We all know how important play is for learning – some refer to play as ‘children’s work’. If children have lots of opportunities for playing, then their opportunities for learning are improved – both at the time they are playing, and later in school. Dads bring an important mix to the type of games children play – and this helps ready children for the challenges of the classroom and school yard.

Playtime with both parents is important for the development of pre-school aged children. You just need to watch how mums and dads play differently with their children to notice the different kinds of play opportunities that parents provide. It should come as no surprise that dads tend to be more vigorous – they are more inclined to encourage children to play out-of-doors activities that involve a bit of rough and tumble. Research lead by Dr Richard Fletcher of The University of Newcastle has found that “playing with dad can boost a child’s vocabulary and ‘rough and tumble’ play is an excellent way for children to learn how to manage strong emotions, such as anger.” Dr Fletcher’s research also shows that fathers’ high-quality ‘rough and tumble’ play is linked to fewer behavioural problems in pre-schoolers.

“Pre-school children are developing their language and self-control at a terrific rate and early interaction with both of their parents will help develop these skills before they walk through the school gates,” Dr Fletcher said. “In the classroom children need to learn how to wait their turn, explain themselves coherently and know how to co-operate with other children. Playtime with mum and dad is essential to learning social norms and how to behave in a range of situations.”

Here are some great ideas from the Fathers for School Readiness resources:

Balancing with dad:

This activity has three parts, so depending on how tall your child is or how well they can balance; you can decide which types of balancing activities you’d like to try.

1. Dad and child facing each other, holding onto each other’s right hand. Keeping both feet on the ground with toes facing forwards, both players will lean back as far as they can until they’re nearly falling over. Finding the balance with the two players being such different sizes makes this a difficult game! If you fall over, just hop back up and keep trying. You can also alternate to holding each other’s left hand.
2. Facing apart and standing sideways to each other, with your right hand, hold onto your child’s left hand and try to balance each other out like the first exercise. Try alternate hands as well, facing apart the opposite direction. Make a show of how strong they are!
3. The alternate version of No. 2. is where you try to pull your child over the line as they try not to be pulled over

What is my child learning?

This activity will help your child develop spatial awareness and problem solving skills. It also stimulates the balance organs in the inner ear, the brain stem and the cerebellum, and enables our brain to organise itself so that the body can appropriately responds to gravity. This affects our posture, balance, vision and coordination – all essential skills for sitting still in a classroom or controlling the body in active games at school. It also assists in speech and literacy. Encourage your child to try out new words or practice phrases they’ve heard before when they tell you how to stay standing without falling. This is a good way to practice communication and vocabulary while doing something fun!

Increasing the degree of challenge:

• Let your child lead the activity and practice giving instructions.
• Ask questions about their actions… they must be feeling pretty powerful if someone their size can balance out someone your size!
• Give suggestions on how to help if your child is becoming unbalanced. What tricks do you use when you’re about to fall over?
• Have fun with the activity… falling over is part of learning!
• Other balancing games include: Walking in a straight line and avoiding obstacles, playing musical statues (dance around until the music stops, then you have to freeze! Use slow and fast music and alternate directions) or balancing on one leg at a time.

So, have a great time with the kids dad, they will love you for it!

Dr Jane Williams 

KindyROO graduates as rising sports stars

Sporting prowess is perhaps the easiest area of development to understand in regard to its link to KindyROO, after all, KindyROO is a movement-based program and one would expect that if you practice motor skills on a regular basis, then you will develop the skills needed to become a talented sports person. We are presently documenting hundreds of stories involving KindyROO graduates doing exactly that and excelling in their chosen sporting fields. Here is one such example. A FIFA qualified soccer coach is a strong advocate of the KindyROO program. He explains: “I see many young soccer players hopeful that they will be scouted to play at league level. At 15 years of age, when trialling for my elite training squad, I can pick out KindyROO graduates as soon as they run onto the field. Of the seven graduates from this squad that have been selected to play European league, six are KindyROO kids.” He explains what he sees in these teenagers that makes them stand out.

1. KindyROO kids are so well lateralised that they have excellent control of both left and right feet. They are able to automatically and smoothly coordinate movement and this gives them the ability to manipulate the ball expertly while moving in any direction.
2. KindyROO kids have quick reflexes, enabling them to respond to rapidly changing circumstances and conditions on the field.
3. KindyROO kids have hand-eye coordination that stands out. This gives them the leading edge on other players, as they are able to manipulate the ball with great skill.
4. KindyROO kids have excellent spatial awareness – this means they know exactly where they are on the field at any time, exactly how far, in what direction and with what power they need to kick a ball, and how quickly they can move to a new location on the field.
5. KindyROO kids can visualise – essential for accurate execution of passing/kicking/catching a ball all whilst on the move.
6. KindyROO kids follow instructions and do not need them repeated.
7. KindyROO kids are more attentive.
8. KindyROO kids show more initiative.
9. KindyROO kids demonstrate leadership skills – a key component for a successful soccer career and which matters most for team sporting careers.

This coach so strongly believes that KindyROO is the essential ingredient for sporting success; he suggests that if we want great future Socceroo or Matilda Olympic teams, then we need to make sure everyone does KindyROO from babyhood!

Why are KindyROO graduates so successful on the sporting field?

There is a very good reason why the GymbaROO journey begins at six weeks and continues until your child is five years old. It is during these earliest years that the foundational neurological processes essential for sporting prowess are ‘wired up’.  This is a step-by-step process. Starting from automatic responses, babies gradually learn to control a movement skill, practice it, refine it and then move on to learning the next level of skill. The activities offered at GymbaROO help babies and children gain the important sensory and motor stimulation required for each step on this ‘ladder of learning’. Skipping or breezing over any of these ‘steps’ will make achieving a high level of proficiency and coordination near impossible.

One of the skills the FIFA coach refers to is a brain process called ‘laterality’. Laterality refers to the ability of the brain to control either side of the body separately, in unison or in opposition. It enables a child to coordinate both sides of the body at the same time, while each side performs a different task.  For example, when kicking a ball, one leg is kicking while the other maintains balance. Good bilateral integration, or coordination, is an indicator that both sides of the brain are communicating effectively and sharing information so that the body can operate in a smooth, coordinated and timely manner.

The foundations of laterality are built gradually over the first three years of life, however the skill is not properly refined until three to five years. A good indication that a child has developed laterality is that they can cross the midline of their body.  Crossing the midline refers to the ability to spontaneously cross over the midline of the body during movement tasks – moving one hand, foot or eye into the space of the other hand, foot or eye without having to turn the body.  Children who are have excellent laterality skills will also have excellent ball control skills, have quick reflexes and ‘stand out’ hand-eye coordination.

Visualisation is also a critical component of any team sport. It enables a player to be able to ‘see in their mind’s eye’ how the game is playing out, what the potential future moves are likely to be and how to respond BEFORE the moves are executed. At KindyROO we start visualisation activities from baby classes. It takes years to be highly competent at visualisation and practice, practice, practice is the key.

Of course, developing ­any of the skills that coach Tony Samaras talks about does not happen overnight. Repetition is important for them all, that’s why we suggest you and your child enjoy some key GymbaROO activities every day at home. If you come along regularly to class and repeat activities at home, then over five years you will see your child gradually but surely develop the skills essential for sporting success and prowess.

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. More on Dr Williams here.

Dr Jane Williams and Bindy Cummings

Primitive reflexes have been in the news lately as it becomes more widely understood that if babies and young children do not have the movement opportunities and practice to learn to fully control the reflexes, the ‘retained reflexes’ can interfere with later learning and development.

“What is later seen in the classroom as bad behaviour, lack of impulse control, poor social skills and difficulty in learning, despite good intelligence, may, in some cases, be symptoms [of retained reflexes and hence] an underdeveloped central nervous system.”¹

Babies are all born with a specific set of primitive reflexes. These reflexes are vital to the survival of newborn babies but also, and significantly, primitive reflexes are responsible for getting babies moving and are of major importance to your babies’ brain development and the development of their balance, muscle tone, head control, vision and even the development of how well they use their hands and feet.

These early movement reflexes are designed to have a limited life span – they help babies learn how to move, however, to be able to move freely and easily babies need to learn to gain control of these reflexes. Once controlled, your baby can then move smoothly to the next level of movement and brain development.

If not fully controlled, children could end up being partially stuck in a lower stage of brain development and this will affect, to some degree, all their future learning.

A large portion of healthy, intelligent children who end up with learning difficulties at school have retained reflexes. These children have not yet managed to bring the primitive reflexes under full control.

Fortunately, the way babies learn to control these primitive reflexes, occurs as a result of going through the normal, natural sequence of developmental movements – that is, through tummy time, head control, learning how to roll, crawl on their tummies, creep on hands and knees, climb and then walk.

It is both fascinating and marvelous how it all happens. Each movement helps babies learn to control one or more of the primitive reflexes.

Our free Primitive Reflexes video explains everything you need to know about these important reflexes; how they play a part in your baby’s development and what you can do to ensure your baby has the opportunities to fully control these reflexes.

Enjoy this excerpt. Find the full Baby Reflexes video here.

Resources: 1. http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/parenting/how-creeping-and-crawling-influence-children-s-first-step-in-education-1.2225493#.VXRGbT_qsnA.facebook

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

Bindy Cummings (B.Ed hons) is a teacher, GymbaROO early childhood neurodevelopmental consultant, early childhood development lecturer, INPP consultant and iLS consultant. She is the Editor of GymbaROO’s First Steps magazine. More on Bindy Cummings here.

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.