Are you worried that your children are leading sedentary lives and staying at home and missing out on play during break times? Are you worried that this may reduce their physical activity throughout the day?
Little GEMS International have shared some of their ideas for break times, in-between screen time for children during virtual learning weeks. Take a look!Sorting washing
Get your little one to sort your families socks into the correct pairs. Not only will this support them to identify colours, shapes and patterns but it also gives them a sense of empowerment and responsibility when helping out with chores at home.
Washing up
While you’re doing the washing up at home, give your little one a separate washing up bowl with soapy water and give them the task of washing the cutlery (forks, spoons, etc). This will improve fine motor coordination and control in preparation for writing and give them a sense of responsibility around the house.
Making a salt dough ornament for a friend or loved one
Mix flour, salt and water to make salt dough for your little one to sculpt with. Not only will this keep your little one occupied for quite some time, it can be left to air dry at room temperature, painted and gifted to a friend of loved one.
Pasta jewelry
Use your old pasta and lengths of thread to get your little one making beautiful jewelry creations for the family. You can colour this easily using food colouring and make the thread easier to manipulate by putting sticky tape on the ends. Your little one will learn about colour and pattern sequencing whilst developing fine motor skills and making something nice for others.
Loose part pictures
Take a clean doormat or table mat and get a collection of bits and pieces form around the house to create some loose part pictures. Bits and pieces may include seashells, twigs, bottoms, bottle tops, keys, stones, pegs, leaves, pasta shapes, dried beans, etc. Encourage your child to take photogrpahs of their loose part pictures to share with family members later on. This activity develops creativity, fine motor skills and maths skills such as patterning and shape, space and measure.
Balloon play
So many games can be played with balloons at home! From keeping the balloon in the air to playing catch, balloon play develops gross motor skills such as balance and coordination and when played with a partner, develops social skills too.
Build a camp
Find a large unused cardboard box (big enough for your little one to sit comfortably inside) and give them lengths of material and colored crayons to build a camp. Give them access to the kitchen cupboards and they can even ‘cook dinner’ on an imaginary campfire! Giving them some dried pasta or dough would really help to keep this fun.
Go on a colour, shape or sound hunt
Each day, according to your little ones stage of development, go on a colour, shape or sounds hunt around the house. Give them a container to carry all the things they find and then look at all the objects together. You can even compare the properties of the objects such as size and texture. This is great for developing various skills sets such as phonic knowledge, understanding of shapes, etc.
Large scale painting on windows and doors
Whilst the weathers still fairly cool, get some water coloured paints and large brushes and give your little one a window or glass door to paint. Painting on a large scale is great for gross motor development and also encouraged your child to cross the mid line (moving hands from left to right and right to left when drawing) in preparation for reading and writing. Once they’ve finished their creation, you can give them a sponge and some soapy water to wash it all away!
Obstacle course
Using scarves, chairs, lengths of rope, etc, create an obstacle course for your little one. It’s really important to keep your little ones moving, particularly when they are away from school or nursery. This activity will develop spatial awareness, muscle tone, directional language as well as being really fun. Create the obstacle course with your little one and get everyone else in the family doing it to. Remember, when children are moving, they are learning!
Ribbon sticks
Take some sticks and attach strips of old fabric to one end. Put on a range of music such as classical, old school rock and roll, opera, disco and gte your little ones using the ribbon sticks to dance to the music. Encourage them to make large circles clockwise and anti-clockwise and smaller circles up, down and all around. This will develop creativity, expression, gross motor skills and get them crossing the midline (moving hands left – right and right to left) in preparation for writing.
Shadow matching objects
Gather a range of household objects and using large floor paper, draw the outlines of the objects clearly on the paper. Then, place all the objects in a basket or container and encourage your little one to match the object to the outline. This is great for maths development and depending on the stage of development of your child, they can even make a shadow matching paper for you too.
Masking Tape Patterns
Using masking tape, create a range of patterns on the ground for your little one to follow. These can be ladders, zig-zags, curvy lines or more complex maze-like patterns. Encourage your little one to follow these, jump over them, pigeon-step on them, etc. To increase the difficulty, place objects that your child must reach for on the lines. This will develop your child’s balance, co-ordination and control as well as spatial awareness.
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