A new approach to literacy

The learner was planning to demonstrate a few different activities with the children, showing various areas of their learning, including Physical Development and Literacy. For the purpose of this observation, she was going to demonstrate the activities that she might do indoors to promote children’s physical development, having previously completely an outdoor obstacle course.

Usually, I ask learners to send me a plan of what they are going to do in advance, which demonstrates that these activities are truly planned and not spontaneous. Having read her plan, I had a feeling that I was going to be in for a treat. This learner was planning to combine Literacy and Physical Development in one activity with some yoga. The children were going to practise yoga along to the popular story, Dear Zoo.

It's fair to say that the activity didn’t disappoint – the children loved it! The learner read the story first. It was clear that she truly loved the book from the animated way she told the story and her body language. The children were mesmerized! She spent plenty of time on each page, letting them really look at the pictures and inviting one of them to open the flap to reveal an animal on each page. It was a real treat for each lucky child when it was their turn.

When the story had finished, she introduced the next element of the activity – the yoga. She introduced it by explaining to the children about the importance of deep breathing and letting them try it for themselves before they started.

Next, she showed the children cards showing pictures of each of the animals in the story depicted in a yoga pose. The children had great fun copying the pictures and trying out the poses for themselves. At the start, there were lots of wobbly elephants but as the children practised they got steadier. By the time they had made their way through all of the animals, including snakes, dogs, camels and frogs, the children were warmed up and had become much more flexible.

The learner finished the activity by giving each child a coloured scarf, which she used for a final activity. The children were shown how to blow the scarves to help them ‘warm down’ after the exercise and regulate their breathing again. Finally, she thanked the children for participating and telling them how much she enjoyed it. They were also invited to say thank you and goodbye.

When reflecting on the activity later, my learner said that she had thought yoga would be a really fun, mindful activity for the children and it has been something she wanted to learn more about. She had been inspired by seeing the Alliance’s EduCare course – Introduction to Yoga with young children – and had completed the course in preparation for the activity. She was so pleased to be able to put what she had learned into practise!

For me, this really reinforced what a truly inspiring and dedicated group of people I am lucky enough to work with. And yes, it left me with a spring in my step and desire to get home to practise my ‘downward dog’ position!