Autumn Term 2 Week 1 Tatty Bumpkin’s Kid’s Yoga Activity for this Week is Owl!

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

In this blog I:

• Describe how to do the activity with your child or toddler 
• Give reasons why this week’s Tatty Bumpkin Yoga activity is beneficial for your child or toddler 
• Give you some ideas on adaptations for the activity.

Owl Pose – Tatty Bumpkin’s Yoga Activity for the Week 

Start as sleeping owls in the nest then wake up and spread your wings!

Ideally, try to do Owl pose with your child as: 

• Children under 3 years, largely learn new movements by copying the actions.
• Research is showing that toddlers and young children bond with their parents and ‘key people’ not only through touch and by communicating with them but also by moving with them.
• Owl pose will give you a great opportunity to stretch out your own muscles, especially those across your chest which can often become tight after doing work at a computer or driving for long periods, 

1. Make sure both you and your child are on a non-slip mat or piece of carpet in a clear space. This will stop your feet slipping as you do owl pose. 
2. Start by both sitting back on your heels on the mat, facing each other. Hold your arms in close to your sides. 
3. Then… 1, 2, 3… come up onto your knees, taking your bottoms off your heels.
4. As you move into kneeling spread your arms out wide & above your heads and hoot “Twit Twooo!”

Want to Make Owl Pose Harder? 

If your child is older they will enjoy seeing if they can do Owl pose moving from squatting to standing. Once again try to do this adaptation with your child so they can copy you – but take it slowly!

1. Place your mat in a clear place, or find a clear bit of carpet, so that if you do lose your balance you do not fall on anything hard. 
2. Start squatting down opposite each other balancing on your toes with your arms by your sides. 
3. Then slowly come up into standing taking your arms out to your sides and over your head. Hoot “Twit Twooo!” 
4. Bring your arms back down to your sides as you squat back down to the floor. Repeat a few times to become a truly wise owl!
5. See if your child can move from squat to stand without putting their hands down on the floor.

See if you can move from squatting to standing without putting your hands down. Try to do the pose with bare feet! 

Easier Owl Pose for Toddlers or Young children 

If your child is younger, or they find the above poses hard to do, guide them to do owl pose on either sitting or standing:

• In sitting - Guide your child to move their arms out to the side & over their heads whilst they are just sitting on the floor, either cross-legged or with their legs straight out in front of them. In this seated position your child will be more stable and hence they can concentrate on moving their arms in a wide arc. Remember there is no right or wrong way with Tatty Bumpkin!

• In standing - Sit or kneel on the mat and encourage your toddler to stand opposite you.  Start by doing owl pose yourself so your toddler can copy you and then encourage them to stretch their arms out to each side as they flap their owl wings. Remember to talk to your young child as you do the actions i.e. say “1, 2, 3, up or down” as they move their arms. Repeat owl pose several times so your toddler has a chance to learn the actions. 

Baby Owls

Benefits of Tatty Bumpkin’s Owl Yoga Activity for Your Child or Toddler

As you do Owl pose with your child they will be:  

1. Developing their postural control skills
When your child does owl pose with you in sitting, kneeling or standing they will be using their ‘postural control system’ to keep their body still and upright whilst they move their arms up and down.  

Between the ages of 0 -7 years your baby, toddler and young child will slowly be refining their ‘postural control system’. 

• 'Postural control' is a complex process which allows us to keep and move our bodies up against gravity - whether we are: pushing up on our hands whilst we are lying down, sitting up straight or indeed standing up and moving. 
• Our postural control ensures that we keep control of our bodies and protect them whilst we are moving and doing things i.e. we might put our feet wider apart and stiffen our bodies to keep our balance on a rocking boat or to kick a ball, we might automatically put out our hand to ‘save’ ourselves if we trip over.
• It develops from our head downwards and from the middle of our body out to our limbs. You will have noticed your child was able to control their head and body long before they were able to stand up and that they were able to control their ‘middle’ long before they could completely control their hands and fingers.  
• If your child develops their postural control system well, in their early years, they will:
• Have a good base for developing their hand skills
• Be able to sit at a desk to concentrate without becoming too uncomfortable or tired.
• Without good postural control, a child may have difficulty with dressing, writing or sporting skills and may tire more easily when sitting at a desk in school.
• When you do owl pose with your child notice how you:
• Contract and ‘work’ your back muscles slightly when you put your arms out to the side and move your hands up above your head
• Contract and ‘work’ your tummy muscles slightly when you move your hands back down. This is your postural control system working! 
• Postural control is automatic, this means that unless we choose to think about it we are unaware of it happening -  but none the less it is so important. All through our lives our postural control system means we are able to: do things smoothly and efficiently, keep ourselves safe and focus our attention on more complex academic work. 

2. Stretching their shoulder, chest and back muscles 
Because owl pose stretches these muscles it is a great pose for your child to do after they have been sitting for a while – remember muscles need movement to grow! 

The Tatty Bumpkin Adventure this Week

Remember though, for you and your child to gain the full benefit of all the Tatty Bumpkin Yoga and multi-sensory 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 doing Tatty Bumpkin Yoga activity sessions as part of their day. 

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

All the Tatty Bumpkin stores are aligned to the Early Years Foundation Stage this means the sessions not only enhance your child’s physical skills they also develop their communication, social and thinking skills.

If your child is going to a Tatty Bumpkin class this week they will go on an adventure with Tatty Bumpkin to visit her friends the owls. Perfect for this spooky time of year!
Your child and will have a chance to: 

• Physically, strengthen their ‘core’ postural muscles and refine their 'postural control system' as they do the owl poses.

• Progress their communication skills as they hoot as owls, listen to the Tatty Bumpkin feather song and talk about the owls being ‘in’ the nest, and ‘on' the branches.  

• Develop their imagination and thinking skills as they imagine being confident and nervous baby owls! 

• Have fun with others as they fly as owls and crawl as spiders!

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

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. 

Love Tatty Bumpkin x