One of the major areas where we can see big leaps and bounds of learning in our preschoolers is in their physical development. From how they hold the crayon to how they walk up the stairs, development in every muscle in their body is important.
Your child’s gross motor skills will develop first. This includes the large muscle groups of the body to perform tasks like holding up her head, sitting, crawling, walking, etc. As the gross motor skills are mastered, then fine motor skills will become the focus. Tasks that include hand-eye coordination or foot-eye coordination are covered under the fine motor development.
As you go about your homeschooling day, remember that those preschoolers will need lots of moving time. This is hard for me to remember at times because school with my oldest is getting pretty intensive. I end up with lots of quiet time activities planned for my younger ones, not enough run-around activities.
Our littlest students desperately need this time to build those large muscle groups – and, get out that pent up energy!
But, if you have preschoolers, you probably already knew that, didn’t you?
Let’s talk about some ways you can help your little ones build gross motor skills:
- Walk like different animals. This one works great for indoors or outdoors. Simply call out the name of an animal and watch your kids have fun trying to imitate it! The kids will have even more fun watching you try to do it. Children are forced to become more aware of how the parts of their bodies move with this activity. The crab walk is definitely one that they may have to stop and think about and practice a bit before getting good at.
- Obstacle course. Set up a course throughout your house, out in the backyard, even at the park. Depending on the different things you have access to or how great your imagination is, your kids will get a workout and get to exercise muscles that they don’t use everyday.
- In the house. Jump over pillow piles, army crawl between two blankets laid out the long way, crawl under the kitchen table, run around kitchen chairs placed in zigzags. If you have older ones doing this with the younger, you could even let them jump out one of the windows! (Assuming, of course, that you live in a one-story home like we do!!)
- In the yard. Run around the house, take the kitchen chairs outside to zip around, bounce a big ball three times.
- At the park. Construct leaf piles, climb over picnic tables, shimmy under park benches, run up the stairs and fly down the slide.
- Jumping rope. If there are enough people in your homeschool, you can have two hold the rope while one jumps. If it’s just you and your preschooler, tie the rope to a fence and you hold the other end. After they get the hang of jumping one way, see if it feels different when you swing the rope the other way. See if your little jumping bean can jump his feet open and closed, or like scissors or like a bunny while jumping the rope.
- Hopscotch. You didn’t know when you were young and playing hopscotch that you were building gross motor skills, did you? Now, you can share the game and old memories with your little one while you watch her exercise those important muscles.
- Balance line. It doesn’t get much easier than this – just draw a line with chalk on the sidewalk or lay down some tape on your carpet and have the little one try to walk along it without falling off.
- Ride a bike. Even an exercise bike will do the trick if you don’t have a regular bike or room to ride in your neighborhood.
- Swimming. Go to the beach or the local YMCA for just 30 minutes once a week.
- Play with a big ball. Try to catch it, dribble it, kick it or roll it.
These are some of the easiest ideas I have found. If you have a membership to a gym or other resources nearby, your job might be even easier.
I try to get my kids moving every single day for about 30 minutes and we *try* to do so outside. During this time, I’m directing their play time and having them meet physical challenges such as those listed above. They have other free play/free movement times throughout the day that are not directed.
One book that I have gotten TONS of ideas from for gross motor skills is the Bright Beginnings book. This is a early learning curriculum that I have used for two of my children so far and plan to use for the next two. There is a specific section in the curriculum for indoor and outdoor “gym class” ideas to complete with your little ones. They are VERY easy and you do not need special equipment or special knowledge in order to have a great time with the activities.
Here are just a very few of the ideas you’ll come across in this book:
- ball throwing – underhand and overhand
- ball throwing – between legs
- ball rolling – to knock down an object
- bouncing a ball – against a wall
- body movement – skipping, hopping, galloping
- body movement – let’s pretend (pretend you are washing windows, pulling weeds in the garden, a balloon losing its air, climbing a mountain)
- aerobics – move to music
- body movement – blowing and chasing bubbles
There are lots more in the book! I’m sure you could even add your own ideas for building the gross motor skills of the littlest in your pack!
Stay tuned for the next installment of the *How To HomeSchool PreSchool* series!
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