Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away!
When the weather does not permit outside play for a full hour (or at all), you can still promote gross motor development in your classroom, without complete destruction to it!
Let me share my easy to make, inexpensive gross motor activities that you can use in your current centers!
We all have our stock of dance or aerobic music that we use during recess when the weather is too bad to go outside. But they get old, for us and for the kids. If you are lucky enough to have a television or smart board in your classroom, you can always use workout videos (my favorites are on YouTube- Wii Just Dance Kids are awesome!), but when you have a streak of bad weather, they get old quick, too.
So I made a slew of indoor gross motor games that I could use in my classroom (and STORE in my classroom- they all fit in a standard sized plastic container!). My kids were enthralled by them. Each day when we checked the weather at Circle Time, the kids would actually GROAN if it was sunny! They actually looked forward to rainy days!
I set these games up in my centers for indoor recess. I put one game in each center, and let the children pick those as they would at normal center time. But these games are all gross motor, and help children develop the skills they would outside. The only difference in the centers is that I may change the number of children in that center at one time. For example, the Art Center is suitable for 6 students, but when it is the Bowling Center, it is limited to 3 students. They take turns- one bowling, one resetting the pins, and one keeping score. The Blocks Center, which normally is for 3 students, can easily accommodate 4 for milk jug tossing games.
When the weather does not permit outside play for a full hour (or at all), you can still promote gross motor development in your classroom, without complete destruction to it!
Let me share my easy to make, inexpensive gross motor activities that you can use in your current centers!
We all have our stock of dance or aerobic music that we use during recess when the weather is too bad to go outside. But they get old, for us and for the kids. If you are lucky enough to have a television or smart board in your classroom, you can always use workout videos (my favorites are on YouTube- Wii Just Dance Kids are awesome!), but when you have a streak of bad weather, they get old quick, too.
So I made a slew of indoor gross motor games that I could use in my classroom (and STORE in my classroom- they all fit in a standard sized plastic container!). My kids were enthralled by them. Each day when we checked the weather at Circle Time, the kids would actually GROAN if it was sunny! They actually looked forward to rainy days!
I set these games up in my centers for indoor recess. I put one game in each center, and let the children pick those as they would at normal center time. But these games are all gross motor, and help children develop the skills they would outside. The only difference in the centers is that I may change the number of children in that center at one time. For example, the Art Center is suitable for 6 students, but when it is the Bowling Center, it is limited to 3 students. They take turns- one bowling, one resetting the pins, and one keeping score. The Blocks Center, which normally is for 3 students, can easily accommodate 4 for milk jug tossing games.