Baby Bumpkin ‘Dinosaur Yoga Activity’ - Look for ‘the Reach’ it’s the foundation for so many skills!

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

This week, Baby Bumpkins will be enjoying reaching and creeping on their tummies as baby ‘dinosaurs!’.

As we know tummy time is crucial for your baby, allowing them to: gain control over their body, strengthen key muscles, develop balance skills, refine their eye movements and generally feel good about themselves :-). 

In the natural course of development babies first gain control of their head, then their shoulders and finally they learn how to control their hips as they move to crawl and stand. This means very young babies, when placed on the floor on their tummy, often find this position pretty uncomfortable and scary - they cannot push their head up to look around as their neck, back and shoulder muscles are just too weak and uncoordinated.

Often a more comfortable 'tummy time' position for your new born baby is to gently place them on their tummy on your own chest as your lean back in a chair or sofa. In this position your baby can feel your heart beat and the warmth and softness of your body. 

A great position to move onto is to place your baby, on their tummy, over your outstretched thighs as you sit with your legs out in front of you on the floor.  In this position you baby can still feel the warmth and softness of your body. You may find it comfortable to lean up against a wall so your back is supported. This is Baby Bumpkin cat or dinosaur pose. 

Baby Bumpkin Cat or Dinosaur pose

If your baby is younger (1 - 2 months old), or has not yet gained good control of their head, you will have to support their head more on your thighs. 

However, soon you will notice your baby is able to control their head, neck and upper shoulder movements more as they strengthen their muscles and develop their balance skills. You will see your baby starting to lift their head further away from your thigh and you will feel them shift their weight backwards and push up from your thigh more through their chest.

At this stage you can challenge your baby further by bending up your leg which is under their shoulders and chest. Your baby will then be gently tipped upwards and backwards, this will encourage them to push up through their forearms to lift their head even higher – the next stage in body control! See picture below.  

Once your baby feels happier on their tummy they will benefit from having a firmer surface to push up from i.e. playing on a rug or mat on the floor. However it’s still enjoyable, and beneficial, to do cat or dinosaur pose with your baby. The pose allows you to actually feel the tiny changes in your baby’s patterns of movement, and this strengthens your ‘connection' with your baby as they travel down their development pathway, and, of course, your baby will love the close contact with you.

At around 4-6 months you may notice that your baby starts to wriggle side to side more as they lie over your thighs. This is a result of increasing strength in their shoulder, back, tummy and quadricep muscles and the further development of their balance skills. The side to side wriggle is exciting as it's the basis for many complex movements.

For example reaching skills.  If your baby is younger, e.g.  4 months, when you are playing with them on the floor with appropriate toys you may notice that when they turn their head to look at you, or a toy, this results in them leaning over to the side they are looking - a great start to learning the side to side wriggle -  but also possibly frustrating for your baby! This is because when your baby shifts their weight over to the side they are looking they naturally 'trap' their arm on that side, meaning they are unable to reach out for the toy they are looking at - aarh!

Younger baby - looking at a toy on slightly on their left side and, as a result, leaning over to their left . This means they cannot free their left arm to reach out! 

However, practice makes perfect! Keep giving your baby loads of chances to play on the floor on their tummy with their toys and you, Then, at around 5 – 6 months, they will learn the most amazing skill which will have a huge impact on their development.

Your baby will learn to shift their body weight away from the direction they are looking!

For example, now if your baby spies their favourite toy to one side - they will anticipate the consequences of turning their head to look at it and will automatically shift their weight to the other side. This small weight shift will allow your baby to ‘free’ the arm on the same side as the direction of their gaze enabling them to reach with that arm to get their toy – hooray!

Older baby looking at a toy slightly to their right. But now they have learnt to shift their body weight away from the direction they are looking i.e. onto their left side  - they can now reach forwards to get the toy with their right hand. 

This seemingly tiny reaching skill has huge benefits for your baby:

• Emotionally, being able to reach for objects, will boost their self-esteem – they can now get their toys all by themselves - f they are within reach.

• Physically reaching for objects and holding them in their hands with progress both your baby’s eye-hand coordination and their early grasp skills. 

• As your baby reaches and picks up their toy remember to give them plenty of smiles to show them how proud you are of them. Even whilst they are still perfecting their reaching skills – keep smiling and give loads of praise to encourage your baby to keep on trying!

Love Baby Bumpkin x

Tatty Bumpkin's Yoga-inspired Growing Flower Pose

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

All this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes children have been having a go at the
'Growing Flower' pose. 

GROWING FLOWER POSE 

A little flower - swaying in the wind!

Grow from a tiny seed into a beautiful flower. What colour are your petals? 

Find a comfortable, clear space to do your Yoga pose with your child - a mat or clear area of carpet is ideal. Remember to take off your socks and shoes so you can both feel the floor accurately with your feet.

It's great if you can do the pose with your child as young children learn new movements largely by copying others - however - do respect your body - so only do the pose if it is comfortable to do so.  

• Start by curling up in a tiny ball on the mat or carpet - like a tiny seed - encourage your child to copy you. 
• Then make raindrop noises by drumming your fingertips on the mat in front of you - once again encourage your child to copy.
• Now you both start to grow into the most beautiful flowers! 
• Slowly uncurl and come up into the kneeling position with your child. Stretch your arms out to your sides and above your head - just like flower petals. See if you can bring your hands together above your head so your palms touching. 
• Say ‘hello’ to the spring sunshine and think about the colour of your petals – are they purple, red or spotted?
• If your child is older, encourage them to come up into standing - see picture above. Once you are both standing up, spread your arms out to either side and above your head as described above.

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

'Growing Flower' pose will help your child to:

• Progress their muscle strength - when your child does this pose they will be strengthening both their leg and arm muscles

• Improve their core stability - as your child uncurls and moves up to kneeling or standing they will be activating their core muscle groups i.e. their hip, abdominal and spinal muscles, as they spread their arms out wide they will activate their shoulder muscles

• Develop their balance skills – growing flower pose gives your child a great opportunity to develop their balance skills as they rise from curled position. Older children can grasp the opportunity to stand up without using their hands to help them - this move really improves balance! 

• Ignite their imagination & creative thought – encourage your child to think about:
• the colour of their petals
• the kind of flower they are 
• where they are growing e.g. are they a bluebell in a wood? Are they a jungle or a mountain flower? Or maybe they are a spiky desert cactus!

Doing activities with your child is a great way to bond with them. Research shows that children, especially boys, bond with others when they move with them. Doing 'Growing Flower' pose with your child can be fun and also give you the opportunity to activate and strengthen your own core muscles!

Love Tatty Bumpkin x

Spring Forward with Tatty Bumpkin in 2016

If you would like to find out more about our Yoga- inspired sessions nationwide please visit http://www.tattybumpkin.com/

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

Tatty Bumpkin’s Elephant Yoga Pose – Encouraging your child to develop their 'crossing mid-line’ ability for writing and dressing skills

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

This week Tatty Bumpkin Yoga classes will be focusing on 'Elephant pose'. 
This active pose will encourage your child to stretch and bend their whole body and crucially to cross their mid-line.

What is the Mid-line?

Imagine a line running from the top of your head down the middle of your body – this is your mid-line’ 

Your child will have started to learn about the mid-line of their body as a baby. At around 3 months of age they may have brought their hands together in front of them to play and explore - so discovering their mid-line. 
At around 8 -10 months of age, your child would have gained more control of their body. As a result they may have started to twist their body in sitting or maybe to have moved into crawling - and as they did these movements they would have started to cross the mid-line of their body. 

Why is Crossing the Mid-line Important?

1. To do things – especially write! 

Think about the number of times you have crossed the mid-line of your body today. As you dressed you would have probably crossed your mid-line with either hand, as you reached for the cereal packet or the milk you may have crossed the mid-line of your body. 

A young child needs to be able to cross the of their body before they can establish a hand preference - to be right handed or left handed. Starting to use a preferred hand to pick up and hold things e.g. a spoon, means one hand will become more skilled - this will help make writing easier when it's time to learn this skill. 

If a child tries to avoid crossing their mid-line, they may continue to use either hand for tasks, this may make fine motor skills, especially pen skills, harder for them to do. 

One of the main factors affecting handwriting is having a specialised hand that does a good job of controlling the pencil.

Young children usually start to show a hand preference when they are about 2- 4 years old, however they may well be still swapping hands at this stage! Clear, constant hand preference is not usually established until about 4-6 years of age. 
Interestingly recent research has found that babies can start to show hand preference for grasping depending on what they are doing!
For example babies as young as 1 year old may prefer to use their right hand to pick up finger food, but will not use one hand consistently in play i.e. building blocks until they are much older – around 4 years of age - Sacrey L A et al (2012) 

Crossing the mid-line to eat!

2. To network the brain! 

The left and right sides of our brain communicate via a thick cord of nerve fibres which acts like a bridge connecting each side - the corpus callosum. 
As a child develops and learns new skills, each side of their brain gradually specialises. As a result, to complete complex movement or learning tasks, communication between each side of their brain becomes increasingly important. Crossing the mid-line may help to strengthen the nerve pathways within the corpus collosum and so to help the brain work as a whole.  

Tatty Bumpkin’s Elephant Yoga Activity

Swaying elephant trunks side to side!

Note to parents: Try to do elephant pose with your child, but do remember to look after your own body. If you have concerns about doing the pose always check with a health professional first and never continue with the pose if it is causing discomfort. 

• Find a clear space on the carpet or a mat with your child. Make sure you have enough space around you both to bend and stretch and wave your arms. 

• Take off your shoes and socks to prevent slips and to help your child feel the floor more accurately.  

• Start Elephant pose standing up with your feet hip width apart – encourage your child to copy.

• Do a few stomps with your feet on the mat to be heavy elephants! This is a great balance activity – the slower your child stomps the more they will be standing on one leg!  

• Stretch one arm above your head holding your upper arm close to your cheek. This is your trunk! Bend forward from the waist keeping your arm in position so it’s now hanging down in front of you – like an elephant’s trunk.

• Place your other arm behind your back – resting your hand on your lower back area.

• Slowly start to sway your body from side to side and then wave your outstretched arm (trunk) side to side at the same time. Once again encourage your child to copy. 

• As your child waves their arm and hand across their body they will be crossing their mid-line – without realising what they are doing. 

• After a few sways side to side, straighten up and reach your arm up high above your head to trumpet like an elephant! 

• Then swap over arms and repeat the pose. 

• In elephant pose you can pretend to wash the ceiling or the floor! Remember to keep stomping…

Add in the Visual Sense

To make elephant pose more meaningful for your child, and to enhance their eye/hand co-ordination skills, give them a blue length of ribbon or streamer. Safety Note: Provide your child with a short streamer/ribbon (no longer than 30 cm) this means they can control it and are not in danger of tripping over it. Never leave a young child alone with the ribbon/streamer as they will be may tempted to investigate it further by putting it round their neck. 

• Guide your child to hold the streamer in their outstretched hand and to wave it up and down and side to side like an elephant spraying water. 

• You can also place a bowl or bucket in front of your child and encourage them to dangle their ribbon into the bucket to be an elephant sucking up water with their trunk!

Love Tatty Bumpkin x

Spring Forward with Tatty Bumpkin in 2016! 

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. 



References 

Sacrey LA, Arnold B, Whishaw IQ, Gonzalez CL - Precocious hand use preference in reach-to-eat behavior versus manual construction in 1- to 5-year-old children. 2012. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23129422. 

'Bring out the Sun’ this Week with Tatty Bumpkin’s Sun Pose – Give your child a chance to feel how far they can reach!

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

At a recent education conference (Dec 2015) Mr Bob Drew, headteacher at Grearies Primary School Essex, highlighted teachers at his school “had noticed very weak upper body strength particularly in four and five year old boys." 
He explained that over the past two years his teaching staff had initially noticed the children’s handwriting was becoming increasingly ‘spidery’. On looking carefully, they established that the children’s pencil grip was also very poor.  
Mr Drew speculated that this shaky pencil grip was related to weakness in the upper body-  possibly a result of increased use ‘soft touch’ digital technology and less frequent physical activity. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12031506/Children-physically-weaker-than-previous-generation-a-leading-teacher-has-said.html

Weak upper body strength related to poor pencil grip? 

As a paediatric physiotherapist I feel Mr Drew could be correct as we need strong shoulder, back and tummy muscles to support our arms as we write or draw. 

When your child does Tatty Bumpkin’s Sun pose they will not only be gently stretching tight shoulder and chest muscles they will also be strengthening their upper body. 
Sun pose is also a great warm up for climbing trees or throwing balls! 

Tatty Bumpkin’s Sun Yoga Activity

Preparation 

With your child find a clear space on a carpet or mat. Make sure you both have room to stretch out your arms. 
Take off your socks and shoes to prevent slips and to help your child feel the floor accurately. 
Remember if you, or your child, start to feel uncomfortable as you do the pose - do stop! Always check with a health professional before trying the pose if you are unsure.

The Pose 

Sun pose - reach for the sun! 

• Start Sun pose standing on your mats with your feet hip width apart. 

• Slowly stretch your arms out to either side with your palms facing upwards. Encourage your child ‘to reach as far as they can go’ or to see if they can ‘touch the walls on either side', they might be surprised how long their arms are!  Hold this position for a few seconds to make the stretch extra effective. 

• Then take your arms above your head in a wide arc keeping your elbows straight - encourage your child to copy you. Try to do this movement slowly so your child has a chance to really work those upper body muscles i.e. their shoulder, tummy and back muscles. 

• Gently bring your hands together above your head so your palms are touching, slowly look up at your hands and feel how tall you are! Caution - Don't extend your neck too far back. 

• To finish, slowly bring your arms back down to your sides and look straight ahead. 

• You have both made a big sun shape with your arms with you head in the middle!

Note to parents. If your child is younger they may find it easier to do Sun pose sitting on the floor- as this is a more stable position. In sitting your young child will be able to concentrate on the main movement of this pose -  stretching their arms out wide and above their head.

Sitting on the floor and 'Saying hello to the sun' 

Would you like to make Sun pose harder?

Guide your child to try Sun pose kneeling up on their knees. Kneeling is a complex position and your child will have to work their hip, tummy, back and shoulder muscles even harder to do the Sun pose arm movements in this position.  

And/or encourage your child to take a big breath in as they bring their arms above their head and to breathe all the way out as they lower their arms back down.

Why Sun Pose is ‘Good for Me’

Sun pose will give your child a chance to: 

1. Stretch and strengthen their upper body muscles 
Even young children can spend a great deal of time sitting and playing with objects,  toys, (and digital devices) which they hold in front of them. In this playing position they can tend to slump, hunch their shoulders and not work their upper body muscles. 
When your child does Sun pose they will exercise all these upper body muscles i.e. their chest, back, tummy, shoulder and arm muscles whilst giving these muscles  a really good stretch! 

2. Refine their head movements for whiteboard skills 
As your child moves their head in Sun pose they will be stretching and strengthening their neck muscles and refining their postural skills i.e. keeping their body still whilst they move their head. In the class room, your child will use these selective head and neck movements as they look up to the white board and back down to their desk. 

3. Become more aware of their breathing
As your child takes big breaths in Sun pose they will become more aware of their breathing and how it feels to take deeper breaths. When they breathe in and raise their arms above their head your child will be giving their chest muscles an even bigger stretch!  

Love Tatty Bumpkin x

Tatty Bumpkin Sessions 

Tatty Bumpkin sessions provide children with a chance to be active as they learn key skills. All the sessions are directly linked to the 'Early Years Foundation Stage' and the 'Curriculum for Excellence' (Scotland). Find out about sessions running in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html 

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.

3 Yoga Inspired Activities for Your Child's Day.To wake up, to have a movement break and to calm down!

By Sue Heron Paediatric Physiotherapist and Head of Training at Tatty Bumpkin.

General advice 

Before doing these activities with your child:

• Check you have space around you to avoid bumps.
• Find a clean mat or clear area of carpet and take off socks and shoes to avoid slips.
• Respect your body. Check with a health professional if you’re unsure whether the activity is suitable for you right now.

Find a clear place on a mat!

Morning Wake up - Friendly Frog Pose!

If your child is drowsy in the morning frog jumps will help them to become more alert.
If your child is wide awake, curling up under a lily pad combined with the frog jumps will help them feel more ‘organised’.

• Curl up on the mat or carpet with your heads tucked in – you’re frogs sleeping under lily pads! Do a few yawns just for fun.
• ‘Brrinng!’ That’s the froggy alarm, it’s time to wake up. Move into a squatting position with your feet on the floor and your arms between your knees so you can place your hands on the floor in front. Younger children may just wish to crouch.
• Poke out your tongue a few times to catch delicious flies for breakfast!
• It’s time to go! JUMP UP to ‘reach for the sun’ with your froggy hands. Younger children may just bend and straighten their knees, which is fine.  Children don’t usually learn to jump from the floor until they are about 2 years old. 
• Do 4 leaps before curling up again to have a rest!  If you have time repeat the game.  

Hiding under the lily pad

                        

Catching flies!

                                

Jump up to 'reach for the sun!'

During the day - Clever Cat Pose for Clever Hands

Cat pose activates the shoulder muscles which are essential for dressing and writing skills. In addition, as your child waves their hand in cat pose they will be doing a pattern of the movement which is very similar to writing. Cat pose is also a great movement break for your child if they have been sitting for a-while.

• Start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders.
• Gently curl your back upwards and back down – not too far mind.
• Stretch one arm or leg to wave your cat paws or magic tails.
• Repeat with your other arm and leg and ‘meow’ at each other!
• Then crawl forwards and backwards or around the room to look for mice…
• Try doing cat pose to Tatty Bumpkin cat song https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/this-is-the-life/id376347823 

Wave your magic tail and then the other one!

Cat drinking the milk

Drowsy Ducks for Bedtime

Time for bed and a good night’s sleep means more energy in the morning. Often children find it hard to calm down so they are ready for sleep. Drowsy ducks game will help your child take deeper, slower breaths which will automatically slow their heart rate – allowing them to relax.

• Find two bath-time toy ducks – make sure they don’t squeak!
• Lie down with your child on the mat or carpet and place your ducks on your tummies.
• With your child looking at you show them how they can make their duck bob up and down just by moving their tummy! As you breathe in your duck should move up, as you breathe out your duck should move down. This is abdominal breathing.
• Only do 3 – 4 of these deeper breaths in a row. Then breathe normally for a little while. Repeat a few times.
• It's can be helpful for your child to do this activity to calming music. If you use the same music each time your child will soon start to link the music with the activity. Tatty Bumpkin's relax song is very peaceful and has been specifically written for relaxation https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/bendy-giggly-clever-strong/id376349531. 

Make the duck bob up and down on your tummy

                                 

Relax together for awhile!

Love Tatty Bumpkin x

To find more about Tatty Bumpkin please visit http://www.tattybumpkin.com/

Spring into action with Tatty Bumpkin’s Rabbit Pose – The Fun way to Progress Writing Skills

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

Progressing writing skills doesn't always mean doing more writng!
In fact paediatric occupational and physiotherapists will often suggest whole body activities to help a child refine their hand skills. See end of this post.

Tatty Bumpkin’s Rabbit Yoga Activity

Before you start 

• Find a clear space on the carpet or a mat. Make sure you both have a clear space around you so you are not likely to bump your heads! When young children does this pose they may look down at their feet and hands instead of straight ahead. 
• Take  off your shoes and socks to prevent slips and to help your child feel the mat with their feet and hands accurately. 
• Always seek advice if you are unsure about whether Rabbit pose is suitable for yourself.
• Rabbit pose is hard! If your child is younger (under 3 years) or clearly not enjoying the pose - don't persist. They just might not be quite ready to do the pose yet. 

Rabbit Pose

• Squat down on the mat or carpet with your child. Show them how they can balance on their feet with their hands down in front of them – so they can use their hands to balance as well.  

• Now the tricky bit! Guide your child to reach forward with their hands first - keeping their feet still. 

• With your hands out in front, slowly bring your weight forwards so you’re taking more weight through your shoulders, arms and hands. Encourage your child to copy.

• Now it's time to move your feet! With your weight on your hands, hop both your feet towards your hands, like a bouncing bunny. 

• Repeat your Tatty Bumpkin rabbit yoga pose a few times so your child has a chance to refine their hops.

• On their first attempts your child may tend to land on their knees as they hop – instead of their feet. If this is the case show your child the pose again – this time emphasizing how a bunny lands on his back paws!  

• Jumping over a river or grass! Your child will probably find rabbit pose easier to do if they have something to look at and jump over. 
• So, whilst you are both squatting down, place a narrow scarf, streamer or piece of ribbon on the floor in front of you both. 
• Show your child how they can place their hands over the streamer first and then hop their feet over it! 

Want to make Rabbit pose harder? See if you and your child can do rabbit pose backwards!

Why Rabbit Yoga Activity is ‘Good for Me’

To support writing skills 

1. As your child does rabbit pose, they activate their core muscles - their shoulder, tummy, back and hip muscles.  

Tatty Bumpkin's 'Apple Core Man' - Showing the core muscles! Copyright © 2015 Tatty Bumpkin ltd

If your child has strong, activated core muscles this will help them to: 

• Sit in a balanced, comfortable position instead of slumping too much.

• Use their shoulder muscles to support the weight of their arm.This will allow your child to free their delicate hand muscles for writing. If a child's shoulder muscles tend to be inactive or weak they may try to support their whole arm with their hand muscles and this can lead to a very tight pencil grip and hand ache.

2. As they do rabbit pose with the streamer your child will be organising huge amounts of different sensory information in their brain e.g. information from their visual, touch and movement (proprioceptive and vestibular) senses.
This sequence of:
Taking in sensations > Processing sensations in the brain >To do a specific activity

 is powerful way of developing sensory organisation! 

When a child is learning to write, good sensory organisation skills will help them to focus on relevant sensory information e.g. their  pencil grip and hand movements and to 'filter out’ irrelevant sensory information e.g. a sound outside, a picture hanging on the wall, the feel of their clothing. 

Core stability and sensory organisation develop naturally from birth up to at least 7 years of age. These processes are refined by whole body movement
or physical play! 

3. As your child takes weight through their hands they will be activating and gently stretching out their hand muscles, preparing them for writing and drawing activities. 



Love Tatty Bumpkin x 

A New Start with Tatty Bumpkin in 2016? 

Or, maybe, you are thinking of a new career for 2016, 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. 

Tatty Bumpkin’s Yoga Penguin Pose for Activating Little Feet and Improving Balance Skills!

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

It could be cold this week in the UK and Tatty Bumpkin is off exploring the Antarctic learning to how to do ‘penguin pose’ with her penguin friends!

Penguin pose is a fun way to bring activity into your child’s day. Ten minute movement breaks all add up! For other ideas the British Heart Foundation has some handy ideas see http://www.bhfactive.org.uk/userfiles/Documents/helpyourchildmove.pdf 

General Advice 

Try to do penguin pose with your child, or encourage brothers and sisters to join in. Research shows toddlers and young children bond with their parents and ‘key people’ not only through touch but also by moving with them. For further ideas on games to improve your relationship with your little one see http://pro.psychcentral.com/child-therapist/2014/08/5-attachment-based-activities-to-strengthen-parent-child-relationships/# 

Enjoy a Baby Bumpkin class with your child

"I tried to teach my child with books.
He gave me only puzzled looks.
I used clear words to discipline,But I never seemed to win.
Despairingly, I turned aside.“How shall I reach this child?” I cried.
Into my hand he put the key:“Come,” he said, “Play with me.”
Author unknown (adapted by Aletha Solter)

Tatty Bumpkin’s Penguin Yoga Activity

• Find a clear space on the carpet or a mat with your child. Make sure you both have a clear space around you so you are not likely to bump your heads! 

• Start by taking off your shoes and socks as your child will benefit from doing penguin pose barefoot. They will be able to move their feet and toes properly so receiving accurate sensory information through their feet. 

• Stand up tall with your child and show them how they can rock back on their heels so their toes and the balls of their feet are off the floor. 

• Now just balancing on your heels see if you and your child can shuffle forwards, backwards or even sideways! 

• Put your arms by your side then turn your hands up so they are like little penguin wings. 

• Want to make it harder? Carefully place a bean bag or a rolled up pair of socks on your feet, then move onto your heels as you did before seeing if you can keep the beanbag balanced on your feet – just like a penguin carrying its egg! 

Picking up your Penguin Eggs – with your feet!

Supervise your child closely during this game to prevent banged heads. 

After balancing your egg on your feet have a go at picking it up with your child, but not with your hands - with your feet! 

• Sit down with your child and your egg props (bean bags or rolled up socks are ideal) and a shallow tray or basket. 

• Guide your child to put their hands down on their mat by their sides so they can safely lift their feet off the ground whilst taking weight through their hands. 

• Then show your child how they can pick up the egg with their feet and put it in a container!  A shallow container will be easier than one which is deeper. 

Picking up apples with your feet!

• Encourage your child to watch you for a few goes to get the idea. You might have to help them though - place your ‘egg’ toy between your child’s feet and encourage them to wrap their feet round it so they are holding it between the soles of their feet. 

• The final step is for your child to lift their egg up with their feet and place it in the tray.

• Keep practising and then enjoy the look of triumph on your child’s face as they realise they can use their feet like their hands! 

Why Penguin Yoga Activity is ‘Good for Me’

Penguin pose will help your child to: 

1. Activate tummy muscles - As your child balances on their heels in penguin pose they will increase the activity in their tummy muscles. This will help their overall posture. 

2. Improve balance skills - When your child walks on their heels in penguin pose, they have less of their feet on the floor and as a result they will be improving their balance skills.

3. Calf muscle stretch - Penguin pose also provides your child with an excellent calf muscle stretch hence this pose is ideal, fun activity if your child has a tendency to walk on their tiptoes. 

3. Co-ordination skills - To improve their co-ordination skills, especially their eye foot co-ordination (for football), your child can practise standing and walking with a bean bag balanced on their feet – just like a penguin with an egg! 

4. Activate their foot muscles – As your child picks up their penguin eggs, they will be working their intrinsic foot muscles. These tiny muscles which support and control the foot are vital for balance and maintaining a good foot position.

Love Tatty Bumpkin x 

A New Start with Tatty Bumpkin in 2016? 

Or, maybe, you are thinking of a new career for 2016, 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.