This activity promotes development and learning by encouraging children to use large muscles to explore and interact with the environment. Activities that offer some risk and challenge not only enhance children’s physical fitness, but build resilience, persistence, critical thinking, and confidence.
Materials Needed:
- Masking tape
- Pillows
- Bedsheet
- Boxes
Participants: This activity is intended for adult/child interaction and independent play.
Directions:
- Place a strip of masking tape on a hard floor surface to make a tightrope. Place the pillows and boxes on the floor in a meandering pattern. Toss the bedsheet over a table near the boxes and pillows to make a cave. You now have an obstacle course.
- Encourage your child to move through the obstacle course. Hop, skip, jump, or walk backward across the tight rope. Army crawl, jump, or roll through the pillows and boxes and scoot into the cave. To make it fun, add additional movements or see how fast/slow your child can move.
- For an added challenge, add dramatic play elements. Maybe your child’s moving through a jungle or a hot lava field.
