BRINGING MUSIC & MOVEMENT, CHILDREN'S YOGA AND CALMER STORIES SESSIONS TO LOCAL NURSERIES/PRESCHOOLS & EARLY YEARS SETTINGS
​Are you a local nursery/early years setting and looking for extra curricular activities? 
When I am not teaching parents and their children, you can find me bringing weekly and monthly Music & Movement and Children's Yoga sessions to local nurseries around the area, including The Learning Tree in Chilcompton, First Steps Day Nursery in Shepton Mallet, East Harptree Day Nursery, Sunflowers Day Nursery in Westfield and Hidden Garden Nursery in Midsomer Norton. I absolutely love working with the staff and children in all these settings and seeing the children grow and develop week on week, becoming more confident joining in and moving their bodies in different ways. Sessions support the EYFS and are a great addition to any nursery setting offering extra curricular sessions or wanting to offer this. Below you find more details on how each offering supports the EYFS and the benefits it offers to children attending your setting. Drop me an email [email protected] to discuss how I can work with your nursery or setting.

MUSIC & MOVEMENT 
Music and movement sessions encourage children to engage and also be more independent by using their bodies to follow actions/directions and join in with singing as they grow more confident. They incorporate a range of movements from sitting and standing, twisting, turning and stretching. 

Sessions encourage motor skills, coordination and balance as well language development as children learn new words and are exposed to different language structures.

Music and movement also encourages children to become aware of their bodies, to express themselves and be imaginative.

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CHILDREN'S YOGA
Children's Yoga is a great way of introducing young children to yoga inspired moves, stretches, movements, stories, songs and sensory play and its many benefits. Each session follows a theme or story to help children explore their bodies and encourages them to have fun and be creative . Classes are not only fun but support child development, key development and life skills. There is always a sensory element to the class including parachute/bubbles and a relaxation section, which encourages children to focus on breathing and mindfulness. Children’s Yoga covers much of the EYFS . Each session not only incorporates reading and literacy as we share a story together, encouraging the children to engage throughout using open ended questions. We also put different themed items and objects onto the parachute and count, but also yoga covers physical development and expressive arts and design as we sing, move and dance to warm up songs and rhymes. Children learn to have structure and turn taking, as well as working together as a group when using the parachute for example.
Yoga can help children develop strength, flexibility, and balance as well as body awareness. Children learn mindfulness activities and fun breathing techniques to help them focus on their breathing and notice how their bodies feel, which can help them calm as well as give them tools and techniques to use when they are anxious or feeling angry, scared or worried. Above all, Yoga encourages children to have fun, be creative and express themselves in a calm and supported environment.
CALMER STORIES
Calmer Stories is a concept which uses basic massage strokes, a small number of yoga-inspired mindful breathing techniques, mindful activities and mantras to help children's minds and bodies calm and relax. Each session gently weaves these movements and techniques into stories, rhymes and play. Basic massage moves can be carried out by parents or carers over the clothes with the children, or a child can massage another child over the clothes in a safe and consensual way. Calmer Stories is great for pre-school, primary school, additional needs settings as well as for home, foster and adoptive parents.

READ WHAT OTHER NURSERIES HAVE TO SAY...


​TESTIMONIAL - MUSIC & MOVEMENT AT THE LEARNING TREE, CHILCOMPTON
Nikkita’s singing sessions are one of the children’s favourite times of the week. The sessions she delivers are welcoming, fun and engaging as well as being adapted to the three different ages of children we have (babies/toddlers and preschoolers). Each week some of the songs change to match the theme of the week, but the routine and flow of the session stays the same so that all of the children know what to expect. Overall Nikita creates a safe, nurturing and fun environment in which the children thrive at learning through song.
TESTIMONIAL - CHILDREN'S YOGA AT FIRST STEPS DAY NURSERY, SHEPTON MALLET
Our preschool children thoroughly look forward to our yoga sessions with Nikkita every week. The children are ready and excited for the session by singing the ‘Hello Yogis’ song and join in well with the actions. The children are calmed through a breathing exercise which we have seen develop and they begin to build control of the breathing exercises as Nikkita recaps these every few weeks, offering the children the opportunity to build and develop on their breathing techniques. The children are always very excited to find out what our yoga story is for the session which often links in with our curriculum planning themes. We have watched the children progress with their physical development over the terms; the balance, control, co -ordination and stamina the children are and have developed is amazing to see. These sessions always offer opportunities for children to build on their social skills as we often see the children helping each other, by holding hands if balancing on one leg is too tricky. The session often finishes with a small activity which can vary from a listening activity, a fine motor activity or a singing activity with the parachute, Nikkita always provides a variety of activities to enhance a wide range of the children’s learning and development. The session finishes with the children singing and joining in with the ‘Calm Down, Cool Down’ song. We have found the children are relaxed and well-focused on their activities for the rest of their day. Nikkita's yoga sessions really do offer something valuable to all the children and meeting everyone’s individual needs. We love our yoga sessions and can’t wait for the session again the following week! If you are looking at offering Yoga to children in Early Years Nikkita's sessions are creative, engaging and lots of fun. We would highly recommend Patta Cake Baby Massage and Yoga!

TESTIMONIAL - MUSIC & MOVEMENT SESSIONS AT FIRST STEPS DAY NURSERY, SHEPTON MALLET
Our Nursery children look forward to Nikkita’s Music and Movement sessions where they learn a variety of songs, some familiar and some unfamiliar action songs and rhymes. The children use their bodies, instruments, ribbons, scarves and the parachute to move to the songs. The songs often link with our curriculum planning themes; the children learn these songs well before being introduced to new songs. This allows the children to build and extend their knowledge before moving on too quickly. The session always finishes with the bubbles which is the children’s favourite part of the session, they are challenged to see if they can pop the bubbles! We see lots of smiles, laughter and happy children through our music and movement sessions, as well as knowing the benefits these sessions are providing too. The children build on all areas of their development over the term of these sessions. They particularly build on and extend their Communication and Language development, their Expressive Arts and Design and their Personal, Social and Emotional development. We look forward to having lots of fun during these sessions every week. Thank you Nikkita!
TESTIMONIAL - CHILDREN'S YOGA AT SUNFLOWERS DAY NURSERY
We have had the pleasure of Nikkita visiting the nursery to host Yoga sessions. Nikkita has offered fantastic sessions with us, fully engaging the children throughout with lovely themes and
Providing vibrant age-appropriate resources. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and talk fondly about Yoga to their parents. We have found the sessions to be actively supporting all children with building self-esteem, physical development, and confidence. We will be continuing the sessions and would recommend them to all.