Elena Karkukli, author of a book about facial gymnastics “FaceDay”. She has been doing gymnastics herself for 6 years and has been training other girls for 5 years.
Elena Karkukli shows at the training how to do the exercise correctly
We interviewed Elena. We asked you to tell us what gymnastics for the face is, how 5 minutes of exercise a day helps smooth out wrinkles and sculpt your face, and we selected for you several exercises from the training club Faceday “Face as Art”
What is facial gymnastics
There are 57 muscles under the skin of the face. At one end they are attached to the bones of the skull, at the other they are woven into the skin. By contracting, the facial muscles move the areas of the skin to which they are attached. These contractions control human facial expressions: wrinkling the forehead, closing the eyes, smiling.
The appearance of the face depends on the condition of these muscles. Like the muscles of the body, they can become weak or overused. This immediately appears on the face: wrinkles, thin lips, drooping eyelids and other changes. But, like the muscles of the body, the muscles of the face can be brought back to normal with exercise. And behind healthy muscles, facial features will return to normal.
Gymnastics for the face is training of the facial muscles
Game “Composing on the Go”
After short warm-up riddles, you can move on to a more complex task - texts that the child also needs to read aloud or repeat with an adult. The desired condition for this exercise is pauses.
The child should be taught to speak with expression and slowly. In tasks of this kind, this is important because the syllables have a similar structure and are intertwined, while the words have different meanings. Tongue twister won't work here. Don't rush the children. Let him read without haste, focusing on the meaning of the text. Only by understanding the essence of the fairy tale will the child understand with what intonation the text should be read correctly, and you will be able to teach him to speak correctly and without hesitation. In the texts below, both the hard “L” and the soft “L” sound are practiced.
A fairy tale about the doll Mila
Little Lyudmila's mother bought a doll. Luda really liked the doll. Lyudmila named the doll Mila. The doll was cute. Luda was with Mila all day. She sewed suits and dresses for her and combed her lush white hair. Luda put Mila to sleep and rocked her to sleep. The girl took care of the doll. But somehow Lyudmila put Mila to bed. While the girl was having lunch, the doll was carried away by the dog Laika. She patted the doll. Luda cried and cried, but did not leave her beloved doll. Then the mother decided to buy her daughter the same doll. While my daughter was sleeping, my mother put a new one in place of the old doll. Lyudmila didn’t even guess.
Head massage to warm up muscles
Before exercise, as a warm-up, it is useful to massage the scalp. Massage will increase blood circulation in the tissues, warm up the muscles and prepare them for exercise.
In addition, massage enhances nutrition of hair follicles. A follicle is the root of the hair, which is responsible for its growth, quality and restoration. A year of scalp massage gives thick, strong hair. They stop splitting and breaking off when combing.
1. Massage your head with your fingertips. 2. On the sides from the ears to the top of the head. 3. From the back from the crown to the back of the head. 4. Continue massaging for 1 minute.
1. With each hand, grab a large section of hair at the roots. 2. Move your arms effortlessly from side to side. 3. Work through the strands of your entire head for a minute.
Pronunciation L: norm and deviations
For correct articulation, it is necessary that the teeth are not clenched and there is a gap between them. The tip of the tongue is slightly tense and touches the gums of the upper front teeth; it is lowered in the middle and on the sides, and slightly raised at the base. A stream of air comes from both sides between the tongue and cheeks. The vocal cords are used, which give the sound a ringing quality.
Incorrect pronunciation is possible when the position of the speech organs is disturbed:
- the tongue goes too deep into the oral cavity, and its tip does not touch the gums and upper teeth. Instead of L it turns out Y (“shovel” - “yopata”);
- at the moment of pronunciation, a sharp inhalation occurs and the cheeks are involved in the process - it turns out F;
- The lower lip is close to the upper teeth, the tip of the tongue lies at the bottom of the mouth. The result is the sound B (“came” - “stitch”);
- When you exhale, the air flows through your nose. A sound similar to “ng” (“lamp” - “ngampa”) comes out;
- the labial muscles tense instead of the tongue muscles - bilabial pronunciation. It turns out U instead of L (“boat” - “boat”);
- interdental sound is noted. It sounds almost the same as a regular L, but the tip of the tongue is located between the teeth, and not behind the upper incisors.
It is also possible to replace L with D, Y, soft L (“class” - “class”) or complete loss of sound (“fox” - “isa”). In some cases, they first put R, and then - then the child says instead of “moon” - “rune”, and then they put L.
Exercises to smooth out wrinkles
As we age, everyone gets wrinkles. The reason is a change in muscle tone, volume and size. Without even, smooth support, the skin wrinkles and breaks, that is, wrinkles appear. Exercises can restore muscles: return normal tone, size and volume. Following the muscles, the skin will also smooth out.
Smoothing the forehead
1. Place the index fingers of both hands on the middle of the forehead so that they are parallel to the eyebrows. 2. Pull your fingers down towards your eyebrows and hold them in this position. 3. Pressing your fingers on your forehead, try to raise your eyebrows. 4. Repeat 10 times.
Smoothing wrinkles between eyebrows
1. Place your index and middle fingers at the base of your eyebrows. 2. Slowly, with light effort, move your fingers, smoothing the bridge of the nose from the base to the sides. 3. Perform for 30–60 seconds.
A set of articulation exercises
Before staging L, it is necessary to carry out a preparatory stage. It includes the preparation of the organs of articulation, the normalization of their muscle tone and the formation of the psychological basis of speech. In gymnastics for the organs of articulation, the main emphasis is on developing the elevation of the tongue.
- Basic exercise “Smile” . The preschooler is asked to smile and fix his lips in this position.
- They teach you to make your tongue narrow . The student smiles, makes his tongue narrow and tries to stretch it out as far as possible. This exercise is static.
- You also need to develop the ability to make your tongue broad . You need to smile, place your tongue on your lower lip, making it wide. This task is also static.
- The basic task for forming the rise of the tongue is “Swing” . The lips are in a smile, the narrow tongue needs to be raised and lowered.
- This list should include a basic exercise for hissing people - “Cup” . The mouth is open, the tongue is wide. It is raised so that it is shaped like a cup.
- To develop the ability to raise the back of the tongue, pronounce Y as long as possible , keeping your mouth open.
- Another task for developing tongue elevation is “Turkey” . The mouth needs to be opened slightly, a wide tongue is placed on the upper lip. Without lifting it from your lip, you need to perform forward and backward movements. First slowly, then speeding up the pace, add your voice. It should look like BL-BL (turkey popping).
- The most famous exercise is “Horse” . With the addition of vocal cords, the baby can then be encouraged to click silently.
When pronouncing L correctly, the air stream should pass through the side edges. With nasal lambdacism, you need to form the correct exhalation. The lips are fixed in a smile, the mouth is slightly open. Lightly bite the tip of your tongue with your front incisors and blow. The air stream should not pass through the center, but along the side edges.
To normalize the muscle tone of the organs of articulation, the speech therapist prescribes a special massage (for complex speech disorders) or the baby can do self-massage (patting and biting the tongue). The preparatory stage takes several lessons to form the desired articulatory pattern.
Exercises for facial sculpting
There are exercises you can use to sculpt your face. For example, enlarging lips without hyaluronic acid injections and tightening drooping upper eyelids without blepharoplasty. Thin, compressed lips are an overstrained orbicularis oris muscle. A drooping upper eyelid is a weak orbicularis oculi muscle. As with all muscles, they can be worked and brought back to normal.
Lip augmentation
1. Take a small lightweight stopper, cap or other safe and suitable item. 2. Relax your lips. 3. Close but do not clench your teeth. 4. Insert the cap into relaxed lips (not teeth). 5. The cap can be in the lips for 30 seconds or more.
After the exercise, your lips will relax and look plump.
Upper eyelid lift
1. Place the bases of your palms under your eyebrows. 2. Lightly press and pull your forehead and eyebrows up 2-3 mm with your palms. 3. Look down. 4. Blink slowly and forcefully 20 times. 5. Then stay static for 20 seconds. 6. Perform 3 sets.
After the exercise, the upper eyelids will tighten, the look will become open and fresh.
Lymphatic drainage facial massage to relieve puffiness
The problem many people have is swelling. In the mornings, the face is tired, the eyelids and area around the eyes are puffy. Swelling is accompanied by a deterioration in the appearance of the skin. The pores expand, the complexion becomes uneven and painful.
Puffiness is not just an aesthetic problem. This is a problem with our lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, as part of the immune system, protects the body and cleanses it of toxins. She does not have, like, for example, a heart, a circulatory system. Therefore, lymph moves slowly and can stagnate. A sign of stagnation is the appearance of swelling.
Lymphatic drainage massage helps lymph move and reduces swelling. To help the lymph circulate, you need to do lymphatic drainage massage every day, morning and evening.
Oil for lymphatic drainage massage
To avoid pulling the skin and forming creases during the massage, you need to use moisturizer. For massage, it is important that the moisturizing base is oily, helps your hands glide and does not absorb for a long time. An oil or face cream containing oil is suitable for this.
Hydrophilic oil is often found in women's arsenal. They usually remove makeup and cleanse the skin. This oil is not absorbed, and your hands glide over it perfectly, so it is suitable for massage. Hydrophilic oil should be applied to dry skin with dry hands.
Hydrophilic facial oil A`Pieu Deep Clean Bonobono 160 ml
You can use any other oils: coconut, olive, almond, argan. The main thing is that it suits your skin and does not cause allergies. If you have an oil that you use regularly, great. If you buy something new, test it on your hand first. Observe skin for 15 minutes after application. Redness and itching indicate an allergy. Do not use this oil.
1. Apply a massage product to the skin. 2. Using your palm, grab the area under and above the lower jaw line. 3. Move from the chin to the side towards the ear. 4. Without lifting your hands, continue stroking from top to bottom along the side of the neck 10 times on each side. 5. Place your fingers on the area under the eye and stroke up to the ear and down the side of the neck 10 times on each side. 6. Place your fingers on the middle of the forehead and stroke up to the ear and along the side of the neck down 10 times on each side.
It is important that during ironing no wrinkles form on the face and neck. Perform the massage as carefully as possible, do not stretch the skin. Your hands should be soft and relaxed.
Sound Automation
After speech therapy, it is important to introduce sound into everyday speech. Fix L first in an independent sound, and then in syllables and words. The secret of the production is in the most comfortable and interesting format - using games, tongue twisters, rhymes, riddles containing words with the desired hard and soft sound.
Examples of using L in syllables, words, tongue twisters:
- syllables: la, klya, lyu, flu, li, gli, le, ple, ol, spruce;
- words: fields, fox, laziness, boat, spoon, drops;
- tongue twisters: “La-la-la - cold earth”, “Spruce-spruce - there are drops outside the window.”
Audio automation is done in stages. Gradually lead your child to compose stories based on pictures or their own memories.
Differentiation L
Staging classes are not the final stage. It is important that the child distinguishes L from similar sounding phonemes. L is differentiated separately, as well as in words and sentences.
We offer the following options for games and activities for individual production:
- “Remember and repeat.” The child is offered cards with printed syllables with the letters L, R, V: ra-la, ru-lu, al-ar, ul-ur, la-va, ul-uv, etc. Cards with words and sentences are gradually added;
- "Find the words in the picture." The baby names words with the letters V, R, L, for example, “watermelon”, “spoon”, “cheese”, “bucket”;
- “Fill in the missing syllables and words.” The child is offered a text with ready-made poems and proverbs, where syllables containing L, R, V are deliberately omitted.
The differentiation of “l” and “l” is carried out according to the same principle - the child learns to distinguish between words with soft and hard sounds. For example, “boat-summer”, “moth-chalk”.
Massagers
Facial massage can be done not only with your hands, but also with the help of special massagers. The nozzle, just like the hands, stimulates lymph flow and reduces swelling, and the silicone protrusions work deeper into the internal structures of the face without collecting the skin in folds. The size of the nozzle is also important. It is the small nozzle that will help to more thoroughly massage the area under the eyes, where puffiness occurs most often.
Facial massager The Body Shop
The device has the advantage that it can be kept in the refrigerator. The cold will enhance the effect of the massage, quickly refresh your face and help you cheer up. Before using the massager, the skin also needs to be moisturized with oil or a rich cream that contains oil.
After the procedure, the massage product must be removed from the skin. For removal, foam cleanser or cotton pads soaked in tonic are suitable.
Staging methods
First, the articulation of a soft sound is honed, and then a hard one. They use various methods of production: by imitation, mechanical, from other sounds, as well as breathing and articulation exercises. Individual staging is always more effective than working in a group.
By imitation
This is the most common and simplest staging technique and can be done at home. It is necessary to show several times how to correctly position the tongue and lips when pronouncing L correctly. Then the child repeats. To control, touch your cheeks - they should vibrate slightly.
With this setting, the child is asked to feel a warm wave of air on the palm of his hand when pronouncing sounds. Pictures depicting the letter itself and the articulation technique are useful - a visual image helps to quickly master the skill.
Mechanical method
This is a widely used method. Mechanical placement involves the use of auxiliary means - fingers, a spatula, a probe, a wooden stick or the handle of a teaspoon to fix the speech organs in the correct position.
Possible correction options:
- You can create the necessary space between the sides of the tongue and the upper teeth for the correct direction of the air stream using a wooden stick placed across the tongue;
- Holding your lips in a smiling position with your fingers will help correct U to L with bilabial pronunciation;
- Pressing the pad of the thumb or the back of the hand on the dimple under the chin allows you to get a hard sound when pronouncing a soft one.
With a light massage with your fingertips it is easy to relax facial muscles.
From other sounds
In speech therapy there is a method of setting from A. The child pulls out the vowel and pushes the tongue between the teeth, then bites it in the middle. The sound A turns into a solid sound L.
It is possible to set a hard sound L through Y. You need to lightly bite the tip of your tongue and make the Y sound. If everything is done correctly, L will be heard.
There is a more complex variation. The tongue lies halfway between the teeth. You need to start exhaling forcefully. First we do it silently, then we add voice. We hear a noisy hard sound L, which over time becomes clear and distinct.
Exercises to improve posture
A slouched person will always look more mature. Incorrect posture is the cause of a blurred oval face, double chin, short neck with transverse folds and withers on the back. Incorrect posture contributes to stagnation of lymph in the head. And, as you already know, this is facial swelling, enlarged pores and unhealthy skin color.
The exercise will improve your posture and help you cope with changes associated with it. In addition, your height will increase by 2 - 3 cm.
1. Stand on your toes, mentally stretch the top of your head up. The chin is parallel to the floor. 2. Pull in your stomach, knees, buttocks. Don't arch at the waist. 3. Take your arms back, lower your shoulders down. Move your shoulder blades to the center. 4. Stay in this position for 30 seconds. 5. Smoothly stand on your entire foot and relax. 6. Slowly lean forward and round your back. Hold for 10 seconds. Slowly straighten up. 7. Repeat the exercise 3 times.
How often should you exercise
The frequency of exercise depends on changes in your face. The more changes, the more often you need to practice. Deep, multiple wrinkles, large swelling and a very swollen oval of the face require 5 sessions per week. Less pronounced changes - 2-3 sessions per week. Young girls only need to exercise once a week just to prevent changes.
Classes take 5 minutes. You don't have to do everything at once. Distribute exercises and massage at convenient times throughout the day. For example, a head massage can be done under an evening shower. Lymphatic drainage massage in the morning while washing. Exercise for posture during breaks if you have a sedentary job.
Sign language
As an option, you can do without fine art altogether. Try to simplify the exercises and use gestures to show this or that word containing the letter “L” or the sound “L”, so that the child can easily guess it. If the child does not know the meaning of the picture, expand his horizons by explaining what exactly this object means and what it is intended for. In this case, you will achieve double results. The kid will use his erudition and learn to speak correctly at the same time. Such gymnastics will encourage children to further self-development.
So, you should work on several vocabulary lines with your preschooler one by one.
- The first vocabulary exercises will contain the syllable “la”:
Varnish, paw, spinning top, fret, ash, led, manhole, okay, lamp, fist, strongman, flippers, Mila, lived, sang, washed, haze, blew, ran, saw, offended, dressed, school, threw, wore, drove, drove.
- The second vocabulary exercises will contain the syllable “lo”:
Forehead, crowbar, elk, quitter, boat, spoon, elbow, crowbar, swamp, log, den.
- The third vocabulary exercise will contain the syllable “lu”:
Bow, ray, puddle, chickweed, lawn, boulder, Baloo, moon, Luka, hole, playful girl, basket, dove, acorn, deck, meadow.
- The fourth vocabulary exercises will contain the syllable “ly”:
Bast, cute, sluggish, mature, baby, tables, smile, wormwood, skier, cabbage rolls, glasses, channels, pencil cases, landslides, white, stations, vacations, baby, brave, sad, cobblestone, blazing.
- The fifth vocabulary exercises will contain the syllable “al”:
Halva, booth, ball, Bali, boulder, playful, gave, sting, hall, shaft, tired, glass, small, jackdaw, stick, washcloth, hardening, rolling pin, beam, violet, slept, fell, dug, alphabet, marshal, sage, balcony, vocals, collapse, knocked, metal, tie, diamond, gave out, fell out, fell, dripped, poured, stomped, felt, kicked out.
What else is needed
At the beginning, you don’t have to combine facial exercises with anything else. For example, at 33, 34, 35, 36. If your face bothers you, start with exercises. Worried about swelling - with lymphatic drainage massage. If your posture is bothering you, start there.
But over time, everyone understands that the body needs additional work. Then you can supplement your activities with what you want, as needed. Gymnastics for the face does not negate the fact that people should think about proper nutrition, healthy sleep and exercise for the body.
Etiology of disorders
Incorrect pronunciation can be a sign of either dyslalia (a simple speech disorder) or more serious speech disorders. The emergence of lambdacisms and paralambdacisms is due to the following reasons:
- violation of muscle tone of the tongue;
- immaturity of articulation organs;
- phonemic hearing impairment;
- incorrect speech environment in which the child grows up.
The speech therapist determines the cause during the diagnosis, which he conducts before the start of classes. And based on the results, the specialist selects a set of suitable corrective exercises.
Memo
- Facial exercises smooth out wrinkles, for example on the forehead and between the eyebrows.
- Exercises can be used to sculpt your face, for example, to enlarge your lips and lift drooping eyelids.
- Lymphatic drainage facial massage improves lymph circulation and relieves puffiness
- Head massage increases blood flow in the upper third of the face. Improves skin color and strengthens hair.
- Exercises to restore posture improve the overall appearance of the face and neck and increase height by 2-3 cm.
It is recommended to practice facial massage and gymnastics if there are no inflammations on the skin, so as not to provoke their worsening. And the simplest thing we can do is help cells exfoliate and renew themselves. Especially for this, we have compiled a selection of safe home remedies for skin renewal. Enter your email and click the download button ↓
