By Sue Heron – Training Co-ordinator Tatty Bumpkin and Paediatric Physiotherapist
The pose for this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is MOUNTAIN. Tatty Bumpkin excitedly jumps out of bed, for today she plans to climb a mountain!
However once through the Giggle Tree, finding herself at foot of the mountain Tatty Bumpkin is amazed how big it is, there is even snow on the top. Still Tatty Bumpkin does not give up easily and soon she is skipping up the mountain path …
Who will she meet on her way up and what will she find at the top? Tatty Bumpkin is looking for fellow explorers to come with her on her mountain adventure!
What Mountain Pose Looks Like
Description – What to Say to Your Child
Find a clean flat floor, mat or piece of grass to stand on and take your shoes off. Stand with your feet together and your arms by your side. Take a big breath in and out and try to stand as tall as you can. Imagine an invisible silver thread gently pulling you up from your head! Try to keep your shoulders down and your chin tucked in a little. Think about how the floor feels under your feet & imagine you are as strong and as tall as a mountain! Make a mountain range with your friends and ask someone to put a white sheet over your heads for the snow!
Note to Parents: if your child is younger do mountain pose with your child so they can copy you. Give your child a white handkerchief to put on their head; this is the snow on their mountain top! Encourage your child to stand as still and straight as they can so the handkerchief stays on their head. Then play a game of ‘1, 2, 3, fall off!’ with the handkerchief.
Want to make it harder?
Stretch your arms above your head to be a very tall mountain. Ask someone to gently blow on your body to see if your mountain will move in the wind. Shut your eyes and see if you can keep still – this is much harder!
Why it is ‘Good For Me’
Mountain pose will give your child the opportunity to:
Refine their balance skills. Standing still is surprisingly difficult to do and mountain pose will give your child the chance to be still as they can. As your child practises mountain pose with their eyes closed they will be developing more mature balance skills. That is they will be using mainly their body senses (proprioception and their vestibular sense) to keep still rather than relying on seeing where they are (the visual sense). When a toddler takes their first steps they rely mostly on their visual sense to keep their balance (they have to look where they are going!), but by the age of seven children will mostly be using their body senses to keep their balance as they move around.
Increase their brain’s awareness of their body. As your child stands in mountain pose encourage them to think about their: feet and their toes, their hands and their fingers and how straight and long their back and neck feels.
Improve their concentration and to calm. Whilst they are doing mountain pose encourage your child to slow their breathing and take a few deeper breaths. This will help them to calm themselves as slowing the breathing automatically lowers the heart rate. Practising being still in mountain pose can help your child to improve their levels of concentration for other tasks
Make it Multi-Sensory, Educational & Fun
In Tatty Bumpkin classes we use unique storylines to make the activities meaningful and to fire the imagination.
All our classes are multi-sensory comprising of:
Adapted yoga poses and activities which both stimulate and calm the body senses
Dedicated songs and rhythms which are relevant to the stories
Bespoke hand-woven props to look at and feel. Tatty Bumpkin has its own range of fairly traded animal props to back up the yoga poses and bring the stories to life. Our teachers are supported to use natural props in the classes which are great to feel as opposed to smooth plastic
We have carefully linked each Tatty Bumpkin to the new 2012 Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Importantly supporting children to learn ‘how to learn’ not just focusing on what on they learn.
So … The Adventure This Week ..
This week Tatty Bumpkin has set herself the challenge of climbing a mountain. She has carefully thought about what to take and packed everything in her rucksack: water bottle, sandwiches, map and her mobile phone.
What will you put in your rucksack?
The mountain looks big and cold but Tatty Bumpkin is up for the adventure and off she skips, up the mountain path. At a steep bit she sings her 'Counting in 10’s' song to keep her spirits up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr57TCm4w60!
As I do my climbing I'm climbing by tens! 10, 20 ,30 ....
A snake blocks her path and there are big boulders to jump over but Tatty Bumpkin solves these problems and makes it to the top. Hurray!
Hurray! We did it!
Then Tatty Bumpkin sees Cat, he is meowing and needing help as he has injured his paw. Tatty Bumpkin has a think, what can she do, any ideas anyone? Arh huh! She remembers her mobile phone and quickly dials the ‘Mountain Dog Helicopter Rescue Service’ (MDHRS).
"Mountain Dog Helicopter Rescue? We need help!"
Mountain Dog lands his helicopter on the mountain top and takes off as smoothly and carefully as he can with injured Cat and Tatty Bumpkin.
Back at base, Cat’s paw is bandaged and Tatty Bumpkin builds a campfire to cook some food for Dog to say ‘thank you’. Delicious!
What is your favourite campfire food….?
This story gives your child an opportunity to:
Stand still for a moment in mountain pose, wriggle on their tummy in snake pose, balance in cat pose and practise moving from squat to stand and back down again, maybe without using their hands, in helicopter pose.
Use their imagination to think and talk about the mountains; how big, cold and still they are and the creatures who might live on them.
Problem solve with their friends, working out how to: get past the snake and help Cat.
Think of ideas for delicious campfire food to cook and campfire songs to sing!
