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A Gymboree session for toddlers
Things are happening at the Gymboree center in Paris! In rooms with punchy colors, from 3 months, children discover their body through sensory games. Experiments carried out in all gaiety and safety. With the help of their parents.
Gymboree centers offer motor skills workshops from birth to 6 years old. In Paris: 15, rue Louis Armand, 75015. In the Paris region: 18 av. de la Jonchère, 78710 La Celle-Saint-Cloud. In Lille: 1, rue des champs, 59441 Wasquehal. Details of addresses and contacts: https://www.gymboreeclasses.com/en/contact-us/international/france/
Gym for young children: the involvement of parents, capital!
Camille, 4 months old, Thiyya, 8 months old, and Ryan, 1 year old, settle down with their mother in the center of the room. Malika, psychomotor therapist, leads the way. Thiyya and Ryan, regulars there, are very enthusiastic. Camille, for whom this is a great first, is more timid and prefers to observe them. To say hello, everyone claps their hands and sings. ” We involve parents a lot because the children act by imitation, they want to be like mom or dad. In addition, their presence reassures the children and their encouragement gives them more self-confidence. », Specifies the psychomotor therapist. Gabriel, 4 and a half months, and Eliot, soon 10 months, join the group with a little delay. But, surprise! Eliot has been walking since his last session. Very proud, he takes his first steps under the cheers of the participants!
Baby gym classes: relaxed warm-ups
Everyone is now ready for the warm-up, well settled on large mattresses. The equipment in the room is particularly suitable for the youngest so that they can have fun in complete safety. Sitting or lying on their backs, depending on their psychomotor development and also their desires, baby athletes have a blast: pedaling with the legs in the direction of four legs, and small movements to relax the shoulders. Ryan willingly lends himself to the game and shakes the maracas all over the place. “ It is during the first year that children discover that they are a whole person, and these exercises help them become aware of their bodies. », Explains Malika. Gabriel has fun catching his feet with his hands. “ This simple gesture helps him see himself as a whole », Malika notes again.
Psychomotricity workshops for babies: on the way to adventure!
After these little warm-ups, everyone goes with mum or dad to explore the room. The theme of the sessions and the layout of the room change every two weeks. The first week, the little ones get to know the space, and the second week, they feel confident enough to go further in their games. On the program today: balls and balloons. ” These round shapes attract them a lot, explains Malika, because they have a reassuring and reassuring dimension. Playing with these accessories also helps them to understand that by pushing them, throwing them, throwing them, they have a direct action on the objects.Thiyya tries her hand at bowling. Helped by her mother, she shyly pushes a ball, all astonished and amused to see it leave and then come back to her. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Camille, the youngest of the group, have fun with big hanging balloons. Lying below, they move them with their hands and feet. Ryan, a confident explorer who perfectly masters all fours and walking, climbs small stairs. Here he is at the top of a slide trying to drop balls into big cones. The psychomotor therapist goes from group to group. It explains to parents why their child can (or cannot) perform such or such movement, and gives them ideas to play differently with them and help them develop their motility through games. ” With little ones under a year old, for example, we have to do things very slowly so that they have time to coordinate their movements..
Bubbles and songs to end the session
For about twenty minutes, the babies conducted their explorations at their own pace. And now is the time to say goodbye. Regulars recognize the song that closes the sessions and rush to the large round canvas. ” Each beat is punctuated by a song to give them spatial and temporal benchmarks. » Sitting in a circle, they eagerly await the rain of soap bubbles. « They try to catch them by reaching out, it helps them stretch. Others stand up to touch them… casually, they work their balance. And since the bubbles are of different sizes, they have to adjust their gestures, which stimulates their fine gestuelle. »All these activities encourage these babies under one year old to dare new movements and gain self-confidence while having fun. Thiyya’s mother gives us the proof: “ When she was lying down, Thiyya was afraid to roll over onto her stomach or back. Now she is much more comfortable and turns around without apprehension », She confides very proudly.