Gross Motor Skill : Stacking Game + Knock Down Cup

Using the Beans Shaker Cups we made in the previous post, we did a few more fun activities.

Materials :

• Beans Shaker Cups
• Tennis Ball / Bean Bag

Steps for Stacking Game :
1. Stacking the beans shaker cups. This is not difficult but it the cups are on a table and the child have to reach to place the top few cups it's actually quite a challenge.

2. Try different ways to stack them.

3. You can every make it into a memory game for the older kids by stacking differently and get them to stack according to what you had done!

Steps for Knock Down Cup :
1. Stack cups into a triangle shape. E.g. from bottom to top (3:2:1).

2. Get toddler to roll a ball or throw a bean bag to knock them down.

3. It's not that easy to knock all of them down at 1 go actually. :P

Love it when a last min activity produces more activities.

Now I'm tempted to do a few more special shakers with my little one. :D

Items I may try next : Pom poms, sequins, straws (cut up), uncooked pasta?

Gross Motor Skills : Skipping Rope Play for Toddler

My little one have yet to learn how to skip using the skipping rope yet but she loves to play with it..

So I created a couple of little games to play with her using just a skipping rope. :)

Materials:

• Skipping Rope

Walking on Rope

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and straighten it as much as possible.

2. Demonstrate how to "walk on the rope".

She likes it but I personally find that my rope is a bit too hard so if possible get shipping rope that is softer. like the olden days rope type of skipping rope instead of those newer harder plastic rope type.

Jumping in and out (forward and backward jumps)

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and make it into a circle.

2. Demonstrate how to jump in (forward jump) and jump out (backward jump).

I like this but would recommend new "jumpers" to play on the mat instead in case they fall. :D

Hope you like my short little post. :)

Gross Motor Skill : Climbing Up and Down

Okay I actually did this with my cutie pie approximately 4+ months back, in late Nov 2014.
Regret that I haven been doing much of this with her recently but she does gets her twice weekly stairs climbing when we pass by her usual stairs climbing place...

Toddler's Age : Approximate 24 months old (2 years old)

Material:

• A few stools/chairs of different heights.
• A little toy for child to hold (optional, to increase difficulty)

Steps:

1. Arrange the stools/chairs in a row, in random order, or a "hill shape"if you like.

2. Show toddler how you would complete the whole sequence (walk on the stools) and encourage him/her to try.

3. During his/her first walk/climb, hold his/her hand, after gaining confidence he/she will not want you to hold his/her hands anymore. (You may want to do it on a mat but I find that the stools are not that stable when placed on the mat and kids being kids may feel that since there's a mat it's okay to fall and will not be that serious in completing the activity properly)

4. After playing a few rounds you can change the order of the stools to make it more interesting.

5. When he/she is confident and is able to complete the activity, you may consider adding a little game to it at the end. Eg. Kids bowling or throwing a ball. He/she will need to hold on to the ball while climbing up and down the stools, then followed by attempting to knock down the pins with the ball in his/her hand.

This is especially good for rainy days or days you don't want to bring your little one out to the playground!

Playgrounds are good for their gross motor skills as they need to climb up to get to the slides and sometimes they need to crawl through tunnel too! However the playground usually have many older kids that play really rough (kids playing catching, or even playing badminton right in front of the slides!) and sometimes it's either too hot (11-3pm) or too wet (anyone else feels that it's raining the whole year round?), or maybe you are simply afraid that your kid may come into contact with some virus from another child who is unwell? (yes coughing kids, kids with runny nose, even kids with fever cooling patch still on their forehead spotted at the playground. -.-), or maybe the mosquitoes are keeping you away (dengue)? 

Alright, that's all for now, hope you enjoyed my gross/fine motor series so far. :)

Gross Motor Skill : Scooping Foam Alphabets/Balls (Water Play)

Gross motor skill is as important as fine motor skill, this time I decide to do something simple for my little one to train her little arms.

For this activity, there's not much to prepare and set up is kind of effortless, however as it involves water, parent/guardian need to provide 100% attention.

Toddler's Age : Approximate 27 months old. (Probably suitable from 18months?)

Materials:

• Fishing Net ($2 from Daiso)
• Foam Alphabets n Numbers / Bath Toys / Balls / Sponge
• Tub/Pail
• Water

Steps:

1. Wash Tub, "Fishes" and Fishing Net

2. Fill Tub/Pail with some water.

(In order not to waste water I actually let her play this fishing game after she have taken a bathe and the water used is actually from her tub time! PS I don't give her tub time everyday.)

3. Put the "fishes" in, hand the net to child

4. Name items you want him/her to scoop.

Example: A yellow ball, or a pink alphabet, or a lego piece, or alphabet X.

I don't think LO have ever seen a fishing net but once she lay her hands on it she automatically knew what to do with it. I am impressed and at the same time felt somewhat lacking? I called out colours or alphabets and she took them out correctly and really quickly too!

*Increase difficulty by increasing quantity of toys and also try putting more toys varieties.

To make it more interesting, I would give different instructions instead of asking for the items directly.  Like asking for a particular alphabet, then maybe next ask for any item of a particular colour, follow by just name of a toy (e.g. a ball, a lego), or any alphabet in a particular colour, or even name a shape! She needs to look at the items and pick up the one that fits what I describe/request.

Do you have any gross motor skill activity to recommend? :)