Last week, I shared some of L's favorite fine motor activities. This week, I thought I'd focus on activities to help develop gross motor. Gross motor refers to movement involving large muscle movements (like crawling, walking, kicking, and dancing). Fine motor and gross motor are two of the five areas of development I try to create activities around to help appropriately support growth. You can read about the five areas of development in my previous post here.
Okay, so we were recently (graciously) given 100 of these plastic ball pit balls. They're a great gift, however, we don't have a ball pit... nor do we have space for a said ball bit. It'll be fun to put them in a plastic kiddie pool in the backyard, however, it is currently a million degrees outside so that will have to wait. I simply could not have 100 balls thrown everywhere around my house without purpose. So, they quickly motivated me to create some exciting activities for L to help continue to grow her gross motor skills. We had to do something with them other than trip over them! Check out two of L's favorites below.
1. Ball Pit Ball Bowling - I took empty paper towel rolls (that I made my husband save for weeks and I didn't exactly know why... this! This was why!) and wrapped colored paper around each. I then taped the ends to help reinforce them. That was it! I showed her how to stand up the paper towel rolls and balance a ball onto each. Independently, she immediately chose to match the balls to the correct colored roll (Type A- that's my girl!). I loved to see her apply color recognition, which we previously worked on together. It takes a lot of muscle control to carefully balance a ball onto the top of each roll without knocking it over. This activity helps L practice other concepts too, including cause and effect.
2. Ball Pit Ball Toss - This was a huge hit! First, I took a piece of cardboard and painted it white (totally unnecessary but I wanted to anyway). I then used a box cutter to slice five holes (extremely lopsided) that were big enough to have the balls easily fall through. I then used colored masking tape to "highlight" each hole. I put a laundry basket behind it and let L go at it. Again, she chose to match the balls to the correct colored holes independently. She did that a few times and then found it hilarious to purposefully put balls in the wrong-colored holes. This activity is great for gross motor development because it encourages L to use her hands to throw and her legs to squat to pick up the balls. It also promotes hand-eye coordination. This activity is also great for cognitive development because it stimulates curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Early math concepts (color sorting and size differentiation) are even covered. Who knew so much could be covered in such a simple activity! It was like having our own carnival in our living room!
These activities have helped L grow her gross motor skills. What are some of your little learner's favorite activities that support gross motor development? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!
Thanks for reading! I hope you continue to follow along to find (and share!) inspiration, information, and innovation! :-) Have a great weekend everyone!