Home Play
Take time to roll or throw and catch balls with your child at KinderGym and at home. Remember how many sports are ‘ball’ orientated.
Make some streamers, shakers, bean bags to play with – very simple but many uses for creative play. Throw a cloth over a table for a cubby house or create a chair tunnel – things you may have seen at KinderGym and are safe to make at home.
Above all, enjoy your time at KinderGym. It is concentrated time with your child without the distractions at home. Encourage your child and ‘talk’ them through movements using open-ended questions like “that was good holding on” or “can you go through another way?”
If your child wants to attempt an activity you think is too difficult, try not to impart your fears and reservations, but guide them through the movement: i.e.: show your child where to hold on and guide their feet on the ladder rungs or support at the hips to relieve body weight and stress if they are swinging on bars.
Children love repetition and may find small sections of the set-up they want to keep practicing. This may become uninteresting, even boring for the parent/carer but ‘hang in there’!
Try to see beyond the repeats to the mastery of the movement that the child is achieving. Marvel at your child’s development no matter how small.
Every child is unique – an individual who will progress in their own time and rate through the stimulus and experience of KinderGym.