Growbabygrow: Creative Dance for Happy Families

Your little one’s healthy brain and body are built “on demand” with activities that nurture their sensory-motor development. Dancing our DIRECTIONS gives your little one movement experiences to help them sense the motion in their body; building spatial awareness, strengthening healthy kinesthesia, and developing movement skills.
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Since the brain uses the same neurons for doing as it does for thinking, when your little one masters their “first language” (movement), they are building a strong scaffolding for all learning; increasing coordination, confidence, and mastery along the way!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Heavy work - every day, several times a day - is essential for your baby or child's well-being! Exploring Weight: Heavy & Light lets us feel our strong muscles and the release when we let go. This contrast wakes up the nervous system and engages the Proprioceptive System, which informs your little one about where they are in space. It orients them and keeps them feeling safe in a variety of environments. It’s the best anxiety reducer out there!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Spring is pushing up all around, and a surge of energy calls our bodies to emerge from the coziness of indoors. Are your little ones craving to run and feel the wind in their hair? YES! That’s why this is a perfect time to explore the dance concept of Weight: Heavy & Light!
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Self-regulation starts when the sensation of heavy tension in our muscles contrasts with a release of tension (lightness); this is very soothing to the nervous system! When they can feel and become aware of the difference, it helps your child release their physical stress or tension and become relaxed, calm, and in control.
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Because our physiology affects our emotions, it not only acts as a massage to the muscles, but it also has the same effect on the mind, transferring into the ability to control our state of mind and manage emotions. Exciting stuff for your little one!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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The brain is built on demand during the early years, and that demand comes in the form of “doing.” The more you and your little ones “do,” the more confident, self-aware, and grounded in mind and body they become! And what’s more fun than wiggling, bouncing, balancing, and experimenting with all the things we can DO with our BRILLIANT BODY PARTS? Having opportunities to explore movement refines motor coordination and strengthens the link between the body and the brain. So, let’s get moving!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Through your loving touch, you are helping your baby develop their “map of me”. It’s delightful when your baby discovers their delicate hands and enthusiastically scuffs their adorable feet. In no time, they’re pushing up on their elbows, army crawling on their belly, balancing and crawling on hands and knees! What a wonderful time of growth, wonder, and exploration!
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So much happens during baby’s first year, and the thrills keep coming as your Waddler begins pulling up on wobbly legs, cruising step by step, and walking independently. In what feels like a flurry, your Toddler begins showing off fancier moves, increased speed, and isolating movement in one body part while holding the rest of their body still!
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Your little one’s motor development is built from the inside out - discovering their BRILLIANT BODIES and how to make them “go!”
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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It’s Spring Break for GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play! Get outside and fill up on vitamin D! We’ll see you back at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway) on Saturday, April 12th.
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It’s Spring Break for GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play! Get outside and fill up on vitamin D! We’ll see you back at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway) on Saturday, April 12th.
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Contrast is the name of the game this week as we explore the dance concept of SPEED - S… L… O...W… & FAST! Varying the speed of our movements helps us increase the rate of communication between our bodies and brains, which helps develop attention span!
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Being able to move their body on demand, at any speed, is an amazing way for your little one to feel in control of their body’s strength. This is where self-regulation begins! When your child has mastery over their body, they gain control of their emotions and the ability to regulate - like waiting for something they *really* want! As they power up and down with more skill and efficiency, their brain is freed up for higher-level thinking. Big, important skills like self-control, concentration, planning, & problem-solving take root through play!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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☘️Calling all little leprechauns!☘️ Who’s feeling lucky this week?🍀 I am! Because it’s time to get a little silly and dizzy as we play with BALANCE!🌈
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Exploring balancing activities together supports the loving, interdependent relationship your little one needs during their early years. Tipping and tilting together then feeling the steadiness of a balanced shape lets your little one’s nervous system know that it’s OK to fall off-balance because they can use their amazing bodies in harmony with you to get on balance again. And just imagine the giggles that will bubble up when you model spinning until you’re so dizzy that you fall down. Laughter plus a “right-sized” challenge is the perfect recipe for developing resiliency, building self-confidence, and nurturing your loving connection. Isn’t it remarkable that your little one begins experiencing life’s ebb and flow through playful movement explorations?
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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GrowBabyGrow Families, are you ready to spring forward this weekend?🐇 Changing to daylight saving time can really mess with our internal clock, especially if it’s still dark when the alarm goes off! But guess what, it’s almost DANCE day, and moving through our LEVELS connects our low, middle, and high brain, which helps reset the sleep cycle. Good stuff!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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When was the last time you got down on the ground to play with your little one? Very often, we bring our little ones up to our LEVEL, and although being up so high is exhilarating, playing together down low boosts their confidence and enriches their sense of self. Nothing’s better than when their favorite person meets them on their LEVEL...and it gives us a refreshing perspective on life as they experience it = WIN-WIN!
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Your baby will naturally move through all three levels in the vertical plane during their first eighteen months, mastering gravity as they go! And just think about it. Once your baby is up on two legs at their “high” level, they will spend the majority of their life there. So why rush into it? The time your little one spends down low mirrors the important development that is taking place at the “bottom” of their amazing brain and is essential for a happy, healthy child!
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Even once they’re up, up, up, returning to play at a low level continues to support your little one’s emotional development. As they become skilled at easily moving up and down from high to low, they are gaining the ability to regulate their emotional state by connecting their high-level brain’s thinking skills with their middle-level brain’s emotional center.
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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🎶Rhythm🎶 plays a fascinating role in your little one’s developing brain and is directly related to self-regulation! When the brain is “in sync” with a predictable and repetitive external pulse, children and adults feel a sense of control and alertness from within. RhymeTime and rhythmic movement experiences stimulate AND soothe, making this one of the most enjoyable ways to move to the rhythm of life!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Has your little one ever been SO READY to play but your grown-up brain just can’t get into the groove? When we’re out of sync with our kiddos, it can feel uncomfortable for everyone. How about a little rhythm and movement to save the day? So this week, let’s move our bodies, make music, and connect with each other through the RHYTHM of life.
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“Heartbeat rhythms” - some fast, some slow, some stop, some go, are steady and reliable. “Breath rhythms” - longer and shorter, are sustained and uneven. Getting in sync with an external pulse is a highly pleasurable experience for the brain. Oh yeah, it’s almost Mardi Gras so… Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Join us on Saturday, when we will grow and shrink. Together, we will expand how we think! With playful practice, your little one is learning the BIG skills of self-awareness and (eventually) self-regulation by experiencing SIZE with their body!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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Weighty world events=BIG feelings! Itty bitty irritations=BIG feelings! Enormous expectations=BIG feelings! Teeny tiny hungry tummies=BIG feelings! See a pattern here? Exploring SIZE is a fantastic way to regulate our nervous systems, which opens us up to our problem-solving brain.
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Regulating the mind starts in our bodies! Going outward to BIG (taking in information, exploring, being in action) and then turning inward to small (calming, returning to me, ceasing from activity, collecting) stimulates *and* soothes the brain stem. Considering that all information passes through the brain stem, the more movement activities your little one can do to organize its function, the better!
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Moving in and out of flexion and extension balances “small” and “big” and that’s just what’s needed to regulate our minds and bodies so we can experience a sense of calm from the inside out. With playful practice, your little one is learning the BIG skills of self-awareness and eventually self-regulation by experiencing it with their body!
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Join GrowBabyGrow at Arts in Play on Saturdays at noon, in person at Family Health Centers, Inc. (East Broadway).
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