Toddlerhood is such a fun and fast paced period in a child’s life. They learn new things constantly and are curious about the world around them. Toddlers have so much energy (at least mine does!) I wanted to channel that energy with some basic movement cards to help her learn different locomotor skills. Each of the cards has a different skill as well as a picture.
I have a set of about 125 cards I made for my second graders that has more difficult activities and no pictures. Some of the activities on this set include: spell your name using your body, 5 pushups, make your own 8 count dance, run in place while singing the alphabet, etc. This is a game we would play in gym- I would throw out the cards face down in the middle of the gym, the kids would be in teams and one member would choose a card at random, complete the activity, and return to their team with the card. When we ran out of cards in the middle, the game was over and we would count points. The team with the highest points, or cards, was declared the winner!
I wanted to make a toddler version of this game and this is what I have come up with:
- Place the cards face down on carpeted area
- Have your toddler choose at random one card from the pile
- Perform the selected activity together
- Repeat steps 2-3 until all cards have been chosen
- If your tot is unhappy with the game, either stop or alter to suit your child’s needs (maybe they choose the card, and an older sibling does the activity at first, or remove cards that might be making your child frustrated)
- Be sure and offer plenty of praise and recognition for trying a new game! And remember that your child is not only learning different locomotor skills, but should be having fun, too!
Here is a picture of our first 8 cards: I am starting small and unfortunately I am pretty picky about the final product looking cute!:)
I have already started working on a set of “move like a ___ animal cards” that I hope to have finished shortly! I have to let you all know- working in themes makes creating and organizing materials SO easy!!
Movement Cards Print a set of cards and you have an instant variety of fun activities! There are some sets to download (see the do it yourself section at the end of this post). You can play these cards in a variety of ways- from just drawing one card at a time and doing the activity, to having a race to see how many cards you can complete in a given amount of time, to setting the cards in a circle and doing the activities as you walk around…. there are many more!
Supplies Needed-– a set of cards (see below to download)
