Looking for a fun large motor activity?

Try a large motor or gross motor activity. Wonder what large motor or gross motor activities are? These are intended to help develop the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body for walking, running, sitting, crawling, and other activities.

Here is one of my favorites interacting activities:

“Rope Game” for ages: 1 year to 3 year old

Materials needed for this game: 1 long rope or jump rope around 15’ to 20’

If you have a couple of teens or adults to help, get each person to grab each ends of the rope. Pull the rope tight and on the floor. If you don’t have help, tie or tuck the ends under heavy furniture to keep it tight. Make sure there is plenty of room on each side of the rope for the little ones to run around.

The object of this game is to understand the concept of balance, over, under, across, sideways, and backwards. I make it fun by encouraging them to use their imagination.

I like to start off with the concept of balance by walking along the rope as if I’m walking a tight rope while I’m holding my arms out like an airplane. The little ones naturally follow me as I say, “I’m an airplane.” I do it several times as they learn how to place their feet and balance with their arms out simply by following me. Some fall over but I show them how my arms keep me from falling. I’ll go slow the first few times and then go faster a couple more times.

For the concept of over, I start jumping over the rope as I say, “I’m a bunny rabbit.” They usually follow me or go ahead of me. They really start giggling at this point. You could ask them what animal are they? Monkey? Kangaroo? Frog? Any animal that hops would work great. We hop over the rope and go back over the other way several times. Then I start jumping over the rope backwards. This is challenging for the little ones, but usually the three year olds or older figure it out. Then I start jumping sideways as if I’m playing jump rope but in slow motion. This too can be challenging, but it’s good for them to try.

For the concept of across, I ask them what animal they want to be? Cat? Dog? Lion? Bear? Any four legged animal would work great. We get down on our hands and knees and crawl across the rope making our animal sounds. We continue to go back over the other way several times. I end the idea of across by rolling across the floor and rope. Yes, I roll along with them. It wouldn’t be as fun if the adult isn’t being silly with them.

Next, to expand their imagination, I make it more fun by taking one end of the rope as I wiggle the rope to make waves. They can be small waves or large waves. I usually start off with small waves. I tell them we are at the beach. One side of the rope is sand and the other side of the rope is the ocean water. The rope turned into waves. Encourage them to jump over the waves. When they jump over they could pretend they are swimming in the water. Then they could jump into the sand side. While they are doing this, I’m making the sound of waves. When they start to lose interest, the rope could turn into a snake. (I’m still wiggling the rope but in a slower motion). Tell the little ones to try to step over or jump over without touching the snake. While they are doing this, I’m making the sound of a snake. Another idea is to turn the rope into an imaginary cave. Lift the one end of the rope up, and encourage them to see what is inside the cave. There could be a bear. Oh my! Once they crawl inside, I make a bear sound. Usually, they quickly crawl back out.

It’s all just fun and doesn’t have to be perfect. The main thing is they are learning something new while getting the physical exercise.  

*Iva

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