Is your child getting enough big muscle activity? With much colder seasonal weather, there are more inside the house days than outside but young children need vigorous physical exercise and movement activities, for healthy bodies and brains. These are important not just for fun, but for learning and kindergarten readiness.
The brain uses movement for creating the brain connections. We all have an additional two senses: the sense of the body’s position in space and the sense of movement. Have you ever watched a very young child going round and round in a circle? That child is discovering how the body feels as it moves. Some kids like to pretend that they are falling or tripping over things. Again, this is exploration of both movement and the body in space.
Today, Big Sister had a story about Santa getting stuck in the chimney. After reading it, she hung upside down over a kitchen pretending she was going a chimney, too. She flew down the hallway a few times, and imagined she was lugging a big, heavy sack filled with presents. (It was a pillowcase containing a few towels from the laundry.) Using a stuffed Santa, she sat him on the chair and crawled underneath. She used her arms out the front to be a reindeer pulling Santa in the sleigh.
Here are some other ideas for moving around. With a safe space inside, kids can walk on tiptoes practicing moving like an elf without making any noise. They can stand on one leg like a Christmas tree, sticking out their arm-branches for balance. What would a round, ball decoration do if it fell off the tree? If would roll around on the floor. Reindeer need to practice jumping, so they can hop over roof tops. Kids can jump down the hallway and back. Once their imaginations are started, kids will make up their own ways to move and use their body muscles.
Does this give you some ideas for movement and big muscle play?