Gross Motor Play

Bloggers Go Olympics: Move Like a Gymnast

August 7, 2012 By Terri Thompson

Have you been watching as much Olympics as we have?

We have it on every night and are so inspired by all the swimmers, divers, runners, soccer players, and every other athlete.

The girls have been running races, pretending to dive… synchronized diving nonetheless… and learning how to run relays.

But, by far, our favorite events have been the gymnastic events. While admittedly, we’re not able to turn flips on a balance beam or go launching ourselves off of a vault, we still had fun moving like a gymnast.

There are many simple ways your kids can get moving in the style of a gymnast. Here are a few we tried.

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Balance Beam: I found a couple of scrap boards and set them out in the grass for a balance beam. We practiced walking forward and backward and turning around. We tried balancing one foot and doing small hops. We even tried carrying our hula hoops over our heads.

Balancing: Can you balance on one foot? Can you stretch your leg out behind you and balance that way? How can your arms help you balance? Balancing is an integral skill in gymnastics and an easy and important skill that your kids can practice in their own backyard.

Floor Exercise: Design your own floor exercise routines. Tumble, leap, balance. Combine it with music and try adding your own choreography. Can you get a perfect score?

Rhythmic Gymnastics: Create a routine using a hula hoop or ball. Can you balance with a hula hoop held over your head? Can you spin the hula hoop on your arms? Can you twirl with a ball held over our head? Wow your family with your rhythmic gymnastics routines!

And when you’re done, throw your arms in the air and wait for the applause. You deserve it!

Have fun with the Olympics and use them to help promote movement and fun. Almost any event can be used as inspiration for your own movement games.

Go Outside: Jump!

May 14, 2012 By Terri Thompson

Go outside and jump! Kids will love playing these simple jumping games.

Do you have active kids who need to burn off some energy?

Tell them to jump! It’s easy, fun, and requires nothing more than your own two feet.

Here are some fun ways to add a little variety to this classic gross motor exercise.

Go outside and play some jumping games!

1. Long Jump: The long jump has been a part of track and field events for decades. We thought it would be fun to recreate this event in our backyard. I spread out a piece of twine for our starting point and then told the girls to jump as far as they could. Each time, we took out our tape measure to see just how far we could jump. (50 inches! Wow!) We tried jumping from a stationary position and then tried running and jumping. Which one helped us jump the longest?

2. Who can jump the most? This one should really be titled “a sneaky way to tire your kids out when they have way too much energy.” All you have to do is say “Who can jump the most before getting tired? Ready, set, go… start jumping!” Have your kids jump and jump some more. Who will be the last one jumping? This is a great way to tire the kids out when they have excess energy. Keep it in your arsenal because you can use it on road trips, rainy days, or any other time your kids are bouncing off the walls.

3. Jumping over obstacles. I set up a mini-obstacle course for the girls to jump over. We had a pile of scrap wood, so I took a few and laid them out at intervals. I challenged the girls to go down the course jumping over each one. If you don’t have scrap wood, don’t let it limit you. You can use toys, cardboard scraps, rope, sticks, anything you happen to have on hand. Challenge their gross motor skills and have some fun while you’re at it!

4. Pose jumping. This was probably my favorite of our jumping activities. I would shout out a challenge, such as “jump like a bird” or “jump like a ballerina,” and the girls would start jumping. It’s fun to see just how silly everyone can be. I can guarantee lots of giggles with this game! So, start jumping. Jump like a deer or jump like a monster. But, most of all, have fun!

Do you know any fun games that involve jumping?

Make this a family adventure:

Cost: Free
Planning time: None. This can be a fun last minute family activity. If you’re planning on doing the jumping obstacle course, you will need just a few minutes to set it up.
Ages: All. No one is too young or too old to jump!
Time Needed: Varies. You can take as little or as much time as you need.
Notes: This activity can be done anywhere. It’s perfect for an outdoor activity after dinner or a quick energy break on a road trip. Have fun and jump!

Get outside and play some more with one of these active games:

Go Outside: Shape Hopscotch

Silly Races

Move Like a Gymnast

Go Outside: Two Classic Games

May 2, 2012 By Terri Thompson

It’s usually not too difficult to find something to do outside, but sometimes it’s fun to play a few organized games.

I’d like to reintroduce you to a couple of classic games you probably played while you were a kid.

Red Light, Green Light and Mother May I? are both easy games and suitable for all kids, both young and old. Neither requires any equipment besides room to run and a few willing participants.

Red Light, Green Light

Red Light, Green Light is perhaps one of the easiest games to play. It promotes listening and following directions while allowing lots of active play!

How to play:

You will need one person at the finish line and the rest of the participants will line up a distance away facing the finish line.

The person at the finish line is in charge of saying “red light” or “green light.”

When you hear “green light,” everyone moves as fast as they can toward the finish line.

When you hear “red light,” everyone must stop immediately.

Anyone that doesn’t stop when they hear “red light” must go back to the start.

The first person to reach the finish line wins!

Mother May I?

I loved playing Mother May I? as a kid and was excited to teach the girls how to play. This one is slightly more difficult, but still suitable for young children.

How to play:

One person needs to be at the finish line; that person is “Mother.” The rest of the players need to line up at a starting point.

“Mother” calls on each participant separately giving them instructions on how to move toward the finish line. For example, “Lizzie, take 3 giant steps” or “AJ march 4 steps.”

The participant then has to ask, “Mother may I” and Mother answers, “Yes, you can.” The participant can then move according to the directions.

If anyone forgets to ask “Mother may I?” before moving, they have to go back to the start!

The first person to the finish line wins.

We had a lot of fun playing these games and I hope we play many more times. What is your favorite outdoor game from your childhood?

*Note: Yes AJ did play the entire time with a rubber ducky in her hand! I guess she thought he wanted to play too!

Silly Races

January 11, 2012 By Terri Thompson

January is usually cold, snowy, and windy for us, so we’re stuck indoors a lot.

But lately, we’ve had beautiful and unseasonably warm weather, which means we’ve been able to play outdoors!

In order to run a bit of energy out of the girls, I thought it would be fun to have them run silly races. Instead of just running, they had to run by doing something silly.