Invite your child to explore what her body can do.
Organized games and physical activities are educational and interactive. Children explore the world by using their bodies and senses. During the first year in life, a child learns to roll over, hold a book and finally he takes his first steps. By gaining control over his body, a child develops self-esteem. In an article in Scholastic, professor of early childhood education Ellen Booth Church says outdoor activities influence children's intellectual, social and physical development.
Outdoor Activities
Kinetics, or kinesiology, is the study on the physics of movement. Children enjoy exploring the world with big movements. Outdoor activities are a way to help your child practice skills that develop as they grow physically. Walking with your toddler exercises her body. Let your toddler walk on different surfaces, as this helps to increase her balance. Parks often have different surfaces, such as gravel, grass and sand. Jumping over little obstacles, such as small sticks, moves big groups of muscles. Increase the size of the length of the obstacles as your child grows in confidence. Use two sticks and ask your child to jump over both sticks. A speed game is fun to play in the garden or in a park. Make the track so that you can see your child the whole time. Use a scarf as a starting flag. When your child is older, you can time how long it takes her to go through the obstacle game. Ask her to go slower than last time. Going slowly increases the awareness of what she is doing. Singing an action song while swinging through an obstacle course encourages physical movement and language development.
Indoor Activities
Use action songs to encourage movement indoors. The actions to some songs may focus on big movements. Some songs use movements suitable for small spaces, for example, Let's Clap Our Hands Together at the SongsForTeaching website. Cross patterning movements work well with music. Let your child stand and lift one knee and tap it with the opposite hand. Instruct her to change sides. Picking up items using your feet instead of your hands is a way to focus on specific parts of the body. Let your child balance a small beanbag on his head while he is trying to pick up objects on the floor or reach for an item above him so that he has to stand on his toes to reach.
Family Activities
Family bike rides facilitate exercise with your kids. Take your child to the park or ride around the neighborhood. Play ball games together and teach your child the basics of racket and ball sports. Kicking and catching balls stretches a child's growing body while teaching her the importance of an active lifestyle and team play.
Relaxing Activities
After an action game, use relaxing music to help your child reflect how it feels inside her body after she has exercised. Putting the hand on the heart and feeling the heartbeat is a way to learn about the body. Use yoga exercises to increase flexibility and strength. Some yoga exercises are specially designed for children, which introduces the exercise in a fun and playful way.
