Gross Motor Activities on the Early Childhood Porch

The students are having a lot of fun working on the early childhood (EC) porch.  We practice crawling, balancing, climbing a ladder, and rolling a ball. One of the children made the observation, “Crawling is good practice for climbing the ladder.  It feels the same.”  If you would like to help your child practice crawling at home, you can have him/her try crawling on steps, playing animals, making tunnels to crawl through with chairs and tables, and crawling under the bed.  Changing the distance your child crawls and the height of the objects he/she is crawling under keeps crawling fun.  

This month we start to practice jumping.  We will be jumping on, off, and over.  This is one of the children’s favorite lessons.

Gross motor activities also aid in academic development.  All gross motor activities are designed to increase muscular function and improve eye tracking abilities.  Increased muscular function is helpful in all areas from carrying a tray across the room to holding a pencil.  Improved eye tracking helps children navigate their surroundings, follow the guides’ movements when they are giving a lesson, and is especially important when children begin to read.