2013 - 14 Week 7: Tatty Bumpkin's Activity for the Week is Knitting or Baby Bird Pose!

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

The activity for this week in Tatty Bumpkin classes is 'knitting' or 'Baby Bird' pose.

This week Tatty Bumpkin is kind and helpful to a dear old lady.

Tatty Bumpkin creeps down a little path and discovers a little crooked house with a tiny door, the door is open a little way and Tatty Bumpkin can hear someone crying upstairs. Inside Tatty Bumpkin finds an old lady knitting, as she comes closer she sees that there are tears streaming down the old lady's cheeks. Tatty Bumpkin asks the old lady what the matter is as she hates to see anyone upset. The old lady tells Tatty Bumpkin that her house is a mess and she needs some help to tidy it up.

Tatty Bumpkin has a think – ar hah the wizard of course – he will know exactly what to do! Tatty Bumpkin reaches for her mobile phone and so the adventure begins ….

What ‘Knitting Activity’ or ‘Baby Bird’ Pose Looks Like

'Knit, knit, knit' or 'tweet, tweet, tweet!'

Description of ‘Knitting Activity’ or ‘Baby Bird’ Pose - Older children

Note to parents - It is always best to do knitting activity or baby bird pose with your child so they can copy you, this is especially true if your child is younger.

Parents - so start in sitting, either with your legs cross legged or sitting back on your heels. Gain eye contact with your child and suggest you play at knitting or being baby birds. Then demonstrate the pose to your child i.e. Stretch one arm out in front of you, towards your child, and wave your hand at them. Then slowly place your waving hand on your opposite shoulder and hold it there. Stretch out your other arm and wave that hand at your child, so they can clearly see your actions, then place that hand on the opposite shoulder. You should now have both your hands on your opposite shoulders and your arms crossed over your body. Encourage your child to copy you. Still keeping your hands on your shoulders, move your elbows apart and then together – like a baby bird opening their beak or perhaps like two knitting needles working together. As you do this pose with your child, moving your elbows apart and then together, make tweeting sounds or ‘knitting’ sounds depending on what you are imagining your being!

Other games – or ‘Baby Bird’ pose

Once your child has the idea of doing baby bird pose – Parents can pretend their fingers are little worms! In this game, parents, or friends, can wriggle their finger in front of the child doing baby bird pose – then the ‘Baby Bird’ has to try and close their beak really quickly to ‘catch the worm!’

Description of ‘Knitting Activity’ or ‘Baby Bird’ pose – Younger children

Find a comfortable place to sit with your toddler in front of you, either invite them to sit on the floor or on your lap. Gently encourage your toddler to open their arms wide and then cross them across their body - like a baby bird’s beak or imaging they are knitting! Encourage your toddler to cross their arms one way and then the other. Make it into a game by saying “1, 2, 3, knit, knit, knit” or “1, 2, 3, tweet, tweet tweet” as you do the actions.
If your toddler is older, kneel or sit down opposite them and do the actions yourself so they can copy you.

Other games

Find four sticks, which are safe to use i.e. they have no sharp splinters, or use wooden spoons. Pick up two of the sticks yourself and gently tap them together in front of you, as you were knitting – then encourage your toddler to have a go! Once again say “1, 2, 3 knit, knit, knit” as you do the actions.
You can progress the game by finding a saucepan, turning it upside, and then having a go at tapping on it with your spoons or sticks like a drum. You and your toddler can experiment with different rhythms tapping quickly then slowly. Remember take care as your toddler will no doubt love this game! To prevent your toddler getting too over-excited, do the drumming activity for a few minutes then do the knitting or baby bird pose with them, because this pose is like a big hug, it will help to calm them down.

Make a drum!

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Why it is ‘Good For Me’

As you do knitting or baby bird pose with your child or toddler they will be:

1. Learning about their middle and crossing their ’midline’. ‘Crossing the midline’ means that one hand spontaneously moves over to the other side of the body to do an activity. When your toddler spontaneously crosses the midline they will be starting to discover how the left and right sides of their body work together.

From about six months old, your toddler may well have been crossing-the-midline of their body to pick up toys on the opposite side. If your toddler is sitting confidently in you can encourage them to ‘cross the midline of their body’ by placing toys to either side of them and encouraging them to reach across their body to pick them up or by giving them safe, larger, things to play with which mean they have to use both hands.

Cross the midline to hold something BIG!

From about 12 months your toddler might be using a ‘preferred’ hand to pick up objects –this will become their ‘dominant hand’. This is the beginning of ‘bimanual’ hand development where each hand does a different action to `complete a task e.g. your toddler may hold a container with one hand and remove the lid with their ‘preferred hand’. As they continue to use their dominant hand, it will slowly become more skilled at doing various fine motor (hand) tasks e.g. using a crayon to make marks on paper, using cutlery or starting to help with buttons or zips. However never ‘force’ your toddler to always use the same hand if they do not want to; at this stage it is important that they play, have fun and explore the objects around them.

Cross the midlline to 'do something'!

If your child is older, and they already have a ‘preferred hand’ i.e. they are either right or left handed, crossing the midline activities are still beneficial for them as these games will help them become more aware of their midline and how their right and left sides can work smoothly and quickly together. So knitting game can be thought of as an ideal game to improve writing, dressing, cutlery or sporting skills such as tennis.

Leonardo da Vinci knew how to cross his midline to paint the Mona Lisa

Andy Murray knows how to cross the midline to win at tennis

2. Stimulating their proprioceptive sense. Proprioception is one of our body’s senses, it tells us the position of our body and how parts of our body relate to one another and move with each other. It is stimulated by the stretching and contraction of our muscles and the bending, straightening, pulling and pushing of our joints as they move together. Amazingly this sense starts to develop after only 12 weeks from conception - whilst the baby is in the womb! Activities which stimulate this sense can either alert or calm i.e. pushing and pulling games can be alerting but hugs are calming. Knitting or baby bird pose if done slowly and held for a few moments will stimulate your child’s proprioceptive sense, just like a hug, and can help them to calm.

3. Stretching out their arm and shoulder muscles. If your child has been sitting or lying in one position for a while, this activity combined with other gentle stretches is a great way for them stretch their shoulder and back muscles. Remember muscles need movement to grow and lengthen!

4. Building their relationship with you. As you do this activity with your child or toddler,n=maybe making funny noises or pretending to ‘catch a worm’ you will be strengthening that very special bond between you both.

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’s adventure is all about Tatty Bumpkin being kind and helping others. Today it is the little old lady in her crooked house who is in trouble. The old lady is still able to knit but she needs help to keep her house and garden tidy so her grandchildren can have somewhere to play.

Tatty Bumpkin has a think and comes up with the idea of phoning the wizard – maybe he has a magic spell that can help the old lady? When the wizard arrives he stretches up tall and says a magic word. The little old lady starts to knit like crazy and Tatty Bumpkin looks on in amazement - what is the old lady knitting?

It is something very big and the little old lady needs lots of grey wool, it has four, big legs and a trunk … what creature can it be and how can it help the little old lady?

Come and find out at your local Tatty Bumpkin class ..

The wizard says a magic word!

This story will give your child an opportunity to:

Become more aware of the midline of their body and how to cross each arm or leg smoothly over their midline as they do the knitting game and elephant pose

Strengthen their shoulder and arm muscles as they do cat, spider and horse poses

Use gestures or words to express their feelings – imagining they are feeling ‘sad’ like the little old lady at the beginning of the story and then ‘happy’ like the little old lady after Tatty Bumpkin has helped her out

Develop their sense of rhythm as they creep and crawl to Tatty Bumpkin Spider song

Calm themselves and experiment with being really still as they do bee pose

Think about being kind to others and how their actions and words can make others feel happy or sad

Have fun with their friends; washing the house as elephants, scrubbing the floors and windows as spiders and of course trampling the weeds in the garden as horses

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