Gymbaroo-Kindyroo - Maitland, NSW

This week in our BabyROO classes, we’re talking about the benefits of daily massage for your baby’s developing body and brain.

Gentle massage provides valuable sensory input through the skin, muscles and joints, helping babies build greater awareness of their bodies while supporting motor development, muscle function and tone.

It’s also a beautiful opportunity for connection. Through calm, responsive touch, babies experience warmth, security and interaction with their parent — all while their developing nervous system is receiving important sensory information.

At BabyROO, we show parents simple massage techniques that can easily become part of your everyday routine at home. Even a few minutes can provide valuable opportunities for touch, connection and movement. 💜

You’ll find more neurological information and ideas to support your baby’s development on your Parent Portal, included as part of your GymbaROO enrolment.

💜 You can join BabyROO at any time throughout the term.

This little superstar had her first Wombat class for crawling babies last week and was straight out discovering the equipment circuit at our Maitland centre! 💜

Our large equipment provides a safe and supported opportunity for little ones to discover just what their growing bodies can do. As they crawl over, under, up and across different surfaces, they’re motor planning — working out where to place their hands and feet, how to shift their weight and how to navigate each new challenge.

These opportunities for safe risk-taking are important too. Research into early childhood development highlights the value of active, challenging play in supporting physical confidence, problem-solving, spatial awareness and the development of movement skills.

And sometimes the best learning happens when we give little ones the time and space to think, “Can I do this?” — and discover that they can. 💜

Our Wombat classes are designed especially for crawling babies, combining movement, music, sensory experiences and plenty of time to explore our equipment circuit.

✨ You can enrol at any time during the term!

📍 Maitland — Mondays to Saturdays
📍 Branxton — Tuesdays to Fridays
📞 0403 390 227
📧 [email protected]

Move • Learn • Shine 💜

This week in our GymbaROO classes, we’re discussing temporal awareness — our internal sense of timing, rhythm and sequence. 💜

⏱️ What is temporal awareness?
It helps children understand when to move, how quickly or slowly to move, and how to complete movements or actions in the correct sequence. Think catching a rolling ball, moving to a beat, following a series of instructions or knowing when it’s their turn.

🧠 Why is it important?
Good timing and sequencing support coordinated movement, motor planning and the ability to organise actions. These skills also become increasingly important for everyday tasks and learning as children grow.

🎵 How does GymbaROO help?
Our classes provide lots of opportunities to develop temporal awareness through music, rhythm, repetition and movement. Clapping to a beat, dancing, action songs, ball and beanbag activities, equipment circuits and following movement sequences all give children practice coordinating their bodies with timing and rhythm.

And like so many developmental skills, timing is learned through practice, routine and experience.

You can find more neurological information related to your child’s developmental stage in your Parent Portal, included with your GymbaROO enrolment. 💜

🚂 All aboard for Week 6! Our Treasure Bag theme this week is TRAIN 💜

Just like a train travels one stop at a time, development happens one step at a time too.

At GymbaROO, you’ll notice we repeat many of the same songs, movements and activities each week — and there’s a reason for that. Repetition gives children the opportunity to practise, strengthen developing skills and become more confident with what comes next.

Sometimes progress happens quickly, and sometimes it takes a few extra stops along the way. Every little experience is helping to build the foundations for the journey ahead. 💜

We can’t wait to see your TRAIN treasures this week! 🚂

🌟 Feedback Friday 🌟
There’s nothing more rewarding than hearing how GymbaROO has made a difference to a child’s confidence, development and love of learning. Thank you for sharing your journey with us!

You can support our family owned franchise by leaving us a Google or Facebook review. We so appreciate it!

This week in our GymbaROO classes we’re talking about Sensory Motor Integration 💜

So, what exactly is it?

Sensory integration is the way the brain receives, organises and makes sense of information coming from the body and the world around us. And it’s not just the five senses we usually think about!

Two particularly important senses for development are our vestibular sense — which helps us understand movement, balance and where our head is in space — and proprioception, which gives the brain information from our muscles and joints about where our body is and how it is moving.

How does GymbaROO support sensory integration?
Many of the activities we do each week directly provide vestibular and proprioceptive input. Swinging, rocking, rolling and changing head position stimulate the vestibular system, while crawling, climbing, pushing, pulling, hanging and weight-bearing activities provide valuable proprioceptive input. We also incorporate touch, vision, hearing, music and rhythm to give the brain lots of different sensory experiences to process and organise.

What happens when sensory integration is still developing?
Children may be particularly sensitive to certain sounds, textures or movements, seek lots of movement or sensory input, or find things such as coordination, attention, body awareness and regulating their responses more challenging.

Sensory integration develops through experience, which is one of the reasons purposeful movement and play are such an important part of early childhood development. 💜

We’ll be exploring this further in class this week, with more information available for enrolled families on your Parent Portal.

This week in our BabyROO Classes we’re talking about primitive reflexes 💜

Primitive reflexes are automatic movements babies are born with. They play an important role in early development and help babies respond to their environment before they have developed more purposeful control of their bodies.

As babies grow and move, these early reflexes gradually become less dominant as the brain and nervous system mature. This allows more developed postural reflexes to emerge — supporting balance, posture, coordination and increasingly controlled movement.

So where does BabyROO come in?

Through age-appropriate experiences such as tummy time, rolling, rocking, gentle vestibular movement, massage, reaching and floor play, BabyROO provides babies with lots of opportunities to move their bodies and build strong foundations for later movement and learning.

And importantly, we help parents understand why these early movement experiences matter, so you can continue supporting your baby’s development at home too. 💜

You’ll find more information about primitive and postural reflexes in your Parent Portal, included as part of your BabyROO term enrolment.