The ‘Celebration’ folder from Toddler Movement contains a general introduction and, for each story, instructions, 10 story cards and 4 cheat sheets. The story cards can be used on an A4 flip chart or a read-aloud stand.

The ‘Celebration’ folder covers the following 4 stories:

  • St Nicholas with the story ‘St Nick’s presents’
  • Christmas with the story ‘O Christmas Tree’
  • Easter with the story ‘Easter Bunny!’
  • Birthday with the story ‘Hip hip hooray!!’

The activity described in the method literally gets toddlers moving, while playfully introducing the four components: movement, grounding, relaxation and breathing. Using cheerful story cards, a story about the little animals of Toddler Movement is told to the toddlers. Afterwards, under the guidance of their childcare professional, the toddlers actively experience and act out the story. The method develops the activity in such a way that the childcare professional needs very little preparation. The implementation is also simple.

About Toddler Movement

Toddler Movement is published by Glos Educatief. The book and teaching method were devised by Cora Merkx and Nina Merkx of Nina Ontwerpt. ‘Celebration’ is the second folder. The ‘Seasons’ folder was published previously.

When developing the stories, the 10 motor skills (Knowledge Centre for Sport and Physical Activity) and the 4 S test (revised by W. van Gelder and H. Stroes in 2015) served as guiding principles. This was chosen in order to create a balanced physical activity suited to the target group. As a result, the Toddler Movement method aligns with physical activity programmes and tests as they are often used in primary education.

The method always works with the same animal characters: parrot, hippopotamus, lion, frog and snake. Each animal has its own qualities and character traits linked to the four components. The stories are connected to common themes used in childcare.

The Toddler Movement activity can easily be incorporated into the daily routine at a daycare centre using the method. Toddler Movement is great fun because the toddlers really enjoy it. In half an hour, they have worked off their excess energy, become more relaxed and feel better, both literally and figuratively.

Order the ‘Celebration’ folder here in the Glos Educatief webshop. There you will also find the first folder, ‘Seasons’. Read more about Toddler Movement here.