Relay Races

Since we enjoyed participating in our Olympic games so much, we decided to partake in some fun relay races in the gym.

Our first race was all about balance; we needed to travel across the gym and back while balancing a beanbag on our heads. For our second race we moved using the scooters (this is one of our favorite activities). Lastly we needed to travel to the other side and back while jumping in and out of hula hoops and over some skipping ropes.

We did a fantastic job at working together, taking turns and cheering on our teammates.

Hopping Frogs

This week we played a new tag game in the gym called hopping frogs. Some of us were chosen to be frogs; we used our imaginations and pretended that pool noodles were our long, sticky frog tongues. The rest of us were flies - the frogs tried to catch the flies!

We had 6 hula hoops set up around the gym. If a fly stood in a hula hoop, they were safe; a frog could not catch them. But, flies were only allowed to stay in a hula hoop for ten seconds. This was a great way for us to practice our counting. 

If a fly was tagged by a frog, they needed to sit on a "lily pad" (the blue mat) for a short amount of time and then they returned to the game. 

Not only did we get to practice our counting; this game helped us to develop our spatial awareness as we needed to maneuver around hula hoops when travelling throughout the gym. 

Dribbling

This week we had the opportunity to practice our bouncing and dribbling skills. We began by bouncing the ball with two hands, now we are working on dribbling the ball with one hand while travelling.

To practice these skills, we each received a hula hoop. We began by bouncing the ball with two hands; the ball had to stay inside of the hoop. We learned how to control the ball and properly position our bodies. Next we practiced bouncing and dribbling the ball with one hand while remaining in our space.

Lastly we extended these skills; we dribbled the ball with one hand while walking around the gym.

Music and Movement

We played with some new equipment in the gym this week - wrist bells! We each received a set of bells that fit over our wrists (and even our ankles). We experimented and discovered the different sounds we could make; soft and loud, fast and slow. While wearing the bells, we sang a few movement songs. We also did our warm up stretches with them.

Next we put on some music and were asked to move in different ways around the gym to the music. We skipped, galloped, jogged and even danced. We moved in various ways depending on the speed and beat of the song.