Gross Motor Skills

In my last blog entry I talked about fine motor skills. Today I want to share how our teachers help the children develop their gross motor skills. Anything involving the movement and coordination of arms, legs, or the whole body is a gross motor skill. The more mastery a child has over their body, the more successful they will be at skills such as running, catching/throwing a ball, dancing, balancing, etc.

Mrs. Roxanne does a specific gross motor lesson with her kids almost every day. She will take the children to the foyer and have them learn directional words such as forward, back, behind, under, around, and action words such as jump, lift, skip, bounce, and balance. Sometimes

they will use props such as in these pictures where children were using a beanbag to perform different actions. Learning to balance a beanbag on their head helps work on concentration skills as well as control of their head and body. Tossing the beanbag requires tracking skills and coordination.

The possibilities are endless.

Mrs. Dulce sometimes takes her children to the sanctuary where they can have room to jump through hula hoops. At this young age, learning the coordination to jump from hoop to hoop helps develop their leg muscles and balancing skills. It also helps them to be more aware of where their body is in space. Not to mention, it is tons of fun!