Class Structure – Sensory Motor Activities
Our Gymbaroo centre carries out a definite class routine including specific sensory motor activities (so loved and important for child development!). Each term is planned over a 10 week term, with a term theme and a weekly topic related to that theme.
Small classes are vital to the quality of our program. Our class sizes are limited to 12-14 to enable us to give you and your baby/child individual attention. The average class size is 10 babies or toddlers.
Our babies classes are structured slightly differently than the toddler classes.
Babies Class (Level 1: BabyROO 1 and BabyROO 2)
A 45 minute precious quality time with your baby will give you the opportunity to learn how to provide activities at home to help your child learn about their world and get a jump start on their education.
Our BabyROO sessions include lots of help with and ideas for tummy time activities. Tummy time will help your child gain the important sensory-motor stimulation required for learning. Research has proved that tummy time is one of the most important stages to help your child learn more about themselves and their environment.
The classes are graded into BabyROO 1 (for babies of 6 weeks and older who are not yet rolling) and BabyROO 2 (for babies who are now rolling but not yet crawling). Classes cover activities such as massage, auditory activities, sensory play, movement, gentle exercises, music/rhythm/dance, visual (eye tracking) plus lots and lots of fun ideas for tummy time.
Gymbaroo Class (Crawlers, Walkers, Preschoolers)
Throughout the term we cover various areas of development – gross motor and fine motor. The sessions offer a certain routine for your child and some challenges as well throughout the term.
A 45min class includes:
- Free play – Each lesson begins with 5 min free explorative play on our large equipment and is a nice time to socialise with other parents and children. Free play is followed by mat time.
- Mat time – Mat time starts with bubbles and music. The parents and children are invited to come and sit on the mat together as a group and sing a hello song. Small equipment skills (balls etc), sensory play, exercises, massage and a dance will follow. Each exercise is shown and explained to you to enable you to do the same at home. This 20 mins on the mat finishes with our special treasure bag time which follows the theme for the term. This is loved by the children and is important for language, social interaction, tactile experiences, imagination, and reinforces the word for the week (on purpose) quickly flashed to your child. This stimulates memory and pre-reading skills. Being fully involved with the activities of your child is beneficial for all children and enhances love, security, joy and learning.
- Equipment time – Another 15 mins on our specially designed equipment will give the chance for your child to exercise his skills. We have a whole room full of equipment where your children can experiment with their bodies and their own personal capacities. Teachers are always nearby to offer guidance and teach new skills. Older children will enjoy the challenge of following the circuit and practising new movement exercises. The equipment circuit is changed every two to three weeks to introduce new challenges. We positively encourage and not force. This must be FUN!
- Music time – The session is concluded with music and parachute time. Each week we have a musical instrument to play and dance with and our big colourful parachute comes out for the children to lie under or play games with. Then everyone sings our traditional goodbye song and goes back home with the week’s picture and word for their GymbaROO scrapbook to use at talk about at home.
