Do you want to progress your child’s physical development to the next level? Are you looking for a baby group with a difference? Do you want a guaranteed long nap for your child after the group? Our fully inclusive gross motor group is a physio led class for all abilities under 5! This is a fun and unique gym workout, for babies and kids! Try different activities around the room, together with friends, and get hands on therapy and advice from a paediatric physiotherapist.
This group is on Tuesdays at 2pm at the Abbey Centre, 172 Belsize Road, South Hampstead, London, NW6 4BJ. It costs £20 per session for a block of 4, or £30 per session individually. Please email to book.
Every child will have their gross motor skills and movements assessed during the group, and given a bespoke programme with goals for the duration of the course (8 weeks). The following stations and circuits will be available for all abilities:
Under 6 months and pre-sitting
Newborns can learn how to grasp, fix and follow objects, take tummy time to the next level, bring hands to midline, and explore their feet! There will be exercises to develop the neck and back muscles for head control, the trunk muscles for rolling, and the arms and legs for playing and kicking!
Sitting and Crawling
These babies can progress their sitting with core challenges such as sitting on unstable surfaces! This prepares them for more complex skills like transitioning through pulling to stand. Is baby nearly crawling, or showing signs of wanting to bottom shuffle? We will teach exercises to promote crawling, and other transitions like high kneeling, side sitting and sitting up from lying.
Cruising and Standing
Is your infant almost walking? We can teach you the best ways to help them balance on their feet, on stable and unstable surfaces. We help babies get down with safety, so they can explore with maximum independence and make their own choices about where to discover next! Challenge your baby’s cognitive skills with complex motor planning tasks such as stance standing, and standing on unstable surfaces, all whilst engaging in fun activities!
Balancing and Walking
Do you have an active child who likes to take danger to the next level? Are you worried about their safety when they’re climbing? At this stage, we help to challenge kids’ balance to open up new doors such as climbing unstable structures, balancing on one leg, kicking, throwing and catching. You can help to teach your child to protect themselves through safe falling and saving reactions.
Frog Bikes
A balance bike and cycling are excellent ways to ditch the buggy, and get your toddler using their muscles more throughout the day! Did you know, the World Health Organisation recommends only one waking consecutive hour in anything restrained for all under 5s! This includes buggies and car seats. Tricky…right? Not with a balance bike! Replace buggy time with curious, exploratory, exercise and improve baby’s physical development. You can trial a range of Frog bikes at our Gross Motor Group and get them measured by a paediatric physiotherapist.
Baby Bespoke Bonding Activities for Gross Motor Skills
Do you struggle with ideas for how to bond with your newborn? There are many fun activities for parents and babies to do together, to promote their gross motor development at the same time!
This bespoke programme will give you ideas of what to expect with your little one’s physical development, a summary of how they are currently doing, and three fun activities to do together, using simple household objects. It also tells you the optimum set up for their play space, depending on their current physical abilities, to enable the best physical development. Also included is recommendations for versatile, value for money and long lasting toys for their age.
To purchase your programme, please email us here, answering the following questions:
Baby’s name:
Age in weeks:
Current gross motor skills:
For up to date guidance on all baby gross motor skills, follow Team BBP on Instagram: @babygrossmotorskills! Learn how to teach very early riding a bike, all about #babyactivetime and more!
Baby MOTs
A Bumble Bee Physio Baby MOT is a full and thorough physical assessment of your baby’s gross motor skills. These can take place at any age and any time!
Baby groups and comparison
With lots of parents attending baby groups and networking with other new parents, meeting babies of the same age is becoming easier! But what happens when you compare your baby with someone their exact age? You may have noticed your baby’s skills are different, behind, or slower to emerge.
Baby MOT or milestones
Baby development is a broad spectrum, and usually there is nothing to worry about. Did you know, your baby’s personality can affect their gross motor skills? Check out our confidence blog to find out more! If they believe your baby’s skills are behind the ‘normal’ spectrum of development, health visitors may advise a physiotherapy assessment. A Baby MOT can help ease your anxiety and increase your confidence, with an assessment from experts in child development.
The BBP Baby MOT
All of our Baby MOTs take place our brand new clinic in South Hampstead, or our Shoreditch clinic, and include a detailed report with short- and long-term goals, along with a bespoke programme with exercises to enable you to progress their motor development. BBP assesses only your baby’s physical skills, but if our team have any concerns, they will direct you to the correct places, and make referrals to other health professionals as necessary.
The home visit assessment
During your visit we will want to find out all about your baby! We want to know their likes, dislikes, whether they love strangers, or are cautious with new faces! We will ask all about you, your baby and family’s medical history, to get a full picture. This part usually takes around half the assessment, so your baby has time to relax and play, gradually getting used to a new face!
After we have talked about your baby, we will begin playing with them, warming up to them slowly, with nursery rhymes, peek a boo, whatever it takes! We may require baby to be partially undressed for some of the assessment, so we can get a full picture of their movements. We will motivate your baby with play and fun, to get them to perform movements through function.
When your baby is happy and content, we will carry out a small and painless physical assessment. We are used to doing these quickly and promptly! We will then demonstrate any exercises and explain their benefits. Future intervention will be discussed, as well as any concerns with your baby’s physical health, and appropriate referrals.
All babies work differently! Due to their young age, some babies work best when mum and dad carry out the exercises, little and often throughout the day. Other babies and parents prefer a physiotherapist to carry out sessions on a weekly basis.
Baby MOT with report: £180.00.
To book an assessment for your baby, email us here.
Baby Gross Motor Skills Package
The gross motor skills package includes an home visit for initial assessment with a physiotherapist. They will ask you lots of questions about your baby and get to know them in a relaxed way. Alternatively, you can fill in our optional form, if your baby does not enjoy grown-up talk in front of them! You can find out more about the first visit here. You will be provided with a bespoke programme and goals for your baby, and the first week’s exercises will be demonstrated to you. You will be shown how to progress the exercises as soon as your baby improves on that task. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and carry out the exercise yourself in front of the physiotherapist.
After this, you will be given six clinic visits of up to one hour. You can use this time to chat with the physiotherapist and discuss how the last week’s exercises have gone. You will be shown each week’s new exercises, have the opportunity to ask questions, and talk about progress made.
Your physiotherapist will carry out many different exercises with your baby, reviewing their progress and working towards more challenging skills. They will explain and clarify all of the positions and exercises, and make sure baby is happy and content throughout, with toys, singing and play!
At the end of the six-week session, you will be provided with a report, a new programme with updated goals, and your baby’s skills will be reviewed. Your bespoke programme will include progressions of all exercises, as your baby grows and learns new skills.
To book the Gross Motor Skills package, contact us here.
