I'm coaching preschool and rec gymnastics summer courses this summer. One course is 4 days long and they have one class a day. Some kids only come to one course but some attend to 2-4 courses. I've coached them for one week now. I would love to find more games to play with the kids, especially the mommy and me class (kids 2-4 years old) but also the preschool class (kids 4-6 years old).
The games I already have in mind:
Color game: when music plays they run in the gym freely, when it stops I say a color that they have to find and touch with their hand/foot/head/tummy etc.
Animal game (different variations for preschoolers without a parent): Again when music plays they run freely and when it stops they find their parent. We have 5 different "moves" for different animals: 1) A flying bird (parent lifts the kid up in the air and kid pretends to be a bird), 2) Monkey in a tree (A kid goes to her parents piggyback and pretends to be a monkey) 3) Crabs on the beach (parents and kids pretend to be crabs) 4) A fish under a bridge (Parent goes to a push up position and the kid pretends to be a fish swimming under the bridge) 5) Kangaroo baby and her mother (A parent makes a hoop out of his/her arms and the kid jumps inside the hoop)
Musical chairs using pit blocks: Again when music plays they move around the gym the way I ask them to (run, jump, bear walk etc) and when the music stops they try to find a free block to sit on. There are as many blocks as there are kids. The moving style changes every time.
Car game: I give all of them a steeling wheel (a round piece of carpet) and make them run the road that I have marked in the gym. When I show them red color card (and also call the color) they have to stop. When I show a yellow card they run in place. When I show a green card they continue to run. I may also ask them to park somewhere in the gym or make an U turn.
That's pretty much all I have. I would love to have more games because I'd like to start and end the class with a game. Stretching games would be much appreciated too. I currently do have two different stretch routines (baking pizza and trees in a storm) but I don't want to use the same routines all summer when some of the kids (and their parents) attend to more than one course.
We don't have a full size floor to use, only two strips of floor next to each other but there's a gap between them so I don't like to use that area for tag games with the little ones.
We have the whole gym to use. There's a pretty large pit also if you know any games to play there? I can use music but I don't like singing in front of people myself so I try to avoid games that involve singing
I posted this here so parents and gymnasts can answer too. I hope it's ok.
The games I already have in mind:
Color game: when music plays they run in the gym freely, when it stops I say a color that they have to find and touch with their hand/foot/head/tummy etc.
Animal game (different variations for preschoolers without a parent): Again when music plays they run freely and when it stops they find their parent. We have 5 different "moves" for different animals: 1) A flying bird (parent lifts the kid up in the air and kid pretends to be a bird), 2) Monkey in a tree (A kid goes to her parents piggyback and pretends to be a monkey) 3) Crabs on the beach (parents and kids pretend to be crabs) 4) A fish under a bridge (Parent goes to a push up position and the kid pretends to be a fish swimming under the bridge) 5) Kangaroo baby and her mother (A parent makes a hoop out of his/her arms and the kid jumps inside the hoop)
Musical chairs using pit blocks: Again when music plays they move around the gym the way I ask them to (run, jump, bear walk etc) and when the music stops they try to find a free block to sit on. There are as many blocks as there are kids. The moving style changes every time.
Car game: I give all of them a steeling wheel (a round piece of carpet) and make them run the road that I have marked in the gym. When I show them red color card (and also call the color) they have to stop. When I show a yellow card they run in place. When I show a green card they continue to run. I may also ask them to park somewhere in the gym or make an U turn.
That's pretty much all I have. I would love to have more games because I'd like to start and end the class with a game. Stretching games would be much appreciated too. I currently do have two different stretch routines (baking pizza and trees in a storm) but I don't want to use the same routines all summer when some of the kids (and their parents) attend to more than one course.
We don't have a full size floor to use, only two strips of floor next to each other but there's a gap between them so I don't like to use that area for tag games with the little ones.
We have the whole gym to use. There's a pretty large pit also if you know any games to play there? I can use music but I don't like singing in front of people myself so I try to avoid games that involve singing
I posted this here so parents and gymnasts can answer too. I hope it's ok.
