Fitness in the Classroom – Using a Stability Ball

I truly believe that preschool is a time to introduce children to new concepts and experiences. I’m not necessarily looking for skill mastery, my goal is exposure.  That goes for fitness activities too.

I know that preschoolers may not be able to use a stability ball the way that it was developed to be used – simply because they are too small and haven’t refined their own balance and coordination. That doesn’t mean they can’t still have fun with it. In fact, can you picture what your students would do if you brought a stability ball into the classroom tomorrow, they would probably go crazy over it. 

An ideal space for playing with a stability ball (or a few stability balls) is a larger room without a lot of obstacles or breakables, like a gym, large motor room, or multipurpose room.  There are so many ways that preschoolers can play with this type of giant ball – and I’m sure that your students will think up an endless number of different games.  You can get them started by encouraging to simply roll the ball across the room to each other – which will use an entirely different set of muscles than rolling a typical ball across the floor – or chasing the ball around the room as it rolls away from them. 

Again, the main idea is to introduce a new item and a fun way to encourage physical movement.