Gross Motor Skill Games
You hear a lot about fine motor skills when it comes to your child’s development. These skills generally involve the coordination of the eyes, hands, and fingers – for example, writing, cutting, and drawing. A lot of preschool activities focus on fine motor skills because they are an important step in moving onto kindergarten. But what about gross motor skills?
Gross motor skills involve whole body movements. Examples of gross motor skills are things like crawling, walking, climbing, catching, and throwing.
Gross motor skill activities involve balance and affect your child’s ability to navigate their world and perform everyday tasks — like sitting upright at a table to practice fine motor skills! You cannot do one without the other.
So how do we work on gross motor skills at PALZ? Easy! We get up and move! Here are a few simple ideas to get your kids playing and working on those gross motor skills.
Dice Game
Each side of the dice represents a specific action. For example, roll a one and you have to hop like a frog. Roll a two and you have to crawl like a crab. You don’t even have to own a physical dice for this game since there are dice rolling apps!
Obstacle Course
Clear out space in your living room and get to work setting up an obstacle course! Use painters tape to create lines on the floor where they can run, skip, and hop from line to line. Use chairs and blankets to create tunnels to crawl through. Use a pool noodle or pillows as a balance beam. Be creative and keep the actions varied.
Yoga
Not all gross motor activities are high-energy, run around games – although those are fun! Simple yoga poses are a great way to work on your child’s balance and bring calm. Here’s a great resource for kids yoga poses from kidsyogaposes.com.
