Training in Movement & Mindfulness for Kids

By established and award-winning charity Stretch & Play.

Whether you’re a concerned Parent, Early Years Worker, School Teacher, Pilates Instructor, Yoga Teacher or Coach, Victoria is excited to help you develop movement and mindfulness skills specifically for working with children aged between 3 and 13 years old.

What’s covered in this course?

Stretches inspired by Yoga & Pilates

Games, stories and songs to make the moves fun

Meditation and mindfulness practices

Anatomy & Physiology for Children

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Stress in Children

The business of Stretch & Play – setting up, marketing and H&S of running children’s classes

You will receive a 80+ page Facilitator Manual which includes lesson plans for each age group (3-7 & 8-13)

This course is accredited by IPHM (International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine) allowing you to get insurance and teach anywhere in the world!

Pre-Requisites

Ideally, students will hold a valid Level 2 Fitness Qualification, Level 3 Diploma in Mat Pilates or a 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certificate or be working towards it. An Education or Early Years Qualification is also accepted, as is a sincere interest in working with this age group, so don’t let a lack of qualifications put you off!

START WHEN YOU ARE READY!

This course is self-paced and has a number of in-depth lessons and a 80+ page manual which are immediately available upon purchase. It should take you anywhere between one week and three months to complete the course depending on how quickly you want to be teaching.

To receive the professional course Certificate, please send the additional fee of £25 and your homework as detailed in Module 1. Upon receiving your final assignments, I will supply personalised feedback to your class plan and video, as well as present you with your course certificate and register you with IPHM as a Stretch & Play Facilitator.

If you decide to apply for Certification you have SIX MONTHS from the date of purchase to complete your work. You then have access to the course materials for a further year.

TUTOR:

I’m Victoria Cunningham and I am the Founder of Stretch & Play. I am a trained youth worker and SYT (Senior Yoga Teacher) who is responsible for all Stretch & Play’s training programmes.

In addition to my academic qualifications (we’re talking an MA Honours in English Literature and Sociology from the University of Glasgow and an MSc in Marketing from the University of Strathclyde) and my Pilates and Yoga certificates, I hold qualifications in community development, conflict management, facilitation skills and community drama, all of which equipped me wonderfully to create and develop Stretch & Play.

Stretch & Play started life as a limited company and registered charity where we received awards and support from various funders including the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (Peace II); UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs; Invest Northern Ireland Social Entrepreneurship Programme and Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Difference Makers Programme to train Facilitators and deliver bespoke classes for groups such as Schools, Youth Centres, Women's Centres, Health Trusts and more...

Elements of this programme were rolled out to over 250 Key Stage One classes and more than 10,000 pupils across Northern Ireland each year from 2008 until 2015.

Stretch & Play Facilitator Training used to take place in person over two weekends a month apart but, thanks to the events of 2020, it is now available entirely online which means you can learn my techniques no matter where you are in the world!

One of my favourite things about this training is that you are NOT tied into a franchise or regular payments and you do NOT have to call your classes Stretch & Play (unless you want to!) Instead, you can use these tools to build your own children’s movement and mindfulness business or add to your existing offerings.