Gross Motor

Gross motor skills require the entire body to move. It involves the large, core muscles in the body to move in a variety of different ways. These movements strengthen the core muscles and enable children to stand, walk, jump, skip, run and sit up straight. 

This week we are focusing on a mixture of gross motor movements. Enjoy!

Balancing Dog

Have your child start on all fours.  Ask them to raise one arm out in front of them and then raise the opposite leg out behind them.  Legs should be straight.  Hold arm and leg up for a count of 5 before returning to start position and change to raising the other arm/leg.  To increase the difficulty, increase the length of time the position is held for.

Crab football

Using the crab position (described above) try to kick a football between goalposts –this can be played individually, in pairs or in a small group.

Superman/Superwoman

Have your child lie on their tummy with their arms in front of them and then simultaneously raise their head, arms and legs off the ground.  Legs should be kept straight. Encourage your child by saying you’re flying like superman”.  Start with 5 seconds and work your way up to 20 seconds as your child’s strength increases.

Safefood- Physical Activity for kids

How active should your family be? For under 5's, you should aim for three hours of activity a day, broken into little chunks. For over 5's, you should aim for one hour a day! This can be a wide range of activities from hide and seek to tennis to core movements! Below is a link to the Safefood website for information on physical activity and creating/maintaining bedtime routines.

https://www.safefood.eu/START/Healthy-Living/It-s-Bedtime.aspx