Practicing Motor Skills and Movement at Rieke
The best way to ensure optimal health and physical aptitude is by doing exercises that target a wide variety of muscle groups and brain functions. We may build endurance through activities like running, and strength through activities that involve maneuvering weight, but it's also key to bear in mind the importance of hand-eye coordination and in building general agility.
In this line of thought, our teacher at Rieke, Brandie, created an elaborate "laser course" for her aftercare children to try and move through. The teachers hung orange crepe paper to mimic lasers and then told the children that they were on a spy mission. Their goal was to traverse the lasers without hitting them and setting off a 'security alarm'.
First, the teachers tested their own agility by demonstrating how the activity was going to go (while of course emphasizing that there was no 'right' or 'wrong' path). After the activity started, it was interesting to note that some children planned their next move while standing within the course, and others sat on the sidelines, mapping out each move before they began. By making their plans ahead of time, the exercise could be transformed into a kind of memory and logic game as well.
While inside the course, kids got on their hands and knees and balanced carefully as they stretched and manipulated their bodies to move over and around the lasers. Whether or not they knew this exercise was meant to help them develop skills in balance and coordination, they seemed to have a great time pretending to be stealthy spies on a mission. Incorporating imagination and play into an activity like this can really help to eliminate resistance to the idea of 'exercise', and instead create a positive association with anaerobic or aerobic movement.
Do you have an activity idea for developing coordination and balancing skills? Let us know! We'll post it so that our teachers can get more ideas for their classrooms. Also, if you haven't already checked out our blog entry detailing Vida's yoga for children (scroll to the bottom of the entry), this is another great way to promote health for both the body and the mind.
In this line of thought, our teacher at Rieke, Brandie, created an elaborate "laser course" for her aftercare children to try and move through. The teachers hung orange crepe paper to mimic lasers and then told the children that they were on a spy mission. Their goal was to traverse the lasers without hitting them and setting off a 'security alarm'.
First, the teachers tested their own agility by demonstrating how the activity was going to go (while of course emphasizing that there was no 'right' or 'wrong' path). After the activity started, it was interesting to note that some children planned their next move while standing within the course, and others sat on the sidelines, mapping out each move before they began. By making their plans ahead of time, the exercise could be transformed into a kind of memory and logic game as well.
While inside the course, kids got on their hands and knees and balanced carefully as they stretched and manipulated their bodies to move over and around the lasers. Whether or not they knew this exercise was meant to help them develop skills in balance and coordination, they seemed to have a great time pretending to be stealthy spies on a mission. Incorporating imagination and play into an activity like this can really help to eliminate resistance to the idea of 'exercise', and instead create a positive association with anaerobic or aerobic movement.
Do you have an activity idea for developing coordination and balancing skills? Let us know! We'll post it so that our teachers can get more ideas for their classrooms. Also, if you haven't already checked out our blog entry detailing Vida's yoga for children (scroll to the bottom of the entry), this is another great way to promote health for both the body and the mind.
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