2013 Week 29: Tatty Bumpkin's pose for the Week is HEDGEHOG

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

The pose for this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is HEDGEHOG!

As the summer days start to shorten, and the early mornings become mistier and cooler, Tatty Bumpkin ventures into the forest to see what she can find. Underneath the trees she discovers mushrooms of all shapes and sizes; she looks at them carefully, knowing that some can be dangerous, and is startled by a little face peeping out from a particularly large mushroom – who can it be?

This week Tatty Bumpkin not only helps a friend but visits the magical world of the woodland wizards and fairies…..

What Hedgehog Pose Looks Like

Curl up small like a hedgehog

Uh oh - too shy! Shoot out your spines

Description – What to Say to Your Child

Lie on your back and curl up, hugging your knees to your chest, like a shy hedgehog! Count out ‘1, 2, 3 spiky!’ On the word ‘spiky’ quickly uncurl your legs and arms and ‘shoot’ them out sideways like hedgehog spines. Then curl up again to take a rest.

Note to Parents: if your child is younger do the hedgehog pose with your child so they can copy you. For adults, hedgehog pose is a great stomach muscle exercise - just make sure you tuck your chin in if you lift your head off the floor (see below).

Want to make it harder?

Older children (31/2 – 4 years old): when you curl up like a shy hedgehog, ‘have a go’ at lifting your head off the floor to ‘kiss your knees!’ Keep your chin down towards your chest as you ‘shoot’ out your arms and legs to be a spiky hedgehog. N.B. Note to parents - if your child is trying this progression guide them to ‘tuck their chins in’ rather than ‘poke them out’ so they do not strain their neck muscles.

Why it is ‘Good For Me’

Hedgehog pose will give your child the opportunity to:

Strengthen their ‘core muscles’. As your child curls up in hedgehog pose they will be working their tummy (abdominal) muscles. When they push their legs and arms out to the side to be a spiky hedgehog your child will be working their tummy muscles more along with their shoulder and hip muscles. If your child is older and lifting their head off the floor, they will be working these muscles even harder!

Improve their awareness of their body or ‘body schema’. It is believed an important part of movement is the creation of a picture of our body in our minds – a ‘body schema’. When we take in information about ‘where we are’ through our senses (seeing, touching, hearing, balancing) our brains pass this information via our mind’s ‘body schema’ or ‘body picture’ before moving. As we grow and change shape, our body schema obviously has to change. When your child moves their legs and arms towards and away from their body in hedgehog pose they will have the chance to update their ‘body schema’. They will ‘feel’ how:

Their legs and arms are changing i.e. getting heavier and longer
The different parts of their body move in relation to one another – again this will be changing as they grow.

Updating their ‘body schema’ will help your child be confident in their body and feel generally more 'secure in themselves'.

Tatty Bumpkin Makes 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. Supporting children to learn how to learn not just focusing on what on they learn.

So … The Adventure This Week ..

This week Tatty Bumpkin sets out to explore the forest and, as she walks down the woodland paths, she is filled with wonder at the mushrooms, all different colours, shapes and sizes.

What colour mushroom would you be?

Tatty Bumpkin looks at the mushrooms carefully, as she know some mushrooms can be dangerous, and is surprised by a little prickly face with beady eyes and a long nose – who can that be?

Who is there I wonder?

It’s Hedgehog!

But, oh no!

He is very shy and he shoots out his prickles when the other forest creatures invite him to play. Will he play with wriggly grass snake? No, too shy! Will he play with the tickly spiders? No, too shy!

"Hedgehog, come and wriggle with us!"

Then Tatty Bumpkin comes up with a great idea – the woodland wizards and fairies might be able to help.

So Hedgehog hops intoTatty Bumpkin’s ruck sack and together they creep through the forest. Where would the wizards and fairies be? Inside the fairy mushroom ring or under the magic tree?

Might fairies live in a mushroom fairy ring?

Could wizards live in magic trees?

This story gives your child an opportunity to:

Activate and strengthen their core muscles i.e. their hip, back, shoulder and abdominal muscles through hedgehog, spider, tree and snake poses

Creep and crawl with others, under the forest canopy, to the Tatty Bumpkin Spider song

Think and talk about feeling shy and confident when doing different things or being in different places

Use their imagination and creativity to: think of a spectacular mushroom colour, use their body to make an amazing tree and come up with a magical spell for a helpful wizard or fairy!

A helpful wizard needs a magical spell!

Find your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html