gross motor
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Gross Motor Activities with Apples
Sometimes we have to get a little creative in order to support gross motor skills, but when it comes to exploring apples, there are tons of ways to incorporate practicing these skills! Here are some of my favorite ideas. Apples are ball-shaped (for the most part) which makes them perfect for tossing and catching – gently of course! They can also be rolled back and forth or used in games like bowling. Apples with stems can be tied to a piece of yarn and hung from a tree so children can practice reaching and pulling (or “picking”). They make excellent items for relay races – balance them on wooden spoons,…
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Halloween Movement Ideas
It’s that time of year – Halloween classroom party time! I always loved these days, but I fully understand why some teachers don’t. The kids are already amped up, and then we give them sugar and take away the routine, what are we thinking?! Movement activities can be lifesavers for all of that pent up energy, so I thought I’d gather some excellent ones in one spot to save you a little sanity. Here are some options that’ll fit your party theme and get those wiggles out! Danny Go is always my daughter’s first pick, this is just one of his Halloween offerings: You can’t go wrong with GoNoodle, and…
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Activities to do with yarn – gross motor
If there is one thing that is universal for every single preschool program it’s that you never seem to have enough materials for all of the activities that you want to do with the children. Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at creating fun experiences with very few supplies. I thought it would be fun to focus on one simple supply and share a ton of easy activities that you can do to meet different learning domains. This week is going to be all about things you can do with yarn. When it comes to gross motor activities, yearn is the perfect tool for practicing a variety of skills.…
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Preschool movement videos
I’ve already shared how much I wish March meant that spring and warm weather were here – even though I know it doesn’t. This is exactly what makes this one of the most difficult months for preschool. The children want to need to get outside, but it’s either too cold or too muddy, and you just can’t. It’s the perfect time of year to pull out the secret weapon, movement videos! Here are some of my favorites for those days when you just have to shake all those sillies out; Go Noodle Whether you need some movement, or want to help them calm down, Go Noodle has an quick activity…
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Valentine Movement Games
Party days are chaos. Instead of fighting it, just embrace it, and incorporate some of these fun Valentine-themed movement games: Musical hearts Color a heart XO Hop Conversation heart jump Giant alphabet heart matching game Use these games to channel the sugar rush into something educational that will help burn off some steam!
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Yoga for the Preschool Classroom
These last couple of weeks have been difficult for my students because it finally got warm enough to go outside, and then it got cold again. That little glimmer of hope, hope that spring might really be close, makes it even more difficult to stay inside all day. Luckily, I’ve found a great yoga program that my students love! Yoga is the perfect solution to this particular problem because it gets my students moving and uses some of their energy, without getting them all hyped up. Our favorite yoga program is Cosmic Kids Yoga. Jamie from Cosmic Kids takes children on yoga adventures, introducing poses throughout the journey. My preschoolers…
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Freebie Friday: Movement Charts
Happy Friday, we made it through the first week back to real life! The one thing that I love about January is that after having jam-packed weekend throughout November and December, my weekends finally feel like they belong to me again. I am looking forward to getting a lot done around the house this weekend, because I’ll finally have the time. Earlier this week I gave you some ideas for indoor movement games, today’s freebie goes with this list perfectly! The free Movement Chart is from Chanda at Pink Oatmeal, the chart is meant to help you track your students’ movement activities, to make sure that they are participating in movement…
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Tape maze!
Oh. My. Goodness. My students absolutely loved this new game, and it is so easy that we may just make it part of our regular rotation. All you have to do is tear long pieces of masking tape and place them at varying levels across a hallway (if you don’t have a hallway I’m sure that you could set up some chairs that would work too). Then the children have to get through the tape without getting stuck to it. My kiddos pretended to be spies, they didn’t want to get caught by the “laser tape.” They rolled underneath some strips, tiptoed over others, and stretched to get over some…