Gross Motor Activities
We live outside Seattle and even for us this spring has been rainy. This activity is a perfect example of simple being wonderful. As soon as I told my son about my idea he was eager to start, so this wasn’t our most polished project, but trust me we had a ball. I don’t know about the kids in your house but in ours we need to work up a sweat inside or out to ensure a smooth bedtime and great sleep. So rain or shine we need to move our bodies!
- Gather your materials – all you need are some card stock ( index cards would be awesome) , a marker, and scissors if you need to cut the card stock.
- Write out different actions, exercises, and physical feats twice.
- Cut and make two piles.
- To play you need two players ( I played as well- trust me you don’t need to see me do karate kicks in my Pjs…not a pretty sight). Each player gets a pile. The premise is simple both players put their pile of cards face down, count out loud to 3 and flip .
- Then do the action on the card.
- Keep flipping and moving!
- Exercise will make you strong!
Book
Like all the books this week this one Strong Stickfiggy is one of the ebooks available on the free MeMeTales’ Mobile Reader App . We read it on my iPod , under the covers pretending it was the Batcave ( do not tell me that shocks you…). You don’t have to read it in a Batcave or even at home , you can read it anywhere which is my favorite part of this app.
Add Your Activity
Do you have a game, sport or dancing activity that gets your kids moving? Add your link here :
#7
Musical Hearts – Movement Game
As you can see if you click over to the original post, this video tutorial got quite a few comments but it also got kids moving which in the middle of winter is not always easy. My son loved it and the hearts are still in the drawer of our coffee table ready to play almost a year later. This game can be played anywhere rain or shine, so there is no excuse for kids not getting their whole bodies moving!
What is your favorite way to get your kids moving when they are stuck inside?
He Shoots, He Scores!
I like doing less structured activities in my Friday posts, not just because Friday is usually a free play all day kind of day for us but because as I have said before and will keep saying the vast majority of the day should be free play. Listen to them play, ask questions , look for learning opportunities but let them lead! This came out of our family obsession with the Canada Vs. USA Olympic Hockey game. We took our son to the Olympics and we watched China VS Slovakia in women’s hockey and he is in love! He made this game up, I just polished it ( I added the tape for nets 
).
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper towel rolls, a ball, and some painter’s tape. You will also need an area that can be used as the ice. So anywhere with breakable things is not a good choice! We played outside on our porch, and in our foyer ( with breakables moved to the dining room first.)
- Make your nets on the floor with the tape. If your child has more than a very very basic understanding of the game you can make creases, blue lines and a red center line too!
- We kept our game incredibly simple. Get the puck into the goal. That was it. We played for what seemed like forever and I had to bribe him to go inside.
- I like to use games like this to promote sportsmanship and was delighted to see my son get as excited when I got a goal as when he did!
Have fun and now that weather is getting nicer – get outside even if you are still in your PJs !
We aren’t stuck in a snowstorm but we are stuck waiting for our furnace to be fixed and moving keeps us warm and having fun. You can write anything on your hearts from numbers they need to identify, to physical tasks like we did to something trickier for older kids. Customize it to your child and have fun.
- Gather your materials. I am using foam hearts because they stand up well to being stepped and walked on, but paper would do in a pinch, just dont’ expect it to be used more than once. You will also need a marker and some music you can pause easily.
- Write out different tasks for your child to do when they come to this heart – mine were mostly physical things: Jump on one foot, crab walk, 5 push ups, break dance etc.. I also included sing the ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
- Lay the hearts out face down in a circle.
- Start the music and play. It’s just like musical chairs only when the music stops you do the task on the heart that you were standing on when you stopped. We had a blast! He preferred Bon Jovi to kids music so we were rockin’ out!
I would let them walk ( to the music) longer than we did for the video, we were trying to get a good snapshot for the post. After I put the camera down we all played for another full round. Fun family time !
- Gather your materials. I am using a left over 2 x 4 my husband had in the garage. I made sure it was smooth before bringing it inside.
- I popped it on my rug and that’s it !
- We pretended to be pirates walking the plank, sneaky foxes on our tippy toes and played follow the leader all using this little piece of wood.
