Body Awareness

Let's face it....winter is a difficult time to make sure that our kids are getting enough movement throughout the day. It's easy to put on a show or turn on the IPAD to keep our little ones entertained. My love of GoNoodle knows no bounds, but sometimes you needs to have something tangible for kids to touch and move. Pinterest is filled with so many wonderful ideas for classroom based movement activities! I found this Movement Spinner Game and think it is a wonderful way to encourage movement, teach body awareness, teach directional concepts, and just have fun!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/133137732718398903/

Variations of this activity:
1. The spinner colors can be changed out to numbers or letters to work on a different academic skill. You could have stations set up around the classroom based on the color, number, or letter for students to walk to in order to complete the exercise. Colored rectangles of construction paper would work well for the colors. This would encourage motor planning, walking, coordination, and visual scanning.

2. You could change out the movement activities for body parts like a variation of "Head, shoulders,  knees, and toes." This would help a child learn the parts of their body and encourage motor planning to touch the part selected by the spinner.

3. You could have each student make their own spinner to also work on cutting, pasting, writing,    fine motor, and sequencing skills.

4. You could have children work in teams- one spin and read the directions while the other performs  the exercise and then switch places. This encourages listening skills, motor planning, and team work!

This activity has so many possibilities for classroom use! Have fun with this game during these cold months!

~Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT