Summer Gross Motor Skills

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Hula Hoop Workshop (6)

In these last few days before Travis starts summer camp, we’ve been doing lots of gross motor skills here at “Camp Mom“. Here are a few great ways to get moving in the heat!

Hula-Hoop Workshop:

Forgot traditional twirls around the waist; hula hoops are a fantastic summer boredom buster even if your kids haven’t mastered the hip swirling yet.

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To wit, today the kids decided to pretend they were the rings of Saturn with hula hoops!

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Simply put a hula hoop around your waist and spin!

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You can also practice rolling a hula hoop along the ground. Or jumping from one to the other. Hula hoops are fun any way you spin it!

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Jumping Bee:

Even if your child doesn’t know how to skip rope yet, you can turn it into a prop for a spelling bee. We laid the rope down on the ground and I had Travis think back to some of his kindergarten sight words. For each letter in a word, he jumped back and forth across the rope.

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He was so proud recalling sight words. “There is a sight word of the day and the sight word is ‘the’,” he sang to the tune of BINGO. T!

Jumping Bee (1)

H!

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E!

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After we’d gone through sight words, little sister Veronika started shouting out silly words for him to spell. Bigger kids, of course, can do this activity with longer words and while truly honing their jump rope skills. Last person still spelling without getting tangled in his or her rope wins!

Jumping Bee (5)

Dribbling King:

Some cheap bouncy balls from the grocery store were the perfect prompt to work on Travis’s dribbling skills. Take this activity to your nearest park and hop on the basketball court (or just outline a large area with chalk) and show your kids how to dribble.

Dribbling Queen (1)

If you want to make it a competition, have the kids dribble with one hand while trying to knock away an opponent’s ball with the other.

Dribbling Queen (2)

Travis got very protective of his ball when we played this wat though, and preferred to hone his new skills solo.

Play “Spud”:

If you need a reminder on this classic, here are the rules: The player who is IT tosses a ball in the air and shouts out a number. Other players can take that many steps away.

Spud (1)

Now, IT tries to hit another player with the ball (choose a relatively soft one). If IT misses, he or she gets an S.

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If IT makes the shot, the other player gets the S and is now IT. Play continues until someone spells out S-P-U-D.

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I hope these ideas get you moving!

Activity Course with Balloons

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Activity Course with Balloons (11)

I recently took apart the alphabet mat that’s been in the kids’ playroom, but before stowing it away, I realized it made for a great indoor obstacle course. Leftover balloons from a birthday party only added to the fun!

I set up sections of the alphabet mat in lines, so they were close but not touching. I then added a few other items good for gross motor skills like a play tunnel and hula hoops.

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Veronika immediately wanted to walk along the mat…

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…but now I added to the challenge. The kids had to make it from start to finish while holding a balloon the whole time!

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At various intervals I had them stop to do an action, like jumping in place 3 times, spinning 3 times, or chasing a balloon through the play tunnel.

 

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There was even a section to transport the balloon across a longer gap in the mat via dolly carriage.

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It turned out that big brother Travis enjoyed the physical challenges more than my toddler, and in retrospect the direction-taking involved was more suited to older kids. But Veronika still had fun!

Activity Course with Balloons (6)

Chalk Color Matching Game

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Outdoor Color Match (3)

Here’s an activity that’s a bit like a paint chip rainbow nature hunt, but tailored more to fit a toddler’s age and abilities.

On a gorgeous garden walk today, I directed Veronika’s attention to lots of different colored flowers. (“Look, reds! “Can you see the blue flower?”). I didn’t specifically ask her to collect any one color, but I carefully made sure we had at least one item from each color of the rainbow by the end of our walk.

Outdoor Color Match (1)

Once home, I sketched out a chalk rainbow on our back patio. As soon as I said, “Red…” she began to sing a rainbow song, going through all the colors!

Outdoor Color Match (6)

We then laid out our treasures from the garden. I placed red flowers on the red rectangle, orange on the orange, and so on.

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Soon she was helping!

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The flowers didn’t stay in one spot for long, since she wanted to pluck the leaves or rub them between her fingers. But I loved that she turned the color play into sensory play, too!

Outdoor Color Match (7)

Older toddlers can go even further with the game. Talk about shapes, or sort your colored items by a different attribute. I’d love to hear how the game goes for you in the comments!

Start a Tree

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Start a Tree (6)

Unlike a tree sapling we planted earlier in the summer, today Travis conducted more of a science experiment; could he start a tree sapling from seeds we collected outside?

After dinner, we headed off on a pajama walk (one of the best parts of these long summer nights!) in hunt of seeds. You’ll want ones that you can easily plant in a cup, so think maple keys, acorns, or walnut seeds.

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Once home, we investigated all of our finds, talking about their similarities and differences. Travis was especially fascinated by the black walnut pod we brought home, and then cracking it open to get to the seeds inside!

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We then spooned a little potting soil into each of 3 foam cups, and added our tree seeds. Cover with a little more soil and water.

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We labeled the cups and Travis sat down to begin a nature notebook, jotting down how the seed pods had looked on Day 1. The goal is to continue until we see little saplings grow!

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To conclude the project, be sure to talk about the various ways that seeds can move to a new place. Travis laughed imagining seeds that could get up and walk, but then we reviewed some of the real methods (like wind, rain, or hitchhiking on animals!).

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt

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Blackberry Frozen Yogurt (1)

Unlike turning out homemade ice cream, this frozen yogurt comes together with almost no effort.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup frozen blackberries
  • 8 ounces non-dairy vanilla yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon apple juice
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
  2. Spoon into a freezer-safe container and freeze. Every hour, fluff with a fork, and repeat until ready to serve. Our frozen yogurt was creamy but still a little more liquid than solid after 3 hours, and perfect after 4.

Update: We discovered this is just as yummy with other frozen berries, too. Blueberries were a big hit.

Fro Yo Blueberry

Then we used 1 cup frozen fruit for our version with strawberries…

Fro Yo Raspberry

…and one with raspberries, for results that were deemed even more delicious!

Fro Yo Strawberry

Beach-Themed Sensory Bag

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Beach-Themed Bag (6)Here’s the perfect way to bring a bit of the beach home for your toddler after a day at the real thing. It’s a great way to extend the sensory play while remembering a day of fun in the sun!

While you’re at the beach, make sure to tuck aside shells or other little treasures.

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Once home, I filled a gallon-sized zip-top bag with hair gel. Either leave the gel clear, or add a few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired. Then add your beachy treasures!

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We had some beautiful finds, including a mussel shell, a razor clam, snail shells, and one that was nearly translucent gold. Veronika loved the contrast between the shells and the gel. “Bumpy!” she said first, followed by “squishy”!”

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It was fun to watch her move the shells around within the bag. Next time, I might bring home a little bit of the beach itself and add sand, too!

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Perfect beach house fun.

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Car Book

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Car Book (8)

Veronika is obsessed with cars and trucks right now, so today I made her a picture book about cars of her very own!

First, we sat down to go through an old car magazine together, which was half the fun, talking about each vehicle as we came to it. I then tore out pages with clear, complete pictures of cars and trucks. You can also add pictures of tractors, motorcycles, or other favorite vehicles, if you find them in a magazine’s pages.

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Glue each picture onto a square of poster board. Line up the pages and punch holes, then secure with two pieces of string.

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Veronika instantly loved flipping through it at home…

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…but of course there’s no better place to read her car book than in the car!

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I love that I catch her “reading” this book to herself in the backseat. “There’s truck! There’s green car!” We’ll get a lot of mileage out of this one.

The Sandbox Scene

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Sandbox Scene (1)

We’ve made a lot of at-home sandboxes in miniature this summer, but today we needed the real thing! To keep things fresh, I made sure we brought along toys that would add novelty to Veronika’s sand play. Because many public sandboxes encourage at-home toys these days, it was also the perfect excuse to mix things up!

First up: empty frozen juice containers. These are great because unlike other metal cans, they have no sharp edges. They are perfect for stacking into towers.

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I also brought along construction vehicles…

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Toy figures…

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And shovels of course.

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Measuring cups are great if you want to toss in a little learning, like concepts about size or volume. If you don’t want your real kitchenware getting sandy, bring along a few cups from a set of stacking cups.

It turned out the afternoon was really hot and the sandbox was in direct sunlight… but wouldn’t you know it, all those toys were just as great in nature’s other great play space: the grass box!

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We got silly trying to stack our frozen juice containers here since the grass made things uneven.

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Then of course, there’s the option of using the biggest “sandbox” of all: the beach! Here, we have a few extra options thanks to wet sand.

We could stack up a hill and then try to dig through to each other’s hands; we could bury toys and then unearth them; and of course we could bury our feet!

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It’s also fun to dig a trench or hole, fill it with water, and watch what happens.

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Veronika was amazed with how quickly the water was absorbed.

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What’s your kids favorite thing to bring to the sandbox? Please share in the comments!

Object Matchup

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Object Matchup (6)

Veronika loves spotting her own outline in her shadow, so today I thought it would be fun to teach a bit about how objects have shadows too, not just people. Recognizing shadows and outlines can help with skills like puzzle-solving down the line; plus this game is great for vocabulary!

Simply trace a variety of household items onto index cards. I used things that were familiar to Veronika, including: a key, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, scissors, and a crayon.

Object Matchup (1)

If you want this game to be more permanent, cover each card with contact paper for durability.

I then laid the cards out in front of her, along with the pile of objects. It was time to see if she could match them up! At first she didn’t quite understand, because she wanted to color the crayon’s outline with… the crayon.

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But then she looked at the scissors in her hand and the outline of the scissors on the card, and declared, “Scissors!”

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Soon she was matching up the spoon to the spoon card, the heart to the heart card, and so on. A simple but nice activity for cognitive development.

Object Matchup (5)

 

Flying Saucers

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Flying Discs (6)

Travis is just learning to toss a Frisbee, so today we played this quick take on H-O-R-S-E. I suspended a hoop from a tree (which was actually a play tunnel folded up, but it worked in a pinch), and then handed Travis the Frisbee.

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Each player takes a turn tossing. If the disc goes through, the other player must make the shot from the same spot, else he or she earns a D. Continue play until somebody spells out D-I-S-C, and the other person wins!

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The spelling element meant this game was not just physical activity, but also a quick learning activity!

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Meanwhile Travis enjoyed honing his Frisbee skills. We’ll be playing this one again soon!

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