Ho, Ho, Ho… Merry Christmas!
Santa Claus is coming, Santa Claus is coming! He’s not very far away, it’s time to hang your stockings out…
It’s Christmas week at Kindergym!
Discover the Set Up
During this theme we will celebrate Christmas on the Trampolines, Uneven Bars & Monkey Bars.
Everybody loves putting the Christmas tree up and ours is going to look fantastic! Get ready to bounce along the trampoline with our colourful baubles and help to decorate the Christmas tree at the end 🎄 On the next trampoline, there is a pile of presents to transport to baskets. We will need to change direction carefully and stay in control to look after each gift! And our final trampoline is for star jumps. We will stretch out our arms and legs and jump up high, imagining the star on top of the christmas tree ⭐️
We have a chimney set up at the uneven bars, where it’s fun to pop out the top - the longer we stay in support on the bar - the stronger our muscles become! From the chimney, we can fly through the sky on Santa's sleigh swing! Then, we will take the reigns of Santa’s sleigh and fly like Rudolf all the way around the world to deliver presents 🎁
Imagine all of the rooftop climbing Santa has to do! In the monkey bars area, we are going to climb like Santa on our obstacle course before sliding down into the pit. Let’s join the reindeer and fly up high in the sky as we take a big swing on the rings, spotting all of the Christmas decorations as we swing by. Can you find the Gingerbread Man close by? They are fun to hang around with and we can count them all together!
Movement Matters
Do you love to swing? There are so many different ways to swing! We can swing on the rings, we can swing on the bars, we can swing sitting down or standing up! Swinging is an important skill to develop in a gymnast - but there is more to this movement than just cool tricks!
What is it about swinging that is so important for our children?
Oftentimes children can become overwhelmed, over-stimulated and unable to regulate their emotions when there is so much happening in their world. Monitoring the actions of others, accepting changes in routine, listening in to noises both close by and far away and trying to figure out what is most important at any moment can be stressful and confusing. Aiding children in their ability to self-regulate their emotional response and behaviour in a busy environment can be a challenge at times, but did you know that a simple swing can be a huge help in calming them down?
Swinging provides a calming and soothing rhythm which helps children feel secure and naturally sort out feelings of overwhelm in order to start over. The back and forth rhythmic motion is a predictable movement pattern that can re-synch the body’s systems. In kindergym we provide a few different options that work for getting over stimulated minds to settle down. As well as swinging, jumping on the trampoline works well. It provides a similar regularity in movement and adds a feeling of strength through impact that can de-stress a frazzled child.
So, keep an eye out for heightened emotions. It might just help over the Christmas break to know that, before emotions bubble over, you can head outside and enjoy a simple swing to stay on track and happy!
This week is our last week of Kindergym for 2021 and we wish all of our families a very safe and merry Christmas break 🎄