'Young children spend a lot of time sitting in buggies and bouncers; they are strapped into car seats and they move minimally when playing with their iPads. This lack of full-body movement and exploration of the environment limits expression and can cause delays and learning difficulties', says Tracey Seed, an early years consultant and former managing director of a nursery chain.
Ms Seed has devised a 'biocentric movement and expressive arts day'. She says 'biocentric' means placing 'life at the centre of everything'. She explains, 'Through physical development and expressive arts, this means using music, voice and artwork, movement, dance stories and imagination to support children and adults bio-developmentally - increasing levels of well-being.' The training is based on Biodanza, which links movement with emotions.
Kelly Parker, nursery manager at Bellissima Nurseries, in Beckenham, London, says the training was 'all about developing imagination', with part of the morning session focused on warm-up activities designed to help practitioners lose their inhibitions, followed by workshops.
She says, 'We did role play where we were the children - a hot air balloon adventure. At first we felt like we were being a bit silly, but you just have to throw yourself into it.'
As a result, activities such as storytime have become much more imaginative and active, she says. 'We got stuck in a rut - we would think "OK, this is storytime. We will sit down and listen". Now, we will go outside into the jungle. The number of open-ended questions has increased. We are using materials more, for example when we go on a bear hunt, we use a bear we made and have bottles with water, and mud for the squelchy mud and cotton wool for snow.'
The course covers all expressive arts, so practitioners were also encouraged to make full use of music and dance. Ms Parker says her team have become more sensitive to the types of music appropriate for different sessions they hold.
She adds, 'Me and two others did the training, and I'm going to get the rest of the baby room floor to do it later this year.'
