Benefits of Our Wavy Wavy Slide

Introducing Gymboree Play & Music’s Wavy Wavy Slide!

This smooth, bumpy, wooden slide is used for climbing and sliding, on bottoms, tummies, head first and feet first.

The Benefits

• Body control

  

  • We use our wavy slide for newborns up to pre-school to work on our little ones’ body control. In sensory class we may put little ones on their tummies and let them use the waves in the slide to support their upper body.  Our older toddlers can enhance this skill by using the slide at different speeds or in different directions all the while making sure they make it safely to the top and the bottom.

• Hand-feet co-ordination

  • Little ones work on their hand and feet co-ordination when they use the wavy slide as a bridge or climber, whether they are just starting to crawl, cruise around the edge, or run to the very top!

• Gross Motor Development

  •  Gross motor skills are important for major body movement such as walking, maintaining balance, and co-ordination. We can adjust the angle of the slide, so it can go from steep to flat like a bridge, so this increases the ways in which it can be used for climbing, balancing, and walking.

• Sense of Balance

  • Your 6 month old can work on their sense of balance while being gently pulled down on a slide ride working to stay seated and balanced. Later on your toddler is building on this skill whilst climbing it and holding two play balls.

• Bilateral co-ordination

  • Bilateral co-ordination refers to the ability to co-ordinate both sides of the body at the same time. Our Wavy Wavy Slide is an excellent piece of equipment to use to work on this development goal. For young babies we will place them on a blanket and parents fully support them, then as they gain more strength and confidence they will start to master the process independently with the support of their grown-up and teacher.

• Sense of achievement

  • Celebrating the achievements of your little ones is so vital as it builds confidence and self esteem. The wavy slide is an excellent way to work on this with your little one. The process of getting to the top, letting themselves go, and then reaching the bottom gives them a clear route to success, and a big well done from their grown up and teacher once they achieve it.  The waves in this slide and the ability to make it higher or lower can add continual challenges for your little ones.

• Imagination

  • As your little ones grow throughout our programme we work on building their imaginations. Our wavy slide has endless uses from being an elephant’s trunk to a kitchen table, or sitting up high to go fishing in the ocean. With our lessons changing every two weeks you will see this wavy slide in many different forms!

• Sense of space

  • When a child is developing their spatial awareness they begin to become aware of their placement in relation to the things around them. We not only use our slide for the obvious up and down motion but also for activities such as rolling a ball up and down to a friend or parent. We may even add a cloth tunnel on top for an extra challenge, all the while working on developing your little one’s sense of space.

Back to our Handle Ball. Next up the Rainbow Barrel!