Scarning Little Owls Parent Workshop – Mini Me Yoga

With my youngest due to start Tawny Owls Toftwood in the next coming months, we were invited to come along to one of the parent workshops that Scarning Little Owls were hosting.

Over the course of June and July the nursery have put on a full timetable of Messy Play, Tiny Talk, Outstanding Outdoors, Mini Me Yoga, Active Early Years and Food Glorious Food workshops for parents to come along to with their babies.

These are free classes that the nursery have offered parents of both new and existing Tawny Owl babies. They are a way of teaching the parents some of the activities and themes that are promoted within the nursery and to advise why they are beneficial to the parents, and how you can introduce this at home too.

They are a great way to meet new parents you probably would not have before, and for the children to begin to make friendships with the babies they will be attending the setting with.

On Thursday 28th June, we went along to the new Scarning Little Owls Nursery ready for a morning of Mini Me Yoga, with Harlow just walking I was excited to see if he would try and join in with the moves, and for him to meet some babies close to his age.

We were received with a warm welcome by everyone and instantly made to feel at ease, being told not to worry if the babies went off and explored on their own.

It looked exactly like a mini yoga studio within the Tawny Owl room with mini yoga mats, music, dimmed lights and as soon as you walked in you felt the relaxation of the room.

A teddy was left on the mat for each child, and the babies all began to engage with one another. I went to a lot of baby classes with my first son and used to feel quite uncomfortable and awkward sitting in a room full of people I didn’t know with my baby.

This wasn’t the case the two other Mums that were in the class were lovely and we instantly began chatting about how close the babies were all born, all within 2 weeks of on another, the staff were great as encouraging us all too.

From the start there was no awkwardness, Little Owls had made such an inviting room, and the atmosphere made me feel at ease. Harlow who is normally quite a clingy baby felt confident enough to go off on his own. The Little Owls girls were so friendly and loved seeing how big the babies had all got since they last saw them.

We started off being told about the benefits of the baby yoga and I think it was clear the staff members knew their stuff and were very passionate about it. We went on to do some simple yoga poses which the babies didn’t seem to fussed about but I think they liked watching us model them!

I have come away with now wanting to take up yoga as in the short time I felt the benefit and it’s something that the children can get involved in as well. I know Elijah enjoys yoga in Barn Owls.

We went on to have some free play and the children all found the new Tawny Owl Room fascinating to a point us Mums, and staff managed to have a sit down and had a chat all about feeding, sleep, The Norfolk Show and everything in between. There was no judgement about what baby was at what stage, how we fed them, how they slept it was a lovely open and welcoming discussion between everyone. We went on to have a snack where the children devoured a whole weeks’ worth of oranges!

It was also really nice to see that through this parent workshop two Mums have now connected whose children will be attending the Scarning setting. The parents and babies get to spend some time in the setting they will be starting in, and it almost worked as a settling in session for both mum and baby!

The setting itself was the perfect backdrop for the workshop and I enjoyed looking around and seeing Harlow explore. These workshops have clearly had so much effort put into them and we had a great morning. Just like the open day I saw it as a way of not just introducing the babies to the nursery but as a way of connecting parents whose children are around the same age and stage.

The workshop for me was very insightful and to know come away with the knowledge and practice of something that is done in the setting means we can do this at home. The Little Owls girls really know there stuff and to be able to then pass it on to us in this way is fantastic. For me the best bit of the workshop was it was so welcoming…

…and the fact Harlow fell straight to sleep in the car.