Being upside-down provides our babies with a quite different perspective on the world (and makes them laugh! Well, Jarvis does anyway!).
It also provides their developing brains with some important information about gravity and movement, our place in space. Deep inside our middle ear is a very complex place, with an awful lot going on.
A very basic explanation of what's happening in there is that there are three tiny canals deep inside each ear, all filled with liquid. When we move this liquid swishes around, and pushes on a structure called a cupula, which contains tiny hair cells. The tiny hair cells translate the movement into electrical signals, which our brains can then process!
In other posts I've mentioned the importance of sensory stimulation for our littlest people, (stop and smell the flowers), and the stimulation of the Vestibular System is one of the most important sensory experiences of them all.
Our vestibular system keeps us standing upright, maintaining our balance, and moving around. It helps our brains to process what our eyes can see, it helps our brains to process the millions of messages which come from the rest of our bodies about the environment around us (our fingers, hands & feet for example).
There are many wonderful ways to stimulate the vestibular system! I'll offer a couple, and I'd love to hear your ideas :)
- Hammocking, like we do at Kindermusik! The gentle rocking action gets the liquid in the inner ear swishing :)
- Gently rocking side to side, and back to front
- Holding our babies in a variety of ways - upright, upside down (be careful to judge how much your child likes this one! I don't think it would appeal to everyone!), facing you, facing away...Every new position makes a new connection.
Remember - be gentle & be aware of your baby's response to different kinds of stimulation, everyone has a different perspective of what's enjoyable & what isn't :)
Enjoy finding new & exciting ways to get that Vestibular System going!
Specially for Kristina & Issac!
Take a nice clean sponge, and dampen it. Explore the sponge with your baby - brush it gently against their cheek, hands or feet, drip water from it onto their hand, let baby rub your hand with the sponge, have fun!! When baby has a wet hand/face/foot blow gently on it, it will give them all kinds of new & wonderful sensations.
Remember that everyone has a different idea of what's enjoyable & what isn't - some babies will prefer that you don't blow on their face, some (like Jarvis!) will love it and giggle like crazy! It's all about reading your lovely little friend & going from there.
The other wonderful thing we did was 'hammocking' - laying baby in a nice big blanket on the floor, one adult on each end, pick up the blanket & gently sway. So lovely! Even better if you sing a gentle song while you do it.
We had an action packed class today! Playing with sponges, exploring egg shakers, and swinging in a hammock...busy busy busy.
Our focus today was Long & Short - in sounds, and in movements. When we sang 'Come Follow' and used long & short steps we were helping our babies to experience long & short with their entire bodies! When we sang it in a round it sounded wonderful - what a fantastic group of mums :) 'Blow Away the Morning Dew' used long & short blowing, and 'Come My Little Darling' focussed on the long slow swaying of the hammock. Be sure to try that one at home!
Your Dewdrops Journal activity for this week is centred around blowing. Our little people don't know how to blow yet, their lungs & diaphragm are still developing, but we can teach them about it by blowing gently on them, and blowing safe small items in the air for them to watch. Feathers, cellophane, tissue, cotton balls...so many things to choose from! This is great for working their little eye muscles, which will eventually help with learning to read!
Let your baby touch you to work out what you're doing when you blow - he'll feel your mouth, feel the warm air coming out, and think it's all very interesting indeed! Make sure to be careful with any little items you're blowing on, you don't want them to be eaten...
Share your blowing activities & baby's reactions - we love your input! It's so wonderful reading about what other families are doing at home, sharing ideas is so beneficial to all of us.
Have a musical day!
Kath & Jarvis
My landline is having a few problems - not exactly sure when it will come back to life! If you need to get hold of me for enquiries or other musical things, please email me using the link on the right :)
Life has a rhythm & a pulse...everything we do each day has a beat & a rhythm! Babies experience this before they are even born, the contant pulse of Mum's heartbeat, the beat & rhythm of her movements. When we walk, run, dance, clap,jump,skip; all of these things have a beat.
Some things we wouldn't even think of are linked into rhythm & beat - cutting with scissors and bouncing a ball for example.
The same beat/pulse & rhythm is present in speech too! A wonderful way of sharing this with your baby is through nursery rhymes & poems. Clap the beat, tap the beat gently on your baby's body, move to the beat as you say the rhyme, bounce baby on your knee! Familiarise your baby with the rhythms of language in the way he or she will love the most - by listening to your voice.
Explore both beat & rhythm in your day - as well as moving with the beat when you say a poem, try clapping the rhythm (the syllables of the words in the poem). Play the rhythm on a drum (or a saucepan!), find different ways to bring beat & rhythm to life for your baby.
Share your beat & rhythm explorations here - we would really love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful musical week :)
Kath & Jarvis
