When developing curriculum, preschool teachers and daycare providers must include age-appropriate activities for young children that develop physical gross motor skills. Move like an Animal is an activity that will promote major muscle coordination and enhance rebound activities and spatial relationships.
What are Physical Gross Motor Skills?
According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Children’s Health [Gale, 2005], motor skills are actions that involve the movement of muscles in the body. “They are divided into two groups: gross motor skills, which are the larger movements of arms, legs, feet, or the entire body (crawling, running, and jumping); and fine motor skills, which are smaller actions, such as grasping an object between the thumb and a finger or using the lips and tongue to taste objects”. This lesson plan focuses on gross motor skills.
Some important physical gross motor concepts and skills that preschool age children learn to master are balance, spatial orientation (which means that the child is aware of the position of his or her body in space as well as in relation to other people and objects), laterality (which means that the child is aware of the left and right sides of the body), and the coordination of major muscles.
Children learn gross motor skills through practice. Activities which involve hopping, jumping, and climbing as well as games which involve catching and kicking balls are great examples of activities that promote the development of gross motor skills.
This “Hop in the Hoops” lesson plan includes the preparation instructions, procedures, and materials list for this activity. It also provides age-appropriate learning objectives and a sample of the simple supporting verbal cues necessary to encourage participation and support learning. This activity is also a great activity for a preschool party.
Hop in the Hoops Activity Materials
- large activity area
- hula hoops in a variety of colors
Hop in the Hoops Activity Preparation
Clear an activity area that is large enough so that all children have proper space while performing their movements. Lay the hoops around the activity area.
Activity Procedures
Invite the children over to activity area. Explain to the children that they are playing a game called Hop in the Hoops. Explain that you will call out commands to children or groups of children. Call out commands such as “Jump in the red hoop,” “Hop next to the green hoop,” “Skip around the pink hoop,” or “Put your arm through the blue hoop.”
Gross Motor Learning Objectives
Objective 1: To enhance rebound and airborne activities through jumping.
- Verbal Cue A: Can you jump in the red hoop?
- Verbal Cue B: I like the way you are jumping in the blue hoop.
Objective 2: To enhance rebound and airborne activities through skipping.
- Verbal Cue A: Skip around the pink hoop!
- Verbal Cue B: Can you Bobby’s hand and skip around the green hoop?
Objective 3: To develop spatial relationships (body and space perception) using the prepositions forward, backward, and straight ahead in verbal cues.
- Verbal Cue A: Can you jump backward into the pink hoop?
- Verbal Cue B: Hop straight ahead into the green hoop.
Please keep in mind that this is not a competitive activity, it is simply a fun, skill building activity. Therefore do not enforce rules that promote competition. For more preschool lesson plans, see Online Preschool Lesson Plans.
Carla Snuggs - As a writer for Suite101.com since 2005, it is a privilege to continue on as theTopic Editor for the subject of Day Care. I received a ...
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