The Childcare Corporation, which operates 15 nurseries across central and southern England, has run weekly YogaBugs sessions as part of its curriculum since 2002. The classes have proved so popular that the nursery chain has sent another 16 staff on the intensive two-day YogaBugs training course.
YogaBugs, founded in 1996 by Fenella Lindsell, is a programme aimed specifically at two-and-a-half- to seven-year-olds. It incorporates traditional yoga and breathing exercises into adventure stories. For example, children may jet into space on a supersonic adventure to rescue a lost spaceman or surf down a moon mountain and hide from dinosaurs before floating back to earth.
Ms Lindsell, who has trained over 400 YogaBugs teachers who run classes in nurseries, schools and out-of-school clubs across the UK and Ireland, said, 'It's a wonderful way of bringing children of different abilities and cultures together in a completely non-competitive and non-judgemental environment. It can also help children with special needs integrate more closely with their peers.'
Sue Meekings, director of childcare at the Childcare Corporation, said, 'YogaBugs is great at feeding creativity and imagination, as well as improving children's physical and cognitive health.'
See www.yogabugs.com or call 020 8772 1800 for information.