Gymnastics

My daughter takes gymnastics classes, but since she moved out of Mommy and Me and into an independent class, she has stopped making progress. I don't mind much - she enjoys it, and that's what is most important. But I also can see that part of the problem is that the instructors don't know how she learns, and they are quick to decide she can't do something. (Like, it took them months and months to figure out that she could do a forward roll). It further convicts me of the value of homeschooling. But I did NOT feel safe teaching her tumbling. I found these instructional videos on teaching preschool gymnastics put together by Flairs Gymnastics in Florida on YouTube (the web address is at the bottom of this). I know that they are standard preschool gymnastics activities, because they are more or less the same exercises she does in class. But, whereas I can't see very precisely how they are spotting the kids and such from the window where I have to watch when she is in class, I can see those things on these videos. I put together a "cartwheel mat" on our living room floor, using paper and tape (without the tape the paper would go flying and it wouldn't be safe). Within 10 minutes she had the concept down of jumping from side to side at home. It is great - my daughter has tons-tons-tons-tons of energy and can go nuts if she is cooped up inside the house. It is now cold outside, and these are great indoor focused physical activities.

http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5567_teach-preschool-gymnastics.html

Moving

I haven't posted much recently because we are in the process of moving.  Like, today the movers loaded almost all our boxes and furniture on a truck.  It is a 3 day move, though, and so we have 2 days to go... Here are some of the activities we've done with our little one through this hectic process.

Ball down the stairs:

I completely trust my daughter with the stairs, and so I suggested she throw her ball down the stairs and run get it.  Then she did it again.  She loved the game and it was a great way for her to be physically active at a time when I couldn't be outside with her.  We added another ball to the excitement after awhile, and it was double the fun.

Washing walls:

I gave her a cleaning cloth and told her to wipe down the walls.  I was going over the walls at that point, wiping away marks from tiny sticky fingers, and she was eager to help.  Her attention didn't last terribly long with this activity, but it was just enough to get the creative juices flowing in her brain again at a rather testy moment, and she soared away to entertain herself soon afterward.

A! B! C!:

We've been in the car a lot, and when she'd get bored we'd play the A-B-C game.  I'd say A!  Then she'd say B!  We go back and forth through the alphabet.  Sometimes to get her going I'd have to do A! B! C!, but she usually chimed in after awhile.  It was good alphabet practice and it focused her mind on something other than getting out of the car.

Playing in the car's front:

Ironically, as much as she wants out of the car when she has to be in it for a long time, when we're at home she has developed a real desire to play inside the car.  Not so much the car seat, but in the front, where she never gets to be on the road.  She can entertain herself for about 45 minutes nonstop in the car, which was good when we were working on loading it up.  And it was good exploratory for her.  Lots of new things to touch and consider.

I hope to get back on track soon with my postings!  Take care.

Obstacle Course

Today I didn't really feel like going outside, but my daughter still had energy to burn.  So I made an obstacle course in our living room.  First she had to climb a mountain of pillows.  Once she reached the top, she could wiggle her way onto two kitchen chairs I had set up facing each other.  Once on the chairs, she sat down, and I sang, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great...." (she prepared herself) "FALL!" and she scooted off of the chairs and onto a pillow on the floor.  Next came Daddy's trunk, which served as a step onto the next pair of kitchen chairs, where we did Humpty Dumpty again.  Then, having successfully navigated the path, I had her run, run, run back to the beginning to do it again.  The only problem with this activity was that, as she got creative with it, she wanted to add other obstacles that I didn't feel like adding.  I was pretty low energy today.  If I had felt better, that probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal.  As it was, she LOVED the activity.

Tunnels and Balls: Motor Development and Counting

We have endless fun working on coordination, motor skills, and counting using tunnels and balls.  This has been a great way to burn energy on a cold or rainy inside-day.  We have several variations on the same theme.  Here is the gist - I lay out a tunnel placing 2 rows of blocks side-by-side.  As I put them in place, I count 1,2-3,4-5,6-etc.  Then we gather a ball or 2 (or 3) and roll it through the tunnel back and forth.  Then we kick it through the tunnel, throw it through the tunnel, run with it through the tunnel, jump with it through the tunnel, etc.  

One of the neat things about working with my daughter at this age is that she naturally takes the role of a co-creator with regard to our activity as her attention wanes every few minutes.  Today, while we were playing this game, we ended up doing these other things as well as we sort of naturally flowed with her attention and interest:

1.  I placed empty plastic water bottles at the end of the tunnel and used them like bowling pins.  We would kick, throw, and roll the ball through the tunnel to knock them over.  It took a little while for her to get the gist of this - at first she just carried the ball over to the "pins" and knocked them down directly.  But as she watched me she figured out my suggestion and ended up getting into it.  I was super impressed, too, as I watched her develop from knocking down the pins directly to kicking one ball to knock down one pin and then another ball to knock down the pin beside it!  

2.  We moved the rows of blocks together so that they formed a balance-beam-like row.  I walked along it, and she thought that looked like fun, and so she walked along it, too.  Obviously, I held her hand because the "beam" was unsteady and I didn't want her to sprain her ankle or something.  But she did really well with it and walked the beam over and over and over...

3.  She got out a flash light, and so we turned it on, shined it on the floor, and the light on the floor became the "ball!"  I moved the light down the (reconstructed) tunnel to the water bottles and shook the light over the bottles like I was knocking them down.  She thought this was hilarious.  The I had her "kick" the light and we did the same thing, "knocking down" the bottles.  

She also dressed up the ball (and then later the light on the floor) with her hair band, moved the blocks around some, and practiced attempting to sit her doll upon one of the tall, skinny blocks standing upright (that one didn't quite work).  The whole thing was tons of fun.