Broadening comfort zones through yoga, dress-up and dance

Tenzin and Kiyaan. (Damjan Janevski) 293813_02

Moving to the beat and keeping active has been one of the main highlights on the schedule for the recently opened Billy Button Children’s Centre in Footscray.

Sparkways operations manager Amy Carr said the centre’s regular dancing, dress-up and yoga sessions aimed to allow the children to have fun and express themselves.

“Repetition is really important to help children with their language skills – and singing is also fun to do, so that then adds to their social skills, they feel a part of a group which is really helpful for their wellbeing,” she said.

“We are just so delighted to see the children jumping up and down to their favourite tunes again and we know that with every dance move, they’ll be skill building for life every step of the way.”

Ms Carr said the dancing sessions have also reinvigorated a sense of fun for the children and teachers after two years of COVID-19 lockdowns.

“As educators, we know these activities are so beneficial and now that we’re coming back out the other side of COVID restrictions, it’s good to see our services have jumped back into music and movement really quickly,” she said.

“We understand that these were necessary steps to take, but it’s something many of our early childhood educators have really missed because it can be just so much fun and it can do so much to help children’s learning outcomes.”

Matthew Sims