The perfect cure for a stressed out toddler- massages, foot baths and walking barefoot on grass, says a kindergarten in Germany where they have introduced a programme of ‘anti-stress exercises’ for pre-school children.

According to the Daily Mail, the kindergarten, based in Stuttgart, Germany, has started to offer children therapies including stepping in and out of tubs filled with cool water, massaging one another with soft brushes and lying quietly while thinking of their favourite things.

A two-year-old lying quietly and staying still long enough to receive or give a massage to me is questionable; however the kindergarten claims that in a few short weeks of doing the exercises, children have increased their resistance to catching a cold by 60 per cent.  Should we be taking on board these ideas with the new EYFS?

Granted, the programme is useful if Germany want to tempt children at a young age into becoming beauticians when they are older, but wouldn’t the likes of a forest school be more beneficial for the under-fives, which are said to reduce the incidence of illness in children.