Indoor Gross Motor Activities

[Guest]

I have been thinking that I should be doing more to keep the little ones active on rainy days - I currently do songs with actions and clean the outside toys up and bring them inside

 

Does anyone have any ideas? I thought I might make a game with laminated cards which children can choose then try to do eg walk like a duck with a pic of a duck; jump like a star with a pic of a star etc. I've got 1 age 2 and 1 age 3 at the moment........

 

Thanks in advance! Sarah x

[belle06]

Hi

We use the stick kids cds for indoor warm up and physical actvities.

[Guest]

As I started reading your post I thought of parachute, but a bit difficult with 2 children and you Mind you, a blanket, one child at each corner, you holding two corners, teddy in the middle, lift and drop, great fun and will evoke lots of giggles as teddy somersaults through the air

 

I have a large foam dice which has a plastic cover enabling pockets on each side to place 'action' pics, roll the dice and jump, skip, hop, sit, stretch, star jump etc.

 

My children love doing the bottom race, sitting on floor arms above head, hands clasped and wiggle bottom to 'walk' forwards or backwards ( great for the waistline too )

 

Have fun

 

 

Peggy

[Guest Wolfie]

If a parachute is too big...which it obviously is!!....how about disassembling one of those multicoloured golfing umbrellas by taking the metal bits out and creating a mini parachute, you can get them really cheap at some discount shops. An EY advisor came to my nursery and did some lovely activities with small groups of children using one of those.

[Guest]

Great idea Wolfie, learn something new everyday, off to the pound shop tomorrow ( or see if they are on offer with a tank of petrol at the garage)

 

Peggy

[Marion]

You can buy small parachutes suitable for small groups. Is there any reason you need to come indoors if its raining? Our children love to 'dodge' the raindrops or to puddle jump.

[Alison]

how much room do you have?

 

we create a "jumping and balancing assualt course"

2 or 3 none slip circles that the children can jump from one to another, like frogs on lilly pads

a piece of rope (old skipping rope will do) lay on the floor for the children to walk along,

small step to stand on and jump off

 

our crawl through tunnel has always been a firm favourite

 

would there be enough room to put a hopscotch mat out or a target throwing corner? (bean bag into a bucket, skittles, hoop-la)

 

I like the idea of the golf umbrella we have a parachute but often not enough older children to play with it properly.

[Guest]

We tried the teddy / blanket idea this morning Peggy and they loved it! See you at the £1 shop looking for umbrellas!!

Marion, I only have 2 children and they really get miserable in the rain (well one of them does). I tried getting them out but 1 parent gave me a hard time as well (and told child to refuse to do it) so...... I have a front room with green carpet Alison, and with a bit of imagination..... I love all the ideas - any more gratefully received!!

Thanks Sarah x

[Guest]

You could try an old cotton sheet as a parachute. The children also liked to be rolled up inside and then slowly unrolled. Make a den under a table and encourage children to crawl inside. We get a lot of use from small carpet samples as stepping stones, hopscotch........

[Guest]

We have a 'swimming pool' game where all available cushions and spare duvets are piled at the bottom of the stairs and children jump into this pile over and over again - just make sure they don't try diving!

[Guest]

I put a small paddling pool in my kitchen - placed on top of a plastic backed table cloth and lots of towels dotted around! Littlies loved it!! Obviously close supervision is required...but hey why not?!!

[Guest]

We used beach balls today - practiced rolling it to a named person in the circle, then we passed the balls around the circle as quickly as we could (tried anyway!), followed by passing it between our legs, then doing through legs and over heads (sequence of movements) and finally bouncing it to one another. The finale was a free for all! Great fun. Best bit - easy to store!