[Text on screen: Koringa Hihiko active movement an activity guide for under fives Me At Three]
[Music]
[Text on screen: Koringa Hihiko active movement]
Voiceover (Jude Dobson):
Active movement – making the connection between movement and learning to develop the whole child.
[Text on screen: Koringa Hihiko, active movement]
Gill Connell:
Childhood’s a really important time, it’s a journey that the children are on, and we’re part of the journey.
[Text on screen: Gill, SPARC Active Movement Advisor]
And I think an important thing for us to know is how we can help enhance this and how we can help children develop so that when they get to school they’re ready for all the challenges that school provides.
What I’d like to talk to you about is how we develop the child’s midline. You have three midlines. You have a midline that goes down the centre of your body, that allows you to do these kinds of things, you know, something different with this part of my body while this part does something else.
You have a midline that goes across the middle of your body that separates top from bottom, so like when you’re in the swimming pool that once you’ve crossed that midline it allows you to do overarm while your feet are kicking. So, you’re over doing something different with this part of your body while this part does something else.
And you also have a midline that separates front from back.
Voiceover (Jude Dobson):
Conquering the midline that separates front from back allows children to march or do lunges. At three and a half Zara is in the process of crossing her midlines, so it’s important to give her lots of activities to practise doing this.
Gill Connell:
When she’s got a streamer in each hand and one’s going up and one’s going down, and one’s going round and round, and one’s going up and down, those kinds of activities are really fun.
Voiceover (Jude Dobson):
Scooting is a fantastic activity. Like the streamers, one side of the body has to do something different from the other.
Hopping is a milestone for three- to four-year-olds. So get out there and get creative with a chalk.
Gill Connell:
Even challenging things like put one finger on your nose and one finger on your shoulder, now change it over. And that’s really tricky but what you’re doing is you’re making one side of the body do something different from the other side.
And the other thing that’s really important is when they go to school what we want is for them to be able to have what we call dominance developed, which means which side do I write with and she’s obviously writing with her right hand. But it’s also important that the eye is the same as the hand if possible. A good way to do that is if you get a tube and offer it to her on her midline so we’re not putting it on one side or the other side, we’re getting her to choose which side.
And then if she’s right-handed what we’d like for her to do is to take it with the right hand and put it up to her right eye. On the other hand if she was left-handed what we’d like her to do is to take it with her left hand and put it up to her left eye, and then we can establish which side is her dominant side.
A fun activity to do – this is just an example – is maybe if you gather up a whole lot of bits and pieces, I’ve just got a lot of toys, I’ve got a ball and a cotton reel and a peg in here. And you tip it out on the non-dominant side of the midline, okay. So, that’s on her left side because she’s right-handed. And with the kitchen tongs what she can do is she can reach over, pick up the ball and we will get her to put it in the ice-cream container.
Pick up the cotton reel and put it in the ice-cream container. It’s really good for eyes but it’s also good for developing fingers as well.
It’s also important to develop their senses and one we don’t think about very often is sense of smell. How about playing a little game where you get some cotton wool and you dip it into lots of different household smells like coffee, tea, milo, orange juice, lavender, and get her to see if she can tell you what the smell is.
Zara:
It smells like strawberries.
Gill Connell:
You can also go outside and talk about the different smells as you go for a walk, just so that she can learn about different smells because it’s a fun little activity to do.
Voiceover (Jude Dobson):
Going for walks provides opportunities to get physical.
Gill Connell:
There’s lots of experiences that you can do when you’re on the way, you know, there might even be some bars to hang on so she can swing and hang on at the shops and go round and round and round and do all that kind of thing.
So, you know, getting her to walk up hills, to run down hills, to maybe do some skipping, that kind of thing is developing her fitness and her stamina which is really important for when she goes to school.
When you’re out on your walk it’s also a good opportunity to pick up things like shells and bird feathers and bits of bark, and then you can come back and perhaps make a book out of all the fun experiences and you can write little stories and have a picture perhaps of her doing something and then you can stick the feathers in so that she can actually go back and recall and you can talk about it afterwards, and it’s something that will help with her memory as well.
Just you know, I mean, even little stories like dad was washing the car and here’s Zara with the hose wetting dad, you know, that kind of thing because she’ll find those little experiences hilarious and they’re fun to actually revisit and talk about because that also helps to develop language and memory and all those kinds of things.
[Music]
[Children playing and making noise]
Gill Connell:
Young children learn through play, that’s the most important message that I can give you really. And so doing things, they need to do it, they need to hear it, they need to see it. They need all three things to allow them to learn. Sitting in front of TV doesn’t do that kind of stuff. So it’s really important for you and her, and her dad and her sister to get out there and enjoy the environment.
[Text on screen: Koringa Hihiko, active movement, an activity guide for under fives]
[Music]
