Humpty Dumpty

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall”

Effluerage up back, over shoulders and down arms

“Humpty Dumpty had a great fall”

Cupping down the back

“All the king’s horses and all the king’s men”

Tapotement around the back

“Couldn’t put Humpty together again”

Shuffling up and down the back

Furry squirrel – (tune: Frere Jacques)

“Furry squirrel, furry squirrel”

Shuffle (flat hands)

“Climbing up a tree, climbing up a tree”

Knead with fists up the back

“Sees a spiky pine cone, sees a spiky pine cone”

Tapotement

“Spiky as can be, spiky as can be”

Tapotement

Jack and Jill

“Jack and Jill went up the hill”

Walk hand up the back

"To fetch a pail of water”

Walk hands up the back

“Jack fell down and broke his crown”

Cupping down the back one hand on head, firm

“And Jill came tumbling after”

Cupping down the back

“Up Jack got and home did trot”

Thousand hands

“As fast as he could caper”

Thousand hands

“He went to bed to mend his head”

Firm hand on the head

“With vinegar and brown paper”

One effleurage

Jungle Animal Massage

NB – Use tropical smelling creams e.g. coconut & pineapple

Today we’re going for a walk through the jungle. What animals will we see and which is your favourite?

Snake – On arms massage up and round forearms, keeping contact throughout with a slithering action.

Make a quiet hissing sound.

Gorilla - Clap one of your hands against the student’s hand in time with an

‘ooo-ooo’ noise.

Jungle Ants – Finger tips walking fast & light from 1 hand, up an arm, across

back of the shoulders or over the head, then down the other arm & hand.

Tiger – Claw hands, scratch student’s back or down arms.

Antelope – Use firm finger taps to gallop on students arms/ legs as if the

antelope is running away.

Elephant – Imagining an arm was the elephant’s trunk, support student to move

their arm up and down like a trunk, then massage up and down the trunk.

Giraffe – Gentle upward strokes on the neck, encouraging elongation of the

neck. Then rub cheeks gently as if the giraffe was chewing a leaf.

Alligator – Snap-snap with hands up student’s arm, making an alligator mouth

between thumb & 4 fingers together.

Hyena – Give student a rougher tickles to encourage ‘hyenas laughing’.

Patting Story - The Cat and the Bird.

This is excellent for body patting.Stimulates both sides of the body and brain.

It also links the trunk of the body to the head.

Face the person to whom you are telling the tapping story.

Use both your hands on each side of their body to pat out the story.

Pat firmly but not too hard! See if they will pat the story back to you.

Once upon a time a bird flew “flip flap flip flap flip flap”

(Fingers pat up and down both arms)

Suddenly a big cat came running” thump, thump”

(Fists thump up and down the arms)

And chased the tiny bird up into a bush!

(Patting fingers up the arms to the head)

A storm swept the bush to and fro.

(Pat all over the head)

The wind blew “puff puff puff puff puff puff!”

(Pat face on the cheeks and blow)

The rain fell “tinkle tinkle tinkle tinkle!”

(Pitter-patter raindrops on head)

The little bird flew to find safety in the bushes on one side.

(Strum fingers on one side of the hair)

And then on the other side.

(Strum fingers on the other side)

The cat followed into the bushes chasing the bird!

(Thump, thump all over the hair)

When suddenly!

(Stop and hold up your arms and hands)

The bird flew down…

… and found safety in a warm heart!

(Take hands to heart of the listener and flutter them together)

Taken from 'The Sensology Workout:waking up the senses'

Brown bear has big brown eyes

“Can I give you a massage?”

“Brown bear has big brown eyes”

Make a circle round the shoulder blades then stroke out arms and hold. Repeat three times.

“Brown bear has broad shoulders”

Place hands on shoulders and gently kneed the muscle there with thumb fingers and palm.

“When she was little her mother would pick her up very gently by the scruff of the neck and carry her around”

Move to the side of the person. Place one hand on their forehead and the other on the back of the neck and carefully kneed the back of the neck with thumb, fingers and palm

“It would make her go all floppy and relaxed”

Stroke from head down the neck and over the shoulders three times

“Brown bear has strong, strong arms”

Kneel down to one side of the person. Place one hand at the top of the arm just below the armpit and gently squeeze the arm, place other hand just below and squeeze. Continue down the arm alternating your hands, then work back up avoiding joints. Repeat a couple of times ending near the hand

“And big black pads on the bottom of her paws”

Press your thumbs up and down on the palm of the person’s hand. Move to the other side of the person and repeat the last two moves on their other arm.

“When Brown bear walks she takes careful big bear steps”

Place hands at the bottom of the back either side of the spine. Press one hand after the other ‘walking’ up the back, and then back down. Move up and down three times.

“If she hears a noise she straightens her back. Standing up on her back legs and sniffs the air for danger”

Place the side of your hands at the bottom of the back either side of the spine. Shuffle sides of hands up back then slide back down. Move up and down three times.

“Smelling only the wind in the trees she settles back down again to look for honey”

Quickly stroke from the top of the head down the shoulders and then from the top of the head down the back. Repeat three times.

“Thank you for letting me tell you about my friend brown bear”

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

“Can I massage your back?”

Strokes

‘Egg’ – draw an oval and colour it in, fingertips circling at the base of the back

‘Sun’ – circling from base with one hand getting bigger and bigger to cover whole back

‘Pop’ – say out loud and clap once!

‘Caterpillar’/’he’ – index finger and thumb together either side of spine, stretch fingers away from thumbs and thumbs follow, alternately ‘walking’ away and following to shoulders

‘Ate’ – squeeze top of shoulders between finger and thumbs

Numbers ‘1-5’ – trace on whole back with 1 hand

‘Fat caterpillar’ – as before but with heel of hand instead of thumbs x 3

‘Cocoon’ – as egg but bigger to cover the whole back using fingertips

‘Nibbled’ – squeeze top of shoulder between 1 finger and thumb

‘Pushed’ – grasp shoulders and push towards fingers with heel of hands x 3

‘Butterfly’ – draw on the back with both hands x 3, interlace thumbs and fly away!

“Thank you!”

To the Island

by Karen Richards

A journey to an island in a rowing boat. Children get into pairs and pretend to get into a rowing boat so that they are sitting one behind the other.

“Can I massage your back?”

“Today we are going to an island – we’re in our rowing boats”

(Children sit one behind the other)

“Set off in warm sun”

(With one hand on the shoulder, take the other hand and make a circle clockwise on the back and ‘sunrays’ to the sides)

“But clouds gather”

(make small circles with finger pads all over the back)

“The wind wails”

(Move hand from side to side across the back)

“Hold on to your hats”

(stroke down from head to shoulders)

“It’s a sudden gale”

(move hand from side to side fairly quickly over the back)

“The rain begins to fall”

(stroke down the back from shoulders with finger pads)

“drip, drip, drip”

(trace raindrops on the back)

“Hale stones patter”

(‘play’ with finger tops on back)

“Tick, tick, tick”

(‘play’ with finger tops on back)

“Oh! No! Snow”

(press lightly with fingers slowly over back)

“Let’s wrap up warm”

(stroke across shoulders and down the arms)

“This boat is going through a real storm”

“We’ve arrived at the island and I can see”

“Paw prints in the sand, what can it be?”

(‘climb’ up towards shoulder by first using palm of hand then ‘rolling’ the hand upwards, first up one side, then the other side)

“A mist descends and all is still”

(Bring hands down the back and lay hands still)

“Up we climb, up the hill”

(Bring hands upwards in heart shapes towards the top of the back)

“Where the sun shines through the sky so blue”

(Begin at centre of back and slowly make a circle, getting bigger and bigger until the ‘sun’ appears again).

“Thank you”