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Moving Through
the Alphabet from A to Z
Over the summer vacation, it is very
easy for our children to become sedentary. The weather is hot, is some cases
dangerously so, and children just don't want to play outside. So what
does that leave? Playstation, Nintendo and computers. Keep your school aged
children in shape with these exercises disguised as fun!
A: Animal walks - to music have
the children move like various animals.
Promote manual dexterity, fine motor
skills, visual tracking, creative play with the
Fortune Water Ball |
B: Bouncing balls - give children
lots of opportunities with many sizes of balls. Also Bean bags-throw the
beanbag and catch it. Walk around with it on your head, lay it on your foot,
elbow, shoulder, etc.
C: Clap 2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Try chanting numbers while waiting in line,
have the children mimic your pattern.
D: Dance to soft music. Try up and down movements as you move.
E: Elephant walk: "Can you make your feet big and slow and heavy while
you swing your trunk?"
F: Fly, flutter, and float. Give children feathers to hold and wave
or toss and watch how they flutter to the ground. Encourage them to imitate
a feather!
G: Glide and gallop. Glide side to side with one foot leading and
the other moving to meet it and switch to gallop.
H: Hopscotch: Use chalk to mark
an area outdoors or masking tape indoors and let children be challenged as
they hop along on one foot and then on two.
I: Ice fun in winter: Try "ice skating" by placing paper plates under
feet and sliding across the carpet.
J: Jumping over blocks, into hoops, from carpet mat to carpet mat,
and so on provides a great indoor obstacle course.
K: Kookaburra: what is it? Try to find a picture of this bird and
share this favorite song. (Kumbaya too)
L: Leap frog is a great indoor or outdoor game that many have forgotten
from the past. Leaping across the room to music is also great fun.
M: March!! Make homemade maracas and march to Mozart music!
N: Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky's music is a natural for all kinds of
movements!!
O: Over/under, out/in: it's time
to explore opposites. Hap Palmer's "Circle Game" contains many opposites.
P: Pathways can be explored as children move from one area to another.
Move in a straight, zigzag, or curved path.
Q: Quickly, quietly, with a quiver - how many ways can you move? Practice
and the brainstorm a chart of all the ways children can think of to move.
R: Ribbon dancing!! (my favorite) Make ribbons from streamers stapled
to straws or build a collection from ribbon scraps you have around home.
The ways children move to various types of music are amazing.
S: Scarves are especially great with classical music. Suggest places
for the scarves - in front, to the side, above below, between.
T: Tambourines can set the tempo to move around the room. Tap quickly
and lightly for fast small steps; loud and slow for large slow steps.
U: Under the umbrella. Have children walk a masking tape tightrope
as they use a small umbrella for balance like in the circus!!
V: Vary your instructions. Speak very quietly or very slowly. Use
adjectives and add numbers (take five very small steps). (I also do some
instructions in sign language since my children are learning to sign.)
W: Wheels on the bus is a favorite. Try it using a vehicle besides
a bus and see what wacky variations you can come up with!
X: X marks the spot. Place a number of masking tape X's on the floor.
Children can have a treasure hunt, find the spot, "dig" lift out buried treasure
and opening it. What did you find?
Y: Yarn. Have the children make shapes on the floor with their yarn
and ask them to step inside their shape, walk on their shape, make their
shape disappear, etc.
Z: Zoo animals. Let's all move like monkeys!, etc. |
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