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Why KindyROO kids excel socially and in leadership roles

As well as laying down the foundations for academic, emotional and sporting success, the KindyROO program also sets children up for excellence in social and emotional skills. KindyROO graduates are generally socially adept and emotionally mature, which makes them great team players, great leaders and great classmates, and many are now leaders in schools and communities.

To do well at school socially and emotionally, and to become future leaders, children need to be able to achieve the following skills from their earliest days in the school classroom:

Social skills:

  • Be able to trust and relate to other adults.
  • Be able to take directions from other adults.
  • Be able to go to preschool without too many tears.
  • Be able to mix happily with other children at preschool.
  • Be able to take turns and share.
  • Have begun to have friends over to play.
  • Have special friends and can talk about them in conversation.

Emotional skills:

  • Be able to separate from parent easily.
  • Have confidence in own abilities.
  • Be able to participate in activities by self.
  • Be able to participate in group activities.
  • Be able to exercise some self-control.
  • Be able to take responsibilities for getting started, packing up.
  • Be aware of other children’s needs.
  • Be able to concentrate for short periods up to ten minutes.

How the KindyROO program encourages the development of the above skill set

At KindyROO children are given the opportunity to develop these skills throughout the entire program of activities. While our key focus is on movement – as it is through movement that we create and build key neural pathways essential to learning – our movement activities are intertwined closely with opportunities that also stimulate emotional and social learning.

Even from as young as mobile babies, children in a KindyROO class learn to take turns, cooperate with others, share equipment, work out how to navigate around others when moving, and learn to make eye contact with other children and adults other than immediate family. Babies and toddlers learn to follow instructions on request from someone other than their parents; they build trust in someone other than their parents as they use the KindyROO equipment assisted by their KindyROO teacher; they participate in group activities as they play with small equipment, learning to share and building awareness of the needs of others.

Taking turns while waiting to climb up a ladder, roll along a mat or be handed a piece of equipment helps young children learn to exercise self-control. Self-control is a key ‘school ready’ skill. Long-term research has shown that young children who have excellent emotional regulation in the form of self-control at four years of age learn more successfully at school and are less likely to be overweight.

Concentration is also a key ‘school-ready’ skill. Children who can concentrate for periods of ten minutes at a time when they start school are far more likely to be successful learners. They can follow a sequence of instructions, remember them and act on them correctly. Imagine if you arrived at school and a short concentration span enabled you only to remember the first instruction from the teacher, “sit down”, and not the remainder – “get out your blue work book and pencil and open to page 10.” Learning is enormously difficult as the child struggles to work out exactly what she or he needs to do. At KindyROO we deliberately include auditory sequencing training in class. For our one year olds, we ask them to follow a sequence of one or two instructions, for our two year olds, a sequence of two or three, and by the time a child is five years of age and ready for school, they should be able to follow a sequence of five to six instructions.

Incorporating movement into a sequence of instructions helps the brain develop the necessary pathways that enable a child to build on the sequence as it is learned. For example, one year olds: “Can you step into the hoop?” Two year olds: “Can you jump forward into the hoop and step out backward?” Three year olds: “Can you hop forward into the hoop, step sideways out of the hoop and then jump around the hoop? Four-five year olds: “Can you jump in the first hoop, hop into the second hoop, turn around and jump into the third hoop then do a somersault through the fourth hoop?”

Importantly, successful learners are much more likely to be happy, confident and to enjoy school, and this assists in both social and emotional maturity as it keeps stress levels to a minimum. Children who are stressed at school find controlling their emotions much harder because the stress hormone- cortisol – floods their brain and keeps them in a ‘flight or fright’ high alert state of mind. The anxiety that arises as a result of high stress distracts the mind from concentrating on the task at hand, so learning is compromised. Anxiety affects the maturation of the emotional areas of the brain and this impacts on the ability to socialise easily and to cope with the everyday challenges of school.

At KindyROO we provide lots of movement activities that help the brain to release the ‘feel good’ hormones – endorphins – that help children think clearly, concentrate, develop good self-esteem, confidence and emotional regulation skills that come with the success of learning new tasks and skills at each and every age and stage of development. Importantly KindyROO activities all occur in an environment where babies and small children feel safe as they are with their important family member or caregiver. Feeling ‘safe’ means the brain is stimulated by these feel good hormones to learn new tasks and to tackle new challenges without fear of failure or rejection. Continuing these activities at home on a daily basis is also an important part of the healthy development of social and emotional skills.

As a little example of developing leadership abilities we were delighted to hear that out of twenty-five babies who enrolled in the Maitland KindyROO centre in 2005, fourteen continued in the program until going to school. Of these fourteen, SEVEN became Primary School Captains in 2016.

KindyROO is about more than having a good time. It’s designed to ensure children have the very best possible beginning as they launch into their life at school and beyond, not just academically and physically, but also socially and emotionally.

Dr Jane Williams (PhD, BMgt, RN(Paeds)) is the Research and Education General Manager for KindyROO. She is one of Australia’s leading experts on baby and child development.

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Why KindyROO kids excel at writing, reading and arithmetic

The KindyROO program is designed to ensure that babies and children go through the normal developmental sequence of movements and are given plenty of opportunity to practice, repeat and refine these movements within each stage of development. It is only through repeated movement experiences that the young brain grows and connects efficient and effective message pathways that optimise brain development and provide the foundations for more complex levels of learning such as reading, writing and mathematics.

Writing

The human body is genetically programmed to develop from the centre of the body – big muscles – to the outer parts of the body, dominated by the small muscles. Proficiency at any fine motor (small muscle) task, depends firstly on the development of the associated bigger muscles, (gross motor). Handwriting is one such fine motor skill. Learning to write actually begins in infancy. If the big muscles do not receive adequate stimulation and development, then there is a flow on effect to the small muscles in the hands and so writing, or any task requiring manual dexterity, can be affected.

Through tummy time, commando crawling and creeping our babies begin their journey towards being proficient hand-writers as they gain control over primitive reflexes, develop muscle tone and strength in the hands, arms, shoulders, neck and back ­– vital for later fine motor skill development.

As they grow, young children continue to develop their upper body strength as they push, pull, lift, carry, climb, hang and swing – working on both the gross motor component of handwriting and fine tuning manual dexterity skills. Holding, hanging and swinging correctly helps with the development of cortical grip which will help to ensure that the correct mature pencil grip will develop over time. This is one of the reasons you will find so many hanging and swinging opportunities throughout our KindyROO classes.

Becoming competent on the KindyROO overhead ladder (monkey bars) not only works on gross motor abilities and strengthening but also developing hand-eye coordination (the eyes will follow the hands when moving from rung to rung), motor planning (moving and thinking), timing, rhythm, posture, balance and laterality development.

While muscle development and upper body strengthening are vital components necessary for proficient handwriting, there are other areas of skill development that are also needed by our young hand-writers.

To be ready to write easily children need to have the following:

  • Good tactile and body awareness so they can control their fingers automatically.
  • Posture and balance developed to the extent that they can sit still easily and concentrate on their work.
  • Auditory perception and processing skills so they understand the instructions given by their teacher.
  • The ability to move their eyes smoothly from what they are copying to what they are writing.
  • The ability to ‘picture’ the letters they are writing in their mind (visualisation).
  • The fine motor skills to manipulate the paper and pencil.
  • The hand-eye coordination to write correctly what their eyes have seen.
  • Temporal awareness; an internal understanding of time, to be able to do the allotted task in the time allocated.

When all of this is in place, our children can easily take on the task of writing. However, if one or more of these factors are not fully developed, then a child may potentially struggle with the writing tasks at school.

Reading

The first steps towards reading begin long before a child enters school.

When children have the opportunity to encourage motor skill development they also stimulate the muscles of their eyes and their vision. As they move from one place to the next, their eyes learn to adjust – near and far, up and down, from left to right and back again. The brain is also learning to interpret what is being seen. These are essential skills for learning to read – eyes need to move smoothly and in unison across a page to read, and the brain needs to be able to interpret what is being read. This ability to ‘visualise’ (see in our minds eye) and perceive (understand what we are seeing) are key ingredients to learning. Children with limited movement opportunities often find these tasks much harder.

Musical songs, games and nursery rhymes like those used at KindyROO promote and boost language development, helping to lay the foundation for communication and learning to read and spell. Neuroscientists have found that hearing, repeating, and moving rhythmically to music, teaches the brain how to communicate. It connects the necessary neural pathways the children need in order to begin to speak and is encouraging for verbal communication. Good readers have good language and speech skills.

Mathematics

Babies and young children develop mathematical skills based on bodily and sensory-motor experiences that apply to mathematical concepts such as shape, space and order e.g. How do I fit? How many of those shapes can I crawl through? What part of my body should I use first in order to move through that tunnel? All experiences they get plenty of practice at during KindyROO classes! A recently published study has found that toddlers under the age of four years who acquire an extensive range of motor skills also demonstrate high levels of mathematical skills.

When toddlers actively play they are stimulating the development of number skills such as manipulation, playing with objects that require classification, one-to-one correspondence, counting and sorting.

Mathematics is also based in an understanding of rhythm and time and having a well-developed sense of temporal awareness. Rhythm is essentially a basic form of mathematics. A young child learns patterns associated with rhythm. These rhythmical patterns then assist the child with later mathematical pattern recognition. The combination of music and movement also enhances skills of logic and rhythmic skills that are important for organising ideas and solving problems – the same skills needed to develop an understanding of mathematics. At KindyROO you will have noticed just how many activities we do that involve the use of a regular beat; finger and foot plays, exercises to music, dances, music time on the mat with rhythm sticks, maracas, triangles and even parachute time.

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How to raise a smarter, happier baby

There are thousands of parents already raising smarter, happier babies and it is costing them nothing other than their time.

The supporting documentation is now vast and undeniable – a baby’s brain grows most rapidly in the first twelve months of life and this is a critical period for learning. What happens in the first year of life affects all later development. The correct stimulation for babies can influence how well they behave, read and learn when they reach school. In addition, they have improved confidence, coordination, communication and socialization skills.

Parents can have a dramatic influence over their babies’ brain growth and their future learning ability. We believe that every parent has the right to give their child the chance to be the best that s/he can be and the right to easily access information so they can make this happen.

This is why our Active Babies Smart Kids twelve-part, online video series for parents of babies is entirely FREE. Our series is highly recommended by doctors, paediatricians, early childhood experts and the Maternal Child and Family Health Nurses Association. This series is taking the parenting world by storm! The most wonderful part about it all is just how many babies will be getting off to such a great start. The future for these babies is looking very bright.

You can join the thousands of parents already raising happier, smarter babies and play with your little one in the best way for brain and body development, helping to lay those crucial foundations for future learning, simply by subscribing here . The earlier in your parenting career that you watch the videos, the better! Our series is designed for you to be able to do with your little one from birth.

Post continues after video.

“I’ve been following the Active Babies Smart Kids videos, doing one every few days. I’ve noticed a huge difference in bubs abilities, especially tummy time. They are such a great reference tool because not only are you provided with the activity but also the ‘why’ which is so important! It’s not only teaching bub, it’s teaching me too! I feel more confident as a new mum. Thank you for this great resource.” Read more testimonials here.

The series is full of information, specialist advice and hundreds of loving activities for parents to join in and to do with their babies to ensure they receive the best start and the correct stimulation to lay down the foundations for later learning. You’ll enjoy fun activities, dance and sing as you learn about tummy time, baby exercises and massage, speech and hearing development, baby balance and coordination, bonding and so much more.

More and more evidence is being documented confirming the long-term benefits of our program. School teachers are describing those who have been through the KindyROO program as having higher levels of concentration, better behaviour and being generally happier, more socially mature and physically capable than their peers.

Why the first year is SO important to future learning

Neuro-scientific studies are continuously demonstrating that much of the essential wiring linked to learning is laid down during the earliest years of life. Research into brain development clearly shows a child’s success at school is set in the earliest years of life.

There is an exciting and enormous amount of brain growth that can go on in this earliest year if babies are given the learning opportunities and the opportunity to use their brains. The human brain grows by use and this growth is practically complete by six years of age. This does not mean we cannot learn after this age, it simply means that the quality of learning available to us will depend primarily on the foundations we have acquired in our earliest years.

The biggest difference to the number of neural connections created is made in the first year of life. During the first year, brain cells are busy making millions of connections. The connections peak at about one year and, in a process called ‘pruning’, they are eliminated if they are not used. The connections that babies use regularly are the ones they keep.

As the brain grows, the millions of connections that are made between the message highways – neurons – tell the brain about the body and the environment in which the baby is growing. The number of these connections, how well those messages are transported along the neurons, how strong the connections are and how much information the brain can interpret from the messages will be influenced by several key environmental experiences: movement opportunities, sensory stimulation, emotional security and diet.

A baby’s brain grows through movement and the correct early movement experiences are easy, natural and fun and any parent can do them with their babies.

Parents are a child’s first, most important and best teacher. Through our KindyROO programs – in class and online, we strive to help parents feel confident in their knowledge about their babies’ brain and body development and provide them with developmentally appropriate and loving activities that can be easily accomplished both at KindyROO and at home.

KindyROO – making the world brighter one baby at a time.

Dr Jane Williams (PhD, BMgt, RN(Paeds)) is the Research and Education General Manager for  KindyROO. She is one of Australia’s leading experts on baby and child development.

by admin

Програмата е създадена в Австралия през 1982 г. от Маргарет Сасе, майка на пет деца и специалист по ранно детско развитие. Три от нейните деца и днес се занимават с развитието започнатото от нея.

КиндиРу присъства в над 15 страни и насърчава естественото и здравословно израстване на бебетата и децата до 5-годишна възраст. Помага и за предолояване на невро-моторни състояния на незрялост при бебета, деца и подрастващи.

Успехът на програмата се крие в последователното надграждане и работа за стимулиране на съответните двигателни и сензорни преживявания, които да подпомогнат правилното развитие на мозъка.

Няма да ви отегчаваме с лекция по неврология, но всички знаем, колко безпомощно е новороденото и колко години минават, докато стане самостоятелен индивид. Това е така, защото след раждане действаме на ниво първични рефлекси с функция „оцеляване” и от мозъка „работят” много силно гръбначният мозък,  мозъчният ствол и изобщо така наречените му „ниски етажи”. Докато се премине през последователно „включване” на различните части и центрове на мозъка, за да започнат да функционират висшите функции и мисленето, трябва да се случат много неща.  Целият този процес на интегриране протича постепенно, чрез различни сензорни и двигателни стимулации. Така се създават по най-оптимален начин мозъчните „връзки”, които са ни необходими, за да функционираме като здрави, пълноценни и мислещи личности. Едно дете с добре интегрирани мозък и тяло ще има потенциала да научи много по-лесно четене, писане и математика и да развие своите таланти в пълна степен.

За да се гарантира актуалността на програмата, екипите на КидниРу в целия свят, и особено в централата ни в Австралия, следят и внедряват новости от редица области като педиатрия, педагогика, психология и неврология. Доктор Джейн Уилямс, директор научно-развойна дейност на КиндиРу, е признат автор с множество научни публикации и работи с водещи световни експерти. Тя редовно посещава България за среща с родители и за регулярни обучения на екипа ни от специалисти, които работят с вас и вашите деца. За нас повишаването на квалификацията и уменията ни е от първостепенно значение, тъй като искаме да сме максимално полезни на вас и децата ви.

Нашата цел е бебетата и малките деца да имат възможността да преминат всички етапи на своето развитие по най-добрия начин и да са подготвени за постъпване в училище. За да се развие пълният потенциал на децата, е необходимо неврологичната им възраст да е поне на нивото на хронологичната такава. Нашите деца постигат прекрасни успехи в тази посока.

В клас Платипус ще ви научим как чрез песни и движения да стимулирате своето бебе. Ще Ви информираме за това, което се случва в различни области на развитието му.

Новородените и съвсем малки бебета виждат доста малко в сравнение с нас, порасналите чуват малко по-добре и съвсем малко разбират. Примитивните или първичните рефлекси, с които се раждат бебетата са жизнено важни на този етап от живота им. Преминаването на тези първичните рефлекси и движения в осъзнати ще им помогнат да започнат да се предвижват – да бъдат мобилни. За да се случи това ние насърчаваме родителя да прави масаж и съответни движения стимулиращи вестибуларния апарат на бебето. Препоръчваме, когато то е будно, да прекарва повече време по коремче. Насърчаваме родителя да му прави масаж и съответни движения които стимулират вестибуларния апарат.

В KindyROO ние препоръчваме на родителите да не слагат бебетата си седнали, докато те не го направят сами.

Сега, когато бебето вече се движи, подът е неговата детска площадка. В клас Уомбат ние ще ви покажем много идеи за музика, ритъм и движение, ще използваме различни техники на масаж и игри.

За едно дете, което пълзи, е много важно развитието на гръбначния стълб както и на мускулите на гърба и врата. Също така е важно стимулирането и развитието на всичките му сетива. Това ще помогне за правилното интегриране на двете страни на мозъка, процес, който ще продължи в следващите няколко години от живота му.

Не бързайте да искате вашето дете да проходи. Времето, прекарано в пълзене, помага на неговото развитие.

Сега бебета са проходили и често се клатушкат като пингвини. Това е вълнуващ период – децата са в изправено положение и светът им изглежда доста по-различно.

Това е етап, в който и двете страни на тялото им работят едновременно и заниманията в клас Пингвинче са насочени към подобряване на баланса и мускулния тонус чрез упражнения и танци.

Концентрация на тази възраст е кратка, но започваме работа за слухова памет чрез повторението на детски стихчета. Започва запознаването на децата с тези странни неща, наречени думи. Визуалното проследяване на дума сега е също част от всеки клас. Способността да разберат и изпълняват прости инструкции е цел през тези месеци.

На тази възраст малките деца ходят по-стабилно и са с по-добър баланс. Започва етапът на катерене и скачане с два събрани крака. За някои, речта се развива, за други все още акцентът е върху подобряване на двигателните умения. Малките деца започват да разбират описателни думи , като “голям” и “малък” , както и концептуални думи като “над” и “в”. В клас Коала продължава работата с музика, ритъм и танц. Масажната техника се променя в тип “крокодил”.

Започва ученето на цветове. Децата вече могат да следват две команди последователно – тоест могат да донесат топката и да седнат върху нея.

Ходенето изправени е помогнало на децата да овладеят големите мускулни групи на тялото си. Започва работа за развитието на фините двигателни мускули на ръцете и пръстите.

Малките кенгура – уолаби са майстори на скачането.

Децата на възраст от 2 години са в етап, на който всяко полукълбо на мозъка им може да контролира движенията на съответната страна на тялото.

Децата в клас Уолаби започват да движат части на тялото си независимо една от друга. Техниката на масаж “крокодил” се ползва всеки час, тъй като спомага за развитие на координацията и заместването на първичните рефлекси с осъзнати.

Танците помагат на децата да се движат и да мислят едновременно, спазвайки ритъма. Визуалното проследяване на дума и образ, броенето и ученето на цветове продължава.

Възможността да се прави едно движение с десните ръка или крак, а друго с левите, е важен етап от развитието на детето и преход към етапа на кръстосани движения. Етап, важен за интегрирането на функциите на мозъка и правилното му развитие.

Децата на тази възраст си мислят, че светът е техен, но все още им предстои да овладеят контрола върху мозъка си така, че лявата и дясната страна на тялото им да изпълняват различни задачи, независимо една от друга.

В клас Кенгуру се работи за развитието на тези дейности, тъй като това помага да се консолидират всички умения, придобити в първите две години от живота .

KindyROO учителите работят за подобряването на слуховите умения и памет на децата, както и за визуалната. Стимулирането чрез музика, слово и танц продължава. Умението да разбират и изпълняват инструкции вече е усложнено до три.

Децата в клас Опосум обичат да се катерят, да бягат и галопират, да скачат и се претъркулват, всъщност обичат всяко движение! Те също така стават все по-социални и обичат да играят с другите деца. В KindyROO ние насърчаваме работа в екип.

Упражненията в този клас учат децата да използват противоположни ръка или крак в дейности като хвърляне, ходене, тичане и т.н.

Децата в клас Опосум усъвършенстват своите умения в областта на баланса и координацията, слухово и зрително възприятие, фини двигателни умения и мускулен тонус. Масажната техника „крокодил“ им помага да свикнат с независимото движение на ръце и крака и да добият представа за своето тяло – къде започва и свършва то.

Много специфични са заниманията в клас Ему. Упражнения за развитие на сила в раменния пояс, които спомагат за фина корекция на координацията, концентрацията и двигателните умения, се редуват с работа за фина моторика и развитие на координация око-ръка.

Груповите игри са по-сложни и насърчават работа в екип. Езиковата и слуховата памет се тренират с все по-комплексни занимания, които подготвят децата за етапа грамотност. Музика, ритъм и танц присъстват във всеки час.

За да се адаптират по-лесно към училищна среда, децата трябва да имат умения за осъзнати и автоматични движения. Те трябва да бъдат в състояние да използват една част от тялото си, независимо от други части, да могат да преминат с ръка над средната линия на тялото си във вертикална, хоризонтална и странична посока и да могат да седят на едно място. Завършилите клас Ему са практикували всичко това и са подготвени за преход към училище.

The program was created in Australia in 1983 by Margaret Sasse, a mother of five children and an early child development expert. Today KindyROO is present in over 15 countries and still promotes the natural and healthy growth of babies and children up to 5 years of age. Its success lies in the consistent, stimulating and age appropriate motor and sensory experiences that aid proper brain development.
We will not bore you with a lecture on neurology, but we all know how helpless the newborn baby is and how years will pass until he/she begins to use its full brain functions. This is because after birth active are only the so called “lower levels” of the brain (the spinal cord, the brainstem). As baby grows the continuous and sequential “switching on” of the different parts and centres of the brain happens and that enables the higher cognitive functions to occur. The whole process of integration is gradual and requires various sensory and motor stimuli. Those stimuli should follow the natural stages of development, should be specific, repetitive and age appropriate. This is the best way to create the brain “connections” needed for optimum functioning. A child with a well-integrated brain and body will have the potential to learn and develop his/her talents to the fullest.
In order to ensure that the program is up to date, KindyROO teams around the world, and especially at our headquarters in Australia, monitor and implement innovations from number of areas such as paediatrics, pedagogy, psychology and neurology. Dr. Jane Williams, director of KindyROO, is a recognized author with numerous scientific publications who works with leading world experts. She regularly visits Europe for meetings with parents and for training the KindyROO team as part of our continuous professional development program.
Our goal is for babies and young children to have the opportunity to go through all stages of their development in the best possible way and to join school ready to learn. For that to happen their neurological age should be at least at the level of their chronological one. Our, KindyROO children, achieve great success in this direction and excel in academia, sport and leadership.

Platypus classes provide lots of ideas about how best to create the right environment for healthy development. We show you song and movement ideas and let you know about what’s happening in different areas of development, such as vision, hearing, movement and touch.

We continue to encourage lots of tummy time, massage and movement. We help parents understand why these activities are important for development and later learning, and we show you how you can provide your baby with the most conducive and fun environment for movement and learning.

Now that your baby is moving, the floor is his/her playground. In this age group we show you how to use the floor to your baby’s best advantage. It’s cheap and easy, but you need to make it a safe place for your baby to explore and roam freely. We provide loads of ideas about music, rhythm and movement, successful massage techniques for wrigglers and squirmers, movement ideas and games that will have your baby in fits of laughter.

For an infant, crawling on their front and creeping on all fours is very important for the development of the spine, the back and neck muscles, as well as for the inhibition of the primitive reflexes coupled with the development of the postural reflexes. It is also vital for all sensory input to stimulate the later integration of the two sides of the brain.

We encourage parents not to sit their babies until they can do it by themselves. No infant should be sat up unsupported until they can seat themselves and the equilibrium (parachute) reflexes are present.

Don’t be in a hurry for your child to walk. Let their body and brain tell you when they are ready. There is no hurry to walk – they will walk for the next 80 years. It is important to initially put into place the foundational patterns that prepare your baby for walking.

Now infants are waddling like penguins, as they strive to get their balance and body awareness. This is an exciting time – at last our little ones are upright, but eyes and ears also need to adjust for seeing and understanding from upright position. Things look different now.

These aspects take precedence over speech, as little ones learn about themselves and their world. This is a bilateral stage, where both sides of the body work as one and all lessons are geared to strengthening as well as advancing skills at this level.

The focus for this age aims to improve balance and muscle tone development through walking and running – and for the older penguins, hanging by their hands.

Dances are age-related and involve walking around and forwards slowly, with the main aim at this age balance and adjustment to the upright position. Concentration spans at this age are short, so mat time is interspersed with short periods of massage and vestibular activities, along with nursery rhymes and action songs. Now is also the age at which we start auditory memory patterns through the repetition of specific verses and nursery rhymes.

The use of the flash word and the Treasure Bag object familiarises children with those strange things called words. Visual tracking is now also a part of every lesson. Children of this age are also developmentally ready to follow some simple directionality commands – arms up, down, out, and in, sit down and stand up.

At this age toddlers are walking with greater balance, running everywhere and climbing everything. Jumping is the exciting new skill at this age with two feet together, and of course hanging with two hands and arms together.

For some, speech is developing, while others are still perfecting their motor skills. Toddlers are beginning to understand descriptive words, such as ‘big’ and ‘little’, and concept words such as ‘over’ and ‘under’. Linking the word to the movement really embeds the concept in the mind. These concepts are important for later writing skills – to write a letter you need to move the pencil up, down and around to create the required shape.

Toddlers can now follow two commands in a row. In the KindyROO class everything is now geared to introduce and strengthen the toddler’s ability to follow two commands in all activities possible – i.e. collect a ball and sit on it.

We continue to sing well-known nursery rhymes, or songs from the programme CDs. This is the stage at which we introduce rhythm sticks, as we not only use them for rhythm, but for fine motor work. The development of the fine motor muscles of the hands and fingers comes after the gross motor stage of the bigger muscles of the body that enable us to walk upright.

Wallabies are really into jumping on and off anything they can find. Each hemisphere of the brain can now control the movements of each side of the body in coordination and, by 20 months, many can actually move their body parts on their own.

It is at this age that children begin to think that they have control over their bodies. At KindyROO all our mat time activities are therefore slowed so that children have time to move themselves. This is how they learn to perfect their body awareness and movement control. The ‘crocodile’ movement continues during the massage session due to its importance in body coordination and reflex inhibition.

Dances are sequential now in an endeavour to help children move and think – they can now move their body parts with ease and, hopefully, in rhythm.

Specific Sensory Perceptual Movement programme activities are introduced at this level and are essential for later fine motor control of a pencil (the pencil grip). If the large muscles of the body are strong, then the smaller muscles of the hands and fingers are more likely to be strong and more easily controlled to manipulate a pen or pencil for writing.

The ability to do one thing with the limb of one side of the body and another with the limb on the other side allows for the important stage of conscious cross pattern movements. These are the final attributes of nature to help the child’s growing brain work to the best of its ability.

Wow! Children of this age think the world is theirs. They are unaware that their little brains have yet to fully develop the ability to function so that the left and right sides of the body can manage different tasks and accomplish different skills – hopping is an excellent example because as one foot hops the other is held up doing something different. This enables the development of many skills, such as riding a tricycle, peeling a banana and washing up. This function may have begun during the early months of the two year old, but now it blossoms.

Lessons at KindyROO for this age group now focus on one hand and one foot activities, as it helps to consolidate all the previous skills developed in the first two years of life. KindyROO teachers also encourage an increase in the comprehension of auditory memory skills from one instruction to two, or even three, and likewise in the visual memory through more advanced fun activities.

KindyROO lessons at this age are geared for the development of sensory integration and the consequent laterality, and for this reason a preferred hand and foot is now encouraged in all one hand/foot activities. For some children this comes in the next year but should be firmly established by pre-school.

The ability to do one thing with the limb of one side and another with the limb on the other allows for the important stage of conscious cross pattern movements, which are the final attributes of nature to help the child’s growing brain to work to the best of its ability. Cross pattern crawling, walking, throwing etc.

The ‘crocodile’ pattern is now a part of the massage time. This is important as it not only improves a child’s overall development, but provides a vehicle for the inhibition of the primitive reflexes which cause so many hiccups in academic learning in schools.

For many, speech and comprehension also develops quickly at this age.

Instructions are increased in complexity to allow for the development of improved auditory and visual memory, imperative for survival at school. Repetition is vital for this development at all ages.

KindyROO incorporates a ‘visualisation programme’ in all classes. This enables children to link words to pictures and the world around them. Just like reading to your child, this creates an understanding that words mean something and are an important part of understanding and describing our world. The words are introduced at treasure bag time, and are related to the treasure bag item as well as to life. The words used are the same as those used during earlier sessions, to ensure that they are easily recognised by the children in the same way they learn to recognise their names.

Possums love to hang, swing, climb, run, gallop, hop and somersault – in fact they love all movement. They are also becoming far more social and enjoy playing with other children. At KindyROO we encourage greater team work and provide Sensory Perceptual Motor Stimulation circuits that promote sensory integration and laterality – very important for children of this age who need further consolidation. At the same time we introduce more cross pattern activities, where the right side of the body is balanced by the use of the opposite arm or leg in throwing, walking, running etc. This is in order to further develop the higher areas of the brain.

Many of the KindyROO sessions for this age group operate without the assistance of the parents (wherever this may be permissible). Children learn to follow the instructions from the teacher and the CDs for both the dances and the exercises.  They also learn to work in groups, to line up and follow the leader, and to follow three or four instructions. All these skills are essential for happy school experiences in later life.

At KindyROO, Possums are given the opportunity to perfect their abilities in the following areas:

Group work with and without parents.

For children to learn easily at school, they must have automatic movement skills. They must be able to use one part of their body independently from other parts, be able to cross over the midline of the body, and be able to sit still when required. Children who have difficulties with these motor skills will have more difficulty with reading, writing and general classroom coping skills.

A quality pre-school program is essential, but a neurologically based movement program – like KindyROO – can help ensure your child is ready for learning.

What happens in a KindyROO School Readiness Class?

НОВО: класове за деца от 5 до 7 години

Готово ли е детето ви за училище? А знаете ли, че това не е въпрос на хронологична възраст!

След изключителния успех на конференция в Харвард, научно доказаната ни програма за училищна готовност е вече в България.

Изследванията показват, че децата, които правят програмата 5 дни в седмицата, постигат с 16% по-високо развитие в когнитивно, комуникативно, социално-емоционално и физическо отношение.

Часовете “Летяща лисица” са създадени, за да гарантират, че детето ви овладява уменията, необходими за успешно справяне в училище. Участието в сензорно-двигателно-перцептивно-концептуална програма дава възможност на мозъка да функционира на по-високо ниво.

Чрез огромна гама от забавни игри и дейности за овладяване на умения ние подобряваме екзекутивните функции на детето, концентрацията, емоционалната стабилност и социалните компетенции.

За какво работим?

*уроците се провеждат без присъствието на родителите

NEW: Classes for children from 5 till 7 years

Is your child ready for school? And do you know this school readiness is not a matter of chronological age?

After the exceptional success at “Movement and cognition conference” in Harvard , our scientifically proven school readiness program is already in Bulgaria.

Research shows that children who do the program 5 days a week achieve 16% higher cognitive, communicative, social-emotional and physical development.

“Flying fox” classes are designed to ensure that your child has mastered the skills for learning. Participation in a sensory-motor-perceptual-conceptual program enables the brain to function at a higher level.

Through a huge range of fun games and skill-building activities, we improve the child’s executive functions, concentration, emotional stability and social competences.

What are we working for?

*Lessons are conducted without parents.

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