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?
The Baby Bumpkin Multisensory Yoga Adventure This Week ..
This week the Baby Bumpkin Yoga Activity is ‘OCTOPUS’. When you bring this fun activity into your baby’s day you will be helping them to progress their early kicking skills – see ‘Why It is Good For Me’ section below.On this adventure Baby Bumpkin finds himself in the seaside. He feels the hot sand on his feet and cools off by splashing in the rock pools!..
Then he hears a little Mermaid crying … because everyone has forgotten her birthday!
Baby Bumpkin just has to help and soon he is rowing out to sea to find his friend the Octopus who, with all those wavy tentacles, is an expert at making birthday cards!
This adventure will not only give your baby the chance to progress their physical skills, it will also provide them with a ‘sensory feast’ of shells, starfish, ribbons and amazing seaside songs! 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. Progress their early kicking and reaching skills as they wave their arms and legs in Octopus pose.
2. Build on their balance skills as they play with you in Mermaid pose and the ‘Rowing activity’.
3. Develop their early communication skills whilst:
Playing ‘peek-a- boo’ with the Mermaid
Playing the ‘1, 2, 3, jumping in the rock pools’ game
Singing the starfish rhyme altogether
Interacting with others to make a lovely ‘sensory card’ for Mermaid!
4. Start to make early choices i.e.
How to play and interact with the Octopus props?
Which shell or seaside prop to explore?
5. Develop their sense of rhythm as they move with you to the Baby Bumpkin Octopus song – one of my favourites!
6. Most important of all - have fun with their friends in the Baby Bumpkin story as they: row out to sea, dance with Octopus and create a very special birthday card for Mermaid.
Octopus Pose for Younger Babies
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| Waving arms and legs together! |
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 Octopus 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. Sit with your legs out in front and slightly apart so your baby is lying in between your legs. Encourage your baby to look at you and smile and laugh at them to give them reassurance.
First of all, do Octopus pose yourself – your Baby will love to see your movements. i.e.
- Make sure you are sitting up straight and wave to your baby first with one hand and then the other.
- Then lean back slightly to lift one of your legs off the floor to ‘wave’ at your baby with your feet. As you do this, tighten your stomach and pelvic floor muscles. This will help you to strengthen these muscles and will also help to protect your back. If you know you have back issues be careful with this movement and stop if it hurts.
- Now it’s your baby’s go! As you do Octopus 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 waving your foot/arm in the air!”
- Start by encouraging your baby to wave their Octopus arms. Put your index fingers in your baby’s palms, so that they feel in control, and then gently guide them to lift their arms into the air and wave them about. As soon as your baby gets the idea, give them less support so they do more of the waving by themselves.
- Then encourage your baby to wave with their Octopus legs! Gently hold your baby around their lower legs, just above their ankles, and guide them to shake and kick their legs in the air.
- Repeat the whole pose – i.e. you wave your arms and legs and then encourage your baby to wave their arms and legs – together you are an Octopus with eight tentacles!
- As soon as your baby gets the idea of the movement encourage them to reach out and kick with their arms and legs by themselves. See ‘why it is good for me’ section.
Octopus Pose for Older Babies
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| Sitting up Octopus! |
Description of Pose
This adaptation of Octopus pose is suitable if your baby is able to sit by themselves.
- Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you and slightly apart. Settle your baby in front of you so they can lean back against you if they wish. If your baby starts to slide their bottom forwards underneath themselves – gentle readjust their position so their bottom is back, close to your body. Then encourage your baby to lean forwards as they do the pose.
- You can do Octopus pose with your baby in front of a mirror – so they can see the arms and leg movements or ask someone to sit down opposite your baby and do Octopus pose so your baby can copy them.
Octopus pose for You
First of all do Octopus pose yourself. See above.
Octopus pose for Babies
- Now it’s your baby’s go! As you do Octopus 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, you are waving your foot/arm in the air!”
- Start by encouraging your baby to wave their ‘Octopus arms’. Put your index fingers in your baby’s palms, so that they feel in control, and gently guide them to lift their arms into the air and wave them. As soon as your baby gets the idea encourage them to wave by themselves.
- Then encourage your baby to wave with their Octopus legs! Gently hold your baby around their lower legs, just above their ankles and guide them to lean back slightly against you to shake and kick their legs in the air. As soon as your baby gets the idea encourage them to kick their legs out by themselves. Make sure you support your baby to prevent them from falling backwards.
- Repeat the whole pose – i.e. you wave your arms and legs and then encourage your baby to wave their arms and legs.
Together you are an Octopus with eight tentacles!
Octopus Pose for Toddlers
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| Waving your Octopus tentacles! |
Description of Pose
Octopus pose encourages your toddler to not only reach forward and wave with their hands but also to lift up their legs and wave their feet. For safety, do make sure that you clear a space around your toddler as you do Octopus pose so that, if they do fall backwards, they will not bang their heads on any sharp edges. Supervise them closely to try to prevent heavy falls backwards.
- Gather some blue or green streamers/ribbons, 2 for you and 2 for your toddler. Remember don’t leave your toddler with these on their own. We find that toddlers find material with a slight ‘glitter’ especially interesting!
- Hold your ribbons in your hands and wave them, in front of you, at your toddler. Then encourage your toddler to wave their own ribbons. Encourage your toddler to reach out and wave their streamers in all directions and to wave them one, or both, at a time!
- Then thread a streamer gently between your toddler’s toes to encourage them to lift up a foot and wave it in the air.
- At around 10 – 12 mths your baby/toddler may be starting to experiment with kicking out whilst they are sitting. This action is good for their balance and their tummy muscles. See ‘Why it is good for me’ section.
- You can also encourage your toddler to ‘wave their ribbon’ with their feet by rolling on their back and waving their feet and ribbon in the air!
- As your toddler gets older, you can show them how to use their hands to support themselves as they kick out with their feet in sitting i.e. sit opposite your toddler and put your hands on the floor behind your back, so you can lean back on your hands and balance on your bottom to wave your feet, and the ribbons, in the air! As you do this action, tighten your stomach muscles to protect your back. If you know you have back issues do be careful and, if it is painful, stop!
- Now gently thread ribbons between your toddler’s toes and encourage them to do the same. Do take this slowly to make sure that your toddler understands the idea of using their hands to support themselves.
- As you play with your toddler, encourage them to move their arms and legs to the Tatty Bumpkin Octopus song, This can be downloaded from ITunes for 69p - https://tinyurl.com/qem7vw.
Other Games to Play around Octopus Pose
‘Octopus with his 8 Tentacles!’
Gather some blue or green streamers/ribbons. Be careful not to leave your baby on their own with these. We find that material with a slight ‘glitter’ in it is especially interesting to babies.
If your baby is younger, and doing Octopus pose in lying, wave the streamer or ribbon over them and encourage them to:
- Follow it with their eyes and turn their heads a little way to either side to look at it.
- Reach out to ‘bat’ and touch it with their hands.
If your baby is older, encourage them to wave the ribbons whilst they are sitting, as in the toddler adaptation of this pose.
- You can even gently thread the ribbons between your baby’s toes to encourage them to lift up their legs a little way and to wave their feet, and the streamer, in the air! Be careful to supervise this game closely and sit behind your baby so they do not fall backwards.
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| Sitting in ring/long sitting position |
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| Side sitting |
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| Ring sitting |
- Reaching skills. As your baby improves their reaching skills they will be strengthening the muscles around their ‘middle’ i.e. their tummy and back muscles.
- Sitting balance and hip control. See in the pictures above how this young man swaps his sitting position from legs out in front, to side sitting and finally to a ‘ring’ sitting position. This variety of sitting positions will help him to strengthen the area round his hips (useful for walking) and to naturally increase his hip flexibly. As you play with your baby encourage them to move their arms and legs to the Tatty Bumpkin Octopus song, This can be downloaded from ITunes for 69p - https://tinyurl.com/qem7vwe .
Why Octopus Pose is Good for Your Baby
Octopus pose helps your baby to develop both their kicking skills and reaching skills in sitting and lying.
The information below relates to your baby’s leg movements whilst they are lying on their back. However, tummy time is also very important to help your baby develop their kicking and reaching skills.
Kicking skills - Hip and Leg Movements
Kicking out helps your baby to:
- Strengthen their leg muscles.
- Strengthen their pelvic and lower back muscles.
- Activate and de-sensitise their feet.
- Naturally stretch their hamstring and ankle muscles.
"Never underestimate the importance of kicking!"
Aged about 1-2 mths your baby will be holding, and kicking their legs out, in an increasing variety of positions. This variety of movement is important for their hip and leg development. You may also notice that your baby is not able to move and control their legs as much as their arms – this is because your baby gains ‘control of their body’ from their head downwards. At this young age, your baby may be kicking out with one leg at a time or with both legs together. As their feet touch each other, your baby will be getting valuable sensory input, which helps them to become more aware of their body. In addition, this foot-to-foot touching will help to de-sensitise your baby’s feet in preparation for more advanced foot movements.
At about 3 mths your baby may still be kicking out either with both feet together or with one leg at a time, and most of the time they will be kicking their feet up into the air! This will help your baby to activate and strengthen their tummy and hip muscles as well as helping them to naturally stretch their hamstring and ankle muscles.
At around 4 mths, you may notice your baby’s leg movements become more specific i.e. your baby will tend to bend their legs up together and then push them out straight at the same time. Interestingly, their leg movements may also start to mirror their arm movements i.e. if your baby is bending their arms at their elbows they may also be bending their legs at their knees!
At this age your baby will be able to straighten out their hips and knees more. This is due to their constant kicking actions, which stretch out their hamstring (the muscles at the back of their thighs) and ankle muscles. As you encourage your baby to kick out in Octopus pose, do not force the movement, but see if you can notice how much further your baby is able to straighten their legs.
From about 5-6 mths you may notice your baby’s leg movements will no longer ‘mirror’ their arm movements i.e. they will be able to straighten out an arm whilst bending up a leg.
Also your baby may be able to consciously bend up one leg whilst they straighten out the other leg i.e. you may see them being able to bend up one leg so they can rest the foot of that leg on the thigh of their other leg.
At around 7 mths, your baby will be able to control their hips and pelvis more, this will allow them to balance in sitting whilst taking their hands off the floor. You can gently encourage this new balance skill by encouraging your baby to wave at you in Octopus pose. Take this slowly though as it is important for your baby to establish good strength in their hips and pelvis before they start sitting without using their hands – this will ensure they sit with a good posture right from the start. To start with, your baby is mostly likely to sit with their legs out in front in a ‘ring’ like position (see picture below) as this leg position is usually the most stable.
From about 8 mths, you may notice your baby is able to sit with their legs closer together and their knees in a straighter position – in a ‘long sitting’ position. This is due to their increased strength in their pelvic and leg muscles. Your baby may also start to sit with their legs over to one side, in a ‘side sitting’ position, again this is due to their increasing control of their back, pelvic and hip areas.
At around 9- 10 mths, you may notice that your baby is able to rock their pelvis back and forwards whilst they are sitting. They will tend to:
Tilt their pelvis ‘forwards’ ,as they reach forward for toys and
Tilt their pelvis ‘backwards’, as they look down at a toy whilst they are sitting.
See if you can gently encourage this ‘pelvic rocking’ as you do Octopus pose with your baby as these movements not only help to strengthen your baby’s/toddler’s lower back, hip and tummy muscles they also give these muscles a gently stretch.
From about 10 – 12 mths, your baby, or young toddler, may start to shift their weight even further back, whilst they are sitting, enabling them to kick out with their legs or to lift one foot off the floor. You may see your toddler doing this as they try to kick off a sock! This activity helps your baby/toddler to further strengthen their tummy and back muscles. You can encourage your baby/toddler to do this kicking action whilst doing Octopus pose.
As you do the ‘toddler version’ of Octopus pose with your toddler, encourage them to sit in a variety of positions i.e. side sitting, long sitting as this will help them to develop their hip and pelvic muscles.
Love Baby Bumpkin x
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