Baby Bumpkin - Our Baby Activity for This Week is Giraffe Pose!

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

In this weekly blog I focus on our Baby Bumpkin ‘Posture of the Week’. Below is a description on how to do the pose with your baby or toddler along with some of its benefits.

Please remember though, for you and your baby to gain the full benefit of all the Baby Bumpkin Yoga and multi-sensory activities, find out about your local Baby Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html. 

Our qualified Baby Bumpkin Teachers are fully trained in aspects of baby development and Baby Yoga and are kept fully up-to-date by our professional team of paediatric physiotherapists, Yoga teachers and musicians.

Or, maybe, you are thinking of a new career, which gives you:

• The opportunity to work with kids
• A great sense of job satisfaction and 
• Flexible working to fit around your own family?

In which case - find out how you could be trained to deliver Baby and Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html.

The Baby Bumpkin Multisensory Yoga Adventure This Week ..

This week the Baby Bumpkin Yoga Activity is ‘GIRAFFE’.

When you bring this fun activity into your baby’s day you will be helping them to not only stretch out and progress their reaching skills, but also to take bigger breaths and move their rib-cage encouraging good 'chest health'. 

In the classes Baby Bumpkin finds himself by a waterhole, surrounded by giraffes. 

The giraffe family love to stretch out their long necks and nibble at the acaia leaves – however there is one baby giraffe who finds the leaves just too prickly!

So Baby Bumpkin kindly takes little giraffe off to visit some other animals who live close by -  Maybe they might have some food which the giraffe would like?

This Baby Bumpkin adventure gives your baby the chance to: progress their physical skills, as they reach out in giraffe pose and roll on their tummies as crocodiles, and provides them with a ‘sensory feast’ as they investigate the ‘prickly fruit’ props and different leaf fabrics used in the story. Find your local class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html.

Because each Baby Bumpkin adventure is carefully linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) the sessions not only enhance your baby’s physical skills they also develop your baby’s early communication, social and thinking skills.   

In this week’s story your baby will have the chance to:

1. Activate their back, tummy, shoulder, and arm muscles as they gently stretch out and move in Giraffe pose.

2. Develop their awareness of the ‘midline of their body’ and early roiling skills as they do Crocodile pose.

3. Progress their early reaching and sensory organisation skills, as they explore the textured ‘prickly leaf’ props.

4. Develop their early communication skills whilst:

• Looking at and following simple gestures for ‘happy’, ‘sad’ then ‘happy’! 
• Playing with you to the Baby Bumpkin Crocodile song.

5. Start to make early choices i.e.

• How to play and interact with the prickly leaf props? 
• Whether to move quickly, or a little slower, whilst looking for the Lion!?

6. Develop their sense of rhythm as they move with you to the Baby Bumpkin Crocodile and Lion songs.   

7. Most important of all - have fun with their friends, and you, in the Baby Bumpkin session as they: stretch up high round the blue 'water hole' in Giraffe pose, go on a lion hunt and play with the leaf and fruit props together!  

  

Giraffe Pose for Younger Babies

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                               

Reach up high!!

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 Giraffe pose is suitable if your baby is younger and is not yet able to sit up by themselves.

• Settle your baby on their back on the floor in front of you. Encourage your baby to look at you and smile and laugh at them to give them reassurance.

Giraffe pose for You

• First of all, do Giraffe pose yourself – your baby will love to see your movements and the pose will give you a great stretch. 
  
  Check that  you are sitting up straight, then reach up with both arms above your head. As you stretch up take a deep breath in. Breathe out as you lower your arms down to your sides.  

Giraffe pose for Your Baby

Now it’s your baby’s go!

• As you do Giraffe pose with your baby, keep looking and smiling at them, to check they are comfortable, and keep telling them what you are doing. Even though your baby will not understand what you are saying, they will be reassured by your voice i.e. “Yes, you are reaching up with your arms!”

• Start by putting your index fingers in your baby’s palms so they are encouraged to grip your fingers. This really does help your baby feel ‘in control’ of the movement. 

• Then gently guide their arms upwards, so they are stretching up towards their head. Remember, if your baby is younger, under 5 mths, they will not be able to move their arms above their head completely as their shoulders and elbows will still have some natural tightness.

• Repeat the whole pose i.e. stretch up yourself, in Giraffe pose, and then support your baby to do the pose. 

• As soon as your baby gets the idea of the movement, encourage them to do more of the movement themselves, so they become more active and independent!   

Giraffe Pose for Older Babies

                                                                                                           

Stretch Up high!!

                                                                                                                              

Description of Pose

This adaptation of Giraffe pose is suitable if your baby is able to confidently sit by themselves i.e. possibly over 7-8 mths of age. Ideally try to do Giraffe pose with your baby either in front of a mirror or with a partner. In this way your baby will either be able to look at their own arm movements or copy someone else’s!

• Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you and slightly apart. Settle your baby in front of you, with their back towards you so they can lean back against you if necessary. 

• Make sure your baby is sitting well back in a good position. If they do tend to slide forward, gently bring their bottom back towards you and encourage your baby to lean slightly forward from the waist as they do the movement. 

Giraffe pose for You

• Start by either you or your partner doing Giraffe pose (for guidance,  see the ‘Giraffe pose for younger babies’ section). This will give you a great stretch and will also give your baby a movement to watch and to copy. 

Giraffe pose for Your Baby

Now it’s your baby’s go! 

• As you do Giraffe pose with your baby, keep checking to make sure they are comfortable, and keep telling them what you are doing. Even though your baby will not understand what you are saying they will be reassured by your voice i.e. “Yes, your arms are up in the air!”

• Start by encouraging your baby to stretch their arms up above their head to make a long Giraffe neck! Gently put your index fingers in your baby’s palms, so that they feel in control, and then guide them to lift their arms up into the air above their head.  

• Repeat the whole pose i.e. you or your partner stretches up in Giraffe pose and then you encourage your baby to do Giraffe pose.

• As soon as your baby gets the idea – encourage them to do the movement with less support. You will probably find your baby is more inclined to reach up by themselves if you give them something to reach for – see next section on ‘Games Around Giraffe Pose’. 

 Games to Play Around Giraffe Pose

‘Reaching for Leaves in the Jungle!’

Gather either a selection of leaves or make your own leaves from green ‘leaf like’ fabrics.

Encourage your baby, in either lying or sitting or standing, to reach up to touch or ‘bat’ the leaves.

This reaching activity extends Giraffe pose for your baby and will:

• Boost their confidence – your baby will enjoy making the leaf move by themselves. These batting games are the start of your baby feeling they can have an effect on the world around them.

• Progress their reaching skills – your baby will be using their own muscles to do the movement rather than being guided by you.

• Refine their eye-hand co-ordination skills.

• Develop both their awareness of their hands and their small hand muscles. 

              

Make a ‘Sensory African Savannah’ Play Area for your Baby - Inside or Out!

• Give your baby the chance to stimulate their senses and practise their movement skills whilst having fun with you!

• Materials you might use include:

• Light material for a leafy canopy. Fabric or charity shops are good places to find ‘offcuts’ of interesting materials. Sheer material, which is fairly transparent, is best. Your baby will love to look at the light at it passes through the material and, in addition, they will not be daunted by it! Outside, drape the material over a whirly-gig washing line or a garden chair. Inside drape the material over a sofa or chair.

• Leaves – fabric or real. You can hang these under your canopy so your baby can reach up for them. If you’re using real leafy branches – these are excellent for a game of peek-a-boo.

• Blue material of a different texture to sit on or reach down for – this is your ‘waterhole’

'Giraffe homes' inside or out

                                                                                       

Drape your canopy over the washing line!

Why Giraffe Pose is Good for Your Baby

As your baby does Giraffe pose with you, they will have the opportunity to:

1. Stretch out their upper back, shoulder and arm muscles

As your baby does Giraffe pose they will be gently stretching out the muscles in their upper back, shoulders and arms. After your baby has been sitting in a buggy or car seat – Giraffe pose gives them the chance to stretch out stiff muscles. Remember muscles need movement to lengthen! 

2. Develop their eye-hand co-ordination.

Progress Giraffe pose for your baby by encouraging them to reach up for ‘leaf’ props. Your baby’s early reaching skills are closely linked to their developing vision. Hence reaching up for objects, not only improves your baby’s control of their arms it also refines their eye-hand co-ordination.

3. Develop their rib cage movements.

As your baby reaches above their head and back down again they will be moving their rib-cage up and out and then back and down, moving and exercising the bones and muscles of their rib cage. How our rib cage shape changes as we age is rarely considered, unless you are a physiotherapist! However, it’s development, and the muscles which support it, is vital for the control of our breathing pattern and the refinement of other physical skills later in life.

A Word on Rib- Cage Development

Our ribcage consists of: 

• 12 ribs - down each side. 
• The breast bone or sternum down the front of the chest. 
• 12 thoracic spinal bones (12 vertebra). 
• The diaphragm a dome shaped sheet of muscle and tendon which separates our ribcage, or thoracic cavity, from our stomach and bowel areas (abdominal cavity). 
• Lines of ‘rib muscles’ in between the ribs – the intercostal muscles.

At birth your baby’s ribs and sternum are still mostly made up of cartilage, having not yet matured into bone. This means their ribs are much more flexible.

You may have noticed that your young baby’s ribcage tends to be a great deal ‘rounder’ than your own. Confirm this for yourself by feeling the shape of your own ribcage and then feeling your baby’s ribcage. Your own rib cage may be more like an elongated barrel shape – your baby’s will feel round like a ball. You will also notice that whilst your ribs slope downwards and inwards your baby’s ribs are more horizontal.

As a result of their round rib cage shape, young babies rely on their diaphragm muscle to breathe. This is because the round ribcage shape and more horizontal ribs makes it harder for their rib muscles to work. Indeed young babies have to work much harder at their breathing than adults. Some researchers have suggested that the shape and mechanics of a young baby’s rib cage make them more vulnerable to chest infections. Therefore it is important for your baby to be given plenty of opportunity to move on the floor, both on their tummies and their back, as this will encourage them to take deeper breaths and to exercise and strengthen their breathing muscles.

In addition, a young baby’s rib cage is more like a pyramid shape i.e. narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. An adult’s rib cage tends to be wider at the top and then become narrower lower down.

From birth to three years your baby’s rib cage shape alters dramatically. Changing from the ‘round, narrow at the top ‘flared’ at the bottom’, shape to the more adult ‘elongated, barrel’ shape.  This is partly due to:

1. Growth, as your baby grows their ribs will naturally lengthen and become stiffer.

2. Developing movement, as your baby learns to play with their feet, roll, crawl, twist and walk. These skills will firstly strengthen your baby’s tummy muscles, which help to ‘anchor’ the lower ribs and prevent the flaring shape, and secondly stretch out their spinal muscles leading to a lengthened rib cage.

3. Posture, as your baby learns to sit and stand up against gravity.

The weight of the rib cage and lungs pulls the rib cage into a more elongated shape.

As a direct consequence of this change of rib cage shape, your baby’s breathing becomes far more efficient. They can now start to use their ‘rib muscles’ (intercostals) as well as their diaphragm to breathe and can take deeper breaths in and out. So…

 ‘Early movement means better breathing and life-long chest health for your baby!’ 

Remember:

For a fun, kid’s activities which not only encourage your child to move but also enhance their development - find your local class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html

or find out how you could be trained to deliver Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html.http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html

Love Baby Bumpkin x

Tatty Bumpkin 2014 Term 7/Summer Holidays Week 1. Tatty Bumpkin’s Kid’s Activity for this week is GIRAFFE Pose!

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

In this blog I focus on our weekly Tatty Bumpkin ‘Yoga Activity', giving you all a description on how to do the pose or activity with your child and describing some of the benefits. 

To find out about the Baby Bumpkin’s Baby activity – look out for my ‘Mid-week Baby Bumpkin Blog!’
 
Please remember though, for your child to gain the full benefit of all the Tatty Bumpkin Yoga and multisensory activities, find out about your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html or ask your child’s nursery if they are using the 'Tatty Bumpkin Kid’s Activity Programme'.  Our qualified Tatty Bumpkin Teachers are fully trained in child development and children’s Yoga and are kept fully up-to-date by our professional team of paediatric physiotherapists, Yoga teachers and musicians.

Or, maybe, you are thinking of a new career, which gives you:

• The opportunity to work with kids
• A great sense of job satisfaction and
• Flexible working to fit around your own family?

In which case - find out how you could be trained to deliver Baby and Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html. 

The Tatty Bumpkin Multisensory Yoga Adventure This Week …

This week the Tatty Bumpkin Yoga Activity is ‘GIRAFFE’ – as Tatty Bumpkin sets off to explore  the Savannah!

On her adventure Tatty Bumpkin meets a little giraffe and his family. Now, giraffes are meant to love prickly acacia leaves – but this little giraffe just does not like them - uuuggh!

So Tatty Bumpkin and the little giraffe go off to visit some other animals, living nearby, to see if they can find something delicious to eat!

Come and join your local Tatty Bumpkin class and see if you can discover some lovely food for the baby giraffe – what do you think he would like to eat? Grass, fish…?

Giraffe eating acacia leaves - yium, yum!!

Because each Tatty Bumpkin kid’s activity session is carefully linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) the sessions not only enhance your child’s physical skills they also develop your child’s communication, social and thinking skills.  
In this week’s activity session your child will have the chance to:

1. Develop their balance skills as they stretch up high on tiptoes and then reach down low to the ground like giraffes drinking from the waterhole. 

2. Develop their awareness of 'the midline’ of their body to progress their co-ordination and fine motor skills as they do Giraffe and Crocodile poses.

3. Use gestures or words to express their thoughts, for example:

• Feeling ‘unhappy’ with the baby giraffe when he tries to eat the prickly acacia leaves
• Being ‘caring’ with Tatty Bumpkin as she helps baby giraffe find something good to eat
• Feeling ‘frightened’ with Tatty Bumpkin and baby giraffe when they hear a lion!
• Feeling ‘happy’ with baby giraffe when he is back with his family …

4. Come up with their own ideas, and feel confident to talk about them. For example:

• Deciding which animals to visit?
• Wondering what a lion might eat!?

5. Develop their sense of rhythm as they move to the Tatty Bumpkin Crocodile and Lion songs. 

6. Think about healthy eating and ‘having a go’ at trying something new along with the baby giraffe and Tatty Bumpkin. 

7. Most important of all - have fun with their friends as they: drink from the waterhole as giraffes, snap as crocodiles, and look out for lions! Picture courtesy of gardenofeaden.blogspot.co.uk.

Giraffe Pose for Children and Toddlers

Stretch up high to nibble leaves..

Reach down low to have a drink!

Description of Pose

There are a number of very good reasons to do Giraffe pose with your toddler or child:

1. Firstly, children under 3 years, largely learn new movements by copying others – especially their parents and ‘key people’.
2. Secondly, current research shows that young children bond with their parents and ‘key people’ not only through touch and by communicating with them, but also by moving with them.
3. Thirdly, as you do Mountain pose with your toddler, you will give your own body a chance to move, stretch and realign! See ‘Why it is Good for Me’ section.

• Stand opposite your toddler or child and encourage them, by doing the movement yourself, to reach up high above their head with both hands. Like a giraffe with a long neck.

• If your child is younger, encourage them by saying “1, 2, 3, up!” as you do the movement, and/or give them a ‘leaf prop’ to reach for (See Games Around Giraffe Pose section).

• Then move your legs slightly apart and reach down, carefully, to touch the ground in front of you to be a giraffe ‘having a drink’. Once again, if your child is younger, encourage them to copy you by saying “1, 2, 3, down!” 

• As you are touching the ground with your hands make pretend drinking/slurping noises! Research shows that even making pretend noises helps to develop a young child’s speaking skills.

• Repeat Giraffe pose several times with your young child,  so they can enjoy ‘knowing what is going to happen next’!

Games to Play Around Giraffe Pose      

Make a ‘Sensory African Savannah’ Play Area - Inside or Out!

Give your toddler or young child the chance to stimulate their senses and practise their movement skills whilst having fun with you!
Materials you might use for your 'play area':

• Light material for a leafy canopy. Fabric or charity shops are good places to find ‘offcuts’ of interesting materials. Sheer material, which is fairly transparent, is best. Your toddler or young child will love to look at the light as it passes through the material If outside, drape the material over a whirly-gig washing line or a garden chair. If inside, drape the material over a sofa or chair.
• Leaves – either use real leaves or make some out of interesting ‘leafy coloured’ fabrics. Hang these under your canopy, so your toddler or young cild is encouraged to reach up for them. If you’re using real leafy branches – these are excellent for a game of peek-a-boo.
• Blue material of a different texture to sit on or reach down for – to be your giraffe ‘waterhole'.

 In the ‘Giraffe Camp’ outside!

 

‘Drinking from the Waterhole’

Looking though the leaves

Reaching down to drink!!

Lay a blue piece of material on the ground for a ‘waterhole’ and pretend to be ‘drinking Giraffes’!  Encourage your toddler/young child  to reach up above their head in Giraffe pose and then to bend forward to touch the blue material on the ground with their hands.
 
                                                                                                                                        

Why Giraffe Pose is Good for Your Toddler or Child

As your toddler or child does Giraffe pose with you they will have the opportunity to:

1. Stretch out their upper back, shoulder and arm muscles 
As your toddler or child does Giraffe pose they will be gently stretching out the muscles in their upper back, shoulders and arms. After your child has been sitting in a buggy or car seat – Giraffe pose gives them the chance to stretch out stiff muscles. Remember muscles need movement to lengthen!

2. Develop their eye-hand co-ordination
Progress Giraffe pose for your child by encouraging them to reach up for ‘leaf’ props. Your young child’s early reaching skills are closely linked to their developing vision. Hence reaching up for objects, not only improves their control of their arms, it also refines their eye-hand co-ordination.

3. Develop their rib cage movements
As your toddler/child reaches above their head and back down again, they will be moving their chest or rib cage up and out and then back and down – moving and exercising the bones and muscles of their rib cage. How our rib cage shape changes as we age is rarely considered, unless you are a physiotherapist! However, the development of our rib cage, and the muscles which support it, is vital for:

• A good breathing pattern.
• The refinement of good posture and physical skills.

A Word on Rib- Cage Development

Our ribcage consists of:

• 12 ribs - down each side.
• The breast bone or sternum down the front of the chest.
• 12 thoracic spine (12 vertebra).
• The diaphragm: a dome shaped sheet of muscle and tendon which separates our rib cage, or thoracic cavity, from our stomach and bowel areas (abdominal cavity).
• Lines of ‘rib muscles’ in between the ribs – the intercostal muscles.

At birth your young child’s : 

• Ribs and sternum are mostly made up of cartilage, having not yet matured into bone. This means their ribs, at this age, would have been much more flexible.
• Ribcage is a great deal ‘rounder’ than an adult’s, this maybe because they have not spent a great deal of time sitting or standing. As a result of this rounder shape your young baby would have relied on their diaphragm muscles to breath as opposed to the muscles in between their ribs.

From birth to 3 years your young child’s rib cage shape would have altered dramatically. Changing from the ‘round, ‘narrow at the top - flared at the bottom’, shape to the more adult ‘elongated, barrel’ shape.  This is partly due to:

• Growth, as your child grows their ribs will naturally lengthen and become stiffer.

• Developing movement, as your child rolls, crawls, twists, walks and runs they will be strengthening their layers of tummy muscles. Strong, active tummy muscles help: to ‘tie down’ the lower ribs, preventing the flaring shape and to stretch out the spinal muscles allowing the rib cage to lengthen.

• Posture, as your child learns to sit, stand up and move around up against gravity the weight of their rib cage and lungs pulls the their rib cage into a more elongated shape.

As a direct consequence of this change of rib cage shape, your young child’s breathing becomes far more efficient. They can now start to use their ‘rib muscles’ (intercostals) as well as their diaphragm to breathe and can take deeper breaths in and out.
 

‘Movement in the early years can improve your child’s chest health for life’

Remember:

• For a fun, kid’s activities which not only encourage your child to move but also enhance their development - find your local class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html

or find out how you could be trained to deliver Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html.



Love Tatty Bumpkin x