GROSS MOTOR:

Body Awareness/Balance; Roll/Bounce a Ball

Important Note: Gross motor activities on my website are not all-inclusive and are not necessarily in developmentally sequential order.  I have not tried (nor am I qualified) to teach "The Basics," but rather, I'm just sharing random tidbits of information from old classroom lecture notes and ideas from my files.

Body Awareness
From Stormie:

Although I'm posting ideas below as often as I can, my very favorite activities have been reserved for my "GROSS MOTOR" booklet.  I create and sell booklets and other teaching aids to help defer the costs of keeping my website on the internet.  You can find my booklets and games here in "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" then keep hitting your back button to return to this page.  Financial donations are also greatly appreciated as my website is now a part-time career for me.

I was taught that young children need to learn about their bodies (identifying its parts and knowing how they work -- does it bend? How does it move?).  So even though most 4's I've met know this fairly well, I like to do a few Body Awareness activities in September.  Random activities I've done include:
*Name body parts for children to touch or move.  "Touch your toe."  "Move your head."
*Instruct children to touch one body part to another ( head to knee, for example).  Then, suggest they touch body parts to other body parts that you know are impossible.  This teaches that some body parts have limitations (head to stomach, for example).
*Give each child a paper "circle" (or other shape) and instruct them to use it in different ways (put your circle on your shoulder, under your chin, etc).
*Set up an obstacle course consisting of various sized boxes, or place tables, chairs, and/or blocks together to create spaces for children to move in and out of.  This allows them to practice judging size and space in relation to how their bodies fit into objects, thus an awareness of "my body."
*Increase the difficulty of the above activity by instructing the children to move around, through, and between all the spaces without touching the sides of the objects.  Tricky, tricky -- and fun!
*By the way, these old familiar activities are some of the best for Body Awareness:
*Playing "Hokey Pokey"
*Having children draw a picture of themselves
*Having children draw around each other's bodies on strips of butcher paper

An Old Favorite for Body Awareness:

My Fingers Are Starting To Wiggle (Tune: The Bear Went Over the Mountain) My fingers are starting to wiggle, My fingers are starting to wiggle, My fingers are starting to wiggle, Wiggle all around. Add other verses by simply changing the word "fingers" (hands, arms, legs, nose, toes, etc).  Better yet, have the children decide which body part will wiggle in the verse.  I also love doing verses that require the children to experiment with how the part would wiggle.  For example, try my "voice" is starting to wiggle, or my thumb, or something funny like my "tummy."  At the very end, it's always nice to finish with: My whole body's starting to wiggle, My whole body's starting to wiggle, My whole body's starting to wiggle, I think I'd better sit down.

Please share your "Body Awareness" ideas by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

Spatial Activities:
1. From Jessica, in Bristol, CT; ECE student at CCSU: Combining Shapes and Body Awareness: When I was 3-4 years old, I had a book called ELMO's Resting Place.  It had a circle, square, triangle, etc. on each page, and Elmo would say the shape was a resting spot for your thumb, elbow, knee, baby toe, chin, or any other body part.  Although I don't think it is in print any longer, it would be fun to make a book like that, either with or without the children's help, and then read the book, having the children name the shapes and rest a body part on them.
2. From Lisa Cox, Horace Mann Montessori School -- Integrated Preschool:
Dots: I have my 12 students sit in pairs on the carpet with legs crossed and facing each other.  Each child has a sheet of colored sticker dots.  I start them off by suggesting, "Put a dot on your friend's nose."  Then they do it, laugh, and I ask them to think of another place they could put a dot.

Balance
From Stormie:
I was taught this definition of "Balance": "Sustaining control of the body when using both sides simultaneously, individually, or alternately."  I was also taught that balance is necessary for all large muscle (gross motor) activities.  Here's a few reminders from my old classroom lecture notes and a couple activities I've done:
*Children should be successful at static balancing before stressing dynamic balancing.  Static balancing activities are those that require children to balance while remaining stable (example: standing on one foot for 20 seconds).  Dynamic balancing activities require children to balance while moving (example: across the Balance Beam).
*Before introducing the Balance Beam, some children may need to build their confidence by first being successful at balancing on a strip of tape or rope.
*One of my very favorite things to use for early balancing activities is a ladder, placed flat on the floor or ground.  Children can walk on or inside the rungs.  They can walk on or straddle the edges.
*Tie one of your themes into the activities.  For example, in September, if the children are developmentally ready and have mastered walking forward across the balance beam, you might then place a slightly-stuffed (but rather flat) paper apple atop their heads before walking across it, increasing the difficulty of balancing -- and in celebration of the letter A.

Please share your "Balance" ideas by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

From Sharon:
Balancing with Bean Bags: You can have children try to balance bean bags on virtually any body part.  I let them choose a body part, or pick a card with a picture of  a body part on it, then figure out how they have to move to make it work (walk, crawl, etc.).  To enhance social skills and problem solving together, they balance the beanbags with a friend -- no hands, and each partner has to be touching the bag.  Tricky!  (These activities would also be great for reinforcing the letter Bb.)

Roll and Bounce A Ball
From Stormie:
Lecture Notes and Random Activities:
*It takes practice for children to roll a ball without it bouncing along the way.
*Bouncing a ball should be done with our fingers -- not our hands.
*Have children roll a ball toward a target.
*Have children practice bouncing a ball while standing still.
*Increase the difficulty of  the above activity by having children practice bouncing a ball while moving (walking, running, jumping, etc).
 
*Misc. Tip: If you, like me, have been taught that competition games aren't appropriate for preschoolers (although I've also read professionally written articles to the contrary), how about having children race against a timer that's been set, instead of against each other?

Outdoor Ball Painting: Have children roll a ball in paint and then roll it down a strip of butcher paper.  Yes, this is messy but, oh, what fun!  I suggest you send a note home to parents in advance telling them to send their children to school in old clothes.  You can still try and protect their clothes by having them wear an adult-sized shirt backwards (buttons in the back), and with the sleeves cut off.

Patterning: This is tricky but a good challenge for those who are ready: Demonstrate bouncing a ball to a simple rhythmic pattern: Bounce it once, then bounce it twice, bounce it once, then bounce it twice, bounce it once, then bounce it twice............................

Song: Here's a super easy tune to sing while children take turns bouncing (or rolling) a ball:
This Is the Way
(Tune: Mulberry Bush)
This is the way we bounce a ball, bounce a ball, bounce a ball
This is the way we bounce a ball
On this beautiful day!

Music Appreciation: Here's a golden oldie tune children can bounce balls to -- just for fun.  Some of you may be too young to remember this song, but it was a great one: Rubber Ball, by Bobby Vee (I like exposing children to all kinds of music.)

Please share your "rolling and bouncing" ideas by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

From Bobbi Jo Wright:
For focusing on the color red, I provide a red ball for outdoor play (rolling, bouncing, etc).
From Stormie: By the way, the golden oldie tune "Red Rubber Ball" by Paul Simon would be a great musical accompaniment for Bobbi Jo's activity above!

From Leanne Grillot, Teacher of the Visually Impaired for the Monterey County Office of Education:
In celebration of circles and things that are round, we had the children crawl through tunnels.

From Dee Cardenas, Starbright Preschool, Austin, Texas:
Rolling: I found a sturdy packing tube about 4' long.  The children enjoy "rolling" tennis balls through the openings.
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Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards."  Click here to check them out.

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