Wriggle into Autumn - Support your child’s nursery/classroom skills with Tatty Bumpkin's Snake Yoga Activity

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

We often think of tummy time for babies and little ones - but it's helpful for everyone! 
Giving children the opportunity to play games on their tummy can help their: sitting posture, balance skills in the play ground or on the sports field and their ability to focus. 

Tatty Bumpkin's Snake Pose 

• Find a clear place on a non-slip surface (e.g. mat or carpet) - where you and your child can do snake pose without bumping into anything with your head arms or legs! 

• Try to do snake pose along with you child – slowly and carefully so they can copy you. Do respect your body though - so if you know you have back or neck problems and always consult a health professional before you try the pose.

• Remember to take off socks and shoes – this will enable you and your child to use your feet effectively as you wriggle. 

• Okay lie down on the floor together – prop yourselves up on your forearms and ‘hiss’ at each other - this is snake pose great for encouraging speech and confidence. As your child props on their forearms they will be activating their neck, shoulder and hand muscles - they may also push up onto their hands. Activity in these muscles groups will help support their fine motor skills i.e. holding a pencil or crayon to draw or write. 

• Look all around – to your right and left - to find objects round the room. Then see what you can spy when you look gently upwards or back down to the floor in front of you. This activity will help your child to refine their head and eye movements. In the nursery or classroom your child will be able to draw on these skills as they start to look up to a white board and back down to their paper. 

• Now start to wriggle together – reaching forward with one arm and then the other. Once again your child will be working their shoulder muscles but they will also be using their back and tummy muscles more. To sit well your child needs both their tummy and back muscles to be active. 

• After you have wriggled a little way – stop - and have a think - are you moving your legs? Often we forget our legs when we wriggle! Encourage your child to move their opposite arm and leg to perfect their 'snakey wriggle' - they will then be strengthening their hip muscles and developing co-ordination skills. Why not wriggle and hiss to the Tatty Bumpkin snake song see https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/this-is-the-life/id376347823. 

• If your child is finding it hard to move both their arms and legs as they wriggle – break the activity down into smaller steps. For example:
• Guide your child to lie on their tummy with their elbows bent so they are propping on their forearms - as in snake pose. 
• Encourage them to move their right elbow forwards a little way and then to roll onto their right side.  
• As they roll to the right guide your child to look to their left – almost automatically they should bend up their left leg. 
• Try the same movements only on the other side I.e. encourage your child to roll back into snake pose - but this time guide them to move their left elbow forwards,  then to roll onto their left side and to look to the right – this should encourage their right leg to bend up. 
• Guide your child to repeat the rolls – whilst moving their elbow, body, head and opposite leg - then see if they can link them together to commando crawl.

• Wriggle forwards and backwards then take a rest and just wave your ‘snakey’ tail. Bend up your knees so your feet are up in the air and gently sway both feet from side to side.  Once again this activity is great for tummy, back and hip muscles but it also helps your child to become more aware of the ‘middle’ of their body and how they can take their legs (and arms) across this middle section to the other side. This ability is often known as ‘crossing the midline’ – just think how many times your child will be using this skill to dress themselves in the morning! 

• After you have wriggled as snakes – curl up the other way to be a mouse or maybe a rock for the snake to hide behind! This movement makes sure you have stretched your back and neck the other way to snake pose - helping to release the back and neck muscles you have been working. 

Curl up as a mouse!

If you want to read more about tummy time games and activities for young children I recommend this free New Zealand activity leaflet see http://www.sportnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/attachments/managing-sport/young-people/Tummy-Time-Rolling-and-Crawling.pdf

Love Tatty Bumpkin x

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. 

A New Start with Tatty Bumpkin?  

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.