they can feel in control of the movements.

North beach – gently take your baby’s hands above their head – being careful not to over-stretch their shoulders or elbows

North Beach

South beach – bring your baby’s hands down to their sides
East beach – guide both your baby’s hands over to their left - being careful not to over-stretch their shoulders or elbows
West – guide your baby’s hands over to their right - being careful not to over-stretch their shoulders or elbows.
In the sea – bring both your baby’s hands together in the middle of their chest
Out the sea – guide your baby’s hands out to either side - being careful not to over-stretch their shoulders or elbows.
Starfish are the best - gently wave your baby’s opposite hands and feet whilst smiling and nodding at them!

Starfish are the best!

If your toddler is older try doing the movements to the rhyme in standing. If your toddler is not yet steady on their feet, support them round their hips whilst they copy a person opposite who is doing the actions to the rhyme. If your toddler is able to do the actions without support, stand opposite them and do the actions yourself so they can copy you directly.

‘Why Starfish Pose is Good for Your Baby or Toddler’

As you do starfish pose with your baby or toddler, you will give them a chance to:

• Gently stretch out their back, arms and legs. Note that your young baby’s shoulder, elbow and hip joints are delicate and they will not be able to move them through their full range until they are about 5 months old  but, if done gently, starfish pose will provide your baby with a lovely ‘whole body’ stretch. This may be especially pleasant for them if they have been sitting in a car seat or baby seat for a while. Remember to encourage your baby to ‘join in’ with the movement as much as possible. If they are doing the movement for themselves, this not only boosts their self-confidence, but will also help them to remember the game when you play at being starfish again!

• Develop their body awareness/proprioception.  Starfish pose allows your baby/toddler to experience a wide range of body positions i.e. first their opposite hand and foot are held together across their chest, then their hand and foot are guided out in a diagonal stretch away from their body. These variations in body position stimulate your baby’s/toddlers proprioceptive sense and help your baby/toddler to build up an image of their body shape in their mind. Proprioception is a ‘body’ sense which starts to develop in the womb at around 12 weeks. This sense provides us with information on how ‘stretched’ or ‘contracted’ our muscles are, how tight our tendons are, and the position of our joints at any one time. Hence proprioception tells us about our body position both when we are still and when we are on the move. Stimulation of the proprioceptive sense can be either gently calming or alerting for your baby/toddler, depending on their own nature and/or whether they were previously feeling drowsy or excited. If they were drowsy - stimulation of this sense by gently alert them, if they were previously excited - stimulation of this sense may gently calm them. Creating an accurate picture of their body in their mind, knowing where it starts and finishes, will be deeply reassuring for your growing baby and will help them develop confidence in their body and hence in themselves.

Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun

In Tatty Bumpkin classes we use unique storylines to make the activities meaningful and to fire the imagination.

All our classes are multi-sensory comprising of:

• Adapted yoga poses and activities which both stimulate and calm the body senses
• Dedicated songs and rhythms which are relevant to the stories
• Bespoke hand-woven props to look at and feel. Tatty Bumpkin has its own range of fairly traded animal props to back up the yoga poses and bring the stories to life. Our teachers are supported to use natural props in the classes which are great to feel as opposed to smooth plastic

We have carefully linked each Tatty Bumpkin to the new 2012 Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Importantly supporting children to learn ‘how to learn’ not just focusing on what on they learn.

So … The Adventure This Week  ..

In this week’s adventure Tatty Bumpkin finds herself on a beautiful beach, she stands still for a moment to breathe in the sea air and wriggle her feet in the sand.

The beach stretches for miles and miles in front of her and soon she is running over the sand on her tiptoes as it is so very hot!

Then, suddenly, Tatty Bumpkin spies a starfish waving at her.

 

A starfish on a beautiful beach!

The starfish explains to Tatty Bumpkin that he has a huge collection of shoes which he has found on the beach – but which ones should he wear when he visits frog, or when he visits the bees or if he wants to swim with his dolphin friends?

This story will give your child an opportunity to:

1. Develop their body awareness as they stretch into starfish pose and or curl up as hiding frogs
2. Increase their balance skills as they wave as starfish or twist and turn as dolphins
3. Use gestures or words to express their thoughts i.e. Feeling

• ‘Surprised’ with Tatty Bumpkin when she discovers the starfish
• ‘Puzzled’ with starfish as he decides which shoe to wear in the thunderstorm
• ‘Tired’ with starfish after he has jumped with his friend the frog
• ‘Shy’ with the bees as they show starfish how to buzz!

4. Develop their sense of rhythm as they dance and clap to Tatty Bumpkin Frog and/or Dolphin song
5. Problem solve with starfish as they help him to choose the right shoes
6. Suggest their own ideas and spark their imagination as they think of different shapes they can draw at ‘starfish school!’ 
7. Develop their fine motor skills as they explore the starfish and shell props
8. Have fun with their friends as they wave as starfish, jump as frogs, buzz as bees and swim as dolphins!

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