We’ve been attending Gymnademics for half a term now, and Nat has never been happier. At 15 months, my littlest baby is starting to babble a lot, and responding to routines. He looks forward to the fun to be had in his Pre-Fellow class every week, and I too, look forward to Friday evenings to join him in his learning, and sharing some special ‘Nat and Mama’ moments – just me and him, without the older kids.
Saying ‘cheese’ before class
After attending just five lessons, I watched how quickly Nat catches on to things taught by routine and repetition. For one, he is able to respond to the ‘Welcome Song‘ by raising his hand and pointing to himself when we sing, “Nathanael, Nathanael, are you here?” He’s also learned the actions for the ‘Hip Hip Hooray’ part in the goodbye song, and which parts of his body to touch when we sing solfège – do (we touch our knees), re (we touch our tummies), mi (we touch our heads) – and I must say I’m pretty impressed at how much my boy absorbs and the speed he’s learning things.
The goodbye song goes, ‘Hey hey hey, we learned something new today. Hip hip hooray, we learned something new today’ and here’s Nat jumping for the ‘hip hip hooray’.
This little one has also indicated quite clearly what activities he enjoys and what he doesn’t fancy. He loves sitting on my lap to look at the flashcards Teacher Selene shows in class. Since we started, we’ve learned a whole range of really cool stuff, from food types and food preparation methods to science concepts like magnetism and gravity. We’ve also looked at flashcards of birds of prey and all kinds of butterflies and moths. The last lesson, we met the Queen Alexandra Birdwing, the largest butterfly in the world. Bet you found that impressive, eh? Ok, I have to admit, I was impressed myself. I didn’t know that I didn’t know until I attended Gymnademics!
So this is the largest butterfly in the world…
Other activities that he loves? Balancing on a beam (and doing it very well!), the ‘Mystery box’, watching Teacher Selene teach him the actions to a new song, and oh yes, the water break!
Balancing on the beam
Learning actions to a new song!
Mystery Box – a secret revealed! (The activities are usually theme-related.)
Nat finds his bottle and gets his well-deserved water break
So what does he not fancy? Swinging on the trapeze. He hears the music leading to the activity and starts clinging on to me and shaking his head vigorously. He’s not even willing to hi-five the trapeze bar when it’s his turn. I don’t get this part, actually. For someone who has no sense of fear at the playground, I can’t believe that I’m seeing an intensely petrified face even before he swings.
Spot the koala!
We’re going to have work on that one for the remaining weeks of the term. The reason why swinging on a trapeze is included in every lesson is because hanging from a bar increases a child’s lung capacity, which in turns allows the child to take in more oxygen, and more oxygen to the brain is always good for a child who’s constantly learning. Swinging from a bar also strengthens his grip, which is a necessary motor skill, especially for writing later on. See those children on monkey bars? These are going to be smart kids, I tell you.
Let’s hope by the end of the term, my little koala can become a confident little gibbon.
Disclosure: Nat and I were invited to attend the Pre-Fellow Class at Gymnademics for review purposes. I shared previously about our experience in a review here. All opinions in this post are Motherkao’s own.
