Warm up games/ exercises for Toddlers?

[canada_gymnast]

Ok, So I'm a CIT at my gym, and I'm now assigned to do the Parent and Toddler Class (Like mommy and Me classes) Warm up. The kids are ages 2-3, and I'm stuck for new ideas on games and exercises for the little ones.
So far, we've done making pizzas in straddle sit, animal walks, basic head rolls, head and shoulders knees and toes.... and then i'm stuck there. Does anyone who is a coach or is a parent know of any good games/exercises that are fun?? Anyone? I'm desperate. HELP.
Any ideas/comments would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[momnipotent]

Use the parents since they are there-youcan give each child a certain color dot or spot on the floor and they can start with their mom or dad and do various exercises down to the dot and then back to mom or dad, for example, when you say go, they run down to the dot, wait until you say go again and then run back to their parent. Then they can jump down to the dot, sidestep to the dot, walk backwards, bear crawl, etc. Mom or dad could be an obstacle-kids can crawl under them or jump over their leg or arm. Mom or Dad could also hold a hoop and the kids could climb through while they hold it up, jump in and out while they hold it flat on the ground, run around it while they hold it up but with the edge resting on the ground (the adult would have to hold it at arms length so the kids could run in front of them to get around the hoop), the adult could roll the hoop and the kids could chase after it and try to catch it and bring it back. For this age, gross motor skills are also a good activity, so throwing and catching a ball to their parent or to themselves, kicking a ball, etc. are good activities (if the kids can't use a ball, then a scarf works too.) If you have a parachute, then parachute games are always a hit with this age group as well-google parachute games if you don't know any. Can you use the pit for warm-ups? The little ones at our gym were climbing across a series of mats on top of the pit yesterday and they loved it, but even just having the little ones try to make it from one side of the pit to the other and climb out is a workout for that age.

 

[All Chalked Up]

We play the colour game- "go find 5 red things and do your tuck sit on them!" "go find 3 things you can do a sole hang on!" "go find 3 yellow things and touch them with your belly button!", etc. They love it!

 

[marie83]

Our class is for 3-4 yr olds and it is independent (no parents helping unless they really need to) So take from this what you can!

We try to keep our warm ups short and varied, following this basic lay out:
Introduction and chat
Aerobic activity
Stretching
Physical Prep

We do sometimes theme our classes so the warm up matches the theme.

eg: Down in the Jungle

Intro and Chat - Ask the children what animals we can find in the jungle. Can they see any of those animals around the room? (we put soft toys around at various stations to help set the scene. it also helps those struggling to think of an animal to think of one)
Aerobic - Anything from moving like jungle animals, to role playing that we are actually going to fly to the jungle and have an adventure.
Stretching - We use hand apparatus to aid the stretching - anything: bean bags, ribbons, balls. You have to try to theme the hand apparatus and stretching in with the jungle theme too - so eg - hand each gymnast a feather (parrot feathers they find on the jungle floor) Can they balance the feather on their shoulder and tip their head to the side - try on the other side. Shrug your shoulder balancing your feather. Sit in pike reach forwards and place feather on feet without bending knees and so on literally anything you can think of!
Physical preparation - Take something that the children will be doing later in the session, eg a catching activity and use the hand apparatus you have been using to reinforce how to catch with the class as a whole. Hold the feathers up in the air and let them go, watch as they slowly drift to the floor - can the gymnasts catch the feather before it lands? Practice a few times over - perhaps their parents could blow the feathers whilst they are in the air to make it a bit more of a challenge.

The possibilities are endless!

If we haven't got a theme for any reason, I quite like to use the 'traffic lights' game for the aerobic activity:

In traffic lights, the leader calls out green, amber or red. Green means Go, Amber means Get ready and Red means Stop. You can use any traveling action so eg. green = run around the floor, Amber = Run on the spot and Red = Stop.

I also like the bean game (pretty much self explanatory) Runner bean (run) Jumping Bean (Jump) Baked bean (Curl up into tuck) Broad Bean (Stand in a star shape) French Bean (Stand still and say Ohh La La) Chili Bean (Stand still but shake, saying BRRRRR) Jelly bean (Stand still and wobble)


Taking the idea of the bean game it is pretty easy to think of other variations with different themes such as the weather. I made this one up when it was snowing outside and wanted to theme the session to do with our actual weather!

"SNOW" = tiptoe run around the floor, in any direction, but not too fast
"SNOWBALL" = Curl up in tuck
"SLEDGING" = Sit in pike
"ICE SKAING" - Slide feet along the floor
"SKIING" = Stand still and squat down

Hope some of these ideas help! Good luck!

I'd like to hear some more aerobic activities if anyone has any!