Your kindergartners may have all the tools they need for active playtime and still get bored. Sometimes children, like adults, simply run out of ideas. To encourage the children to get moving, join in for a game of monkey in the middle, use a jump rope as an imaginary volleyball net, suggest a hopscotch board or initiate a game of dodge ball with a beach ball. Experimenting with ideas and playing with the children is key to promoting physical activity and healthy development.
Take a Hike
Keep your kindergartners active and engaged with theme-based walks. Scholastic, a children's publishing and education company, emphasizes that kindergartners learn by doing, exploring and discussing. Pick a theme, and discover something fun together. A listening walk, for example, gives children a chance to explore their environment in a different way. Explain that everyone needs to listen closely for different sounds. Stop frequently to ask children to identify the origin of the sounds they hear. Variations on this activity include color walks and nature walks. When you're learning a new letter, modify the activity to help children connect the letter to familiar objects. Or take a letter B walk, for example, and discover that "bird," "boy," "butterfly," "brick" and "bell" all start with B.
Social Development
When planning games for kindergartners, schedule some activities that encourage sharing, cooperation and teamwork to promote healthy social development. Follow-the-leader is a classic, but relays also include everyone and make teamwork fun and engaging. Add a silly component to keep relays light and less competitive. For example, instruct children to walk backward, hop on one foot or tiptoe instead of run. This also helps the children develop and strengthen motor skills.
Cognitive and Language Development
Following instructions and problem solving are important to the healthy development of kindergarten-aged children. Obstacle courses address both, while also tapping gross and fine motor skills. Turn any playground into an obstacle course by mapping out a sequence of actions that are challenging, but not frustrating, for kindergartners. For example, a four-step obstacle course might include the following: run around the slide two times before sliding once, go grab a hula hoop and hula to the count of 10, go once across the monkey bars and run to the finish line. Encourage waiting class members to cheer their classmate on.
Treasure Hunts
Treasure hunts give children a chance to work independently or in groups and then to share their finds. Give them a clear idea of which types of items are acceptable to collect. Blooming flowers, for example, would be off-limits, but you might suggest interesting stones, fallen leaves and pine cones. When the children have finished collecting items, promote sorting and classifying skills. Set up two categories, and encourage the children to sort their items into two piles accordingly. Scholastic suggests that you sort into "big" and "small" categories, for example, and that you give your kindergartners a chance to explain why an item belongs in a certain category. Other sorting categories include texture and color.
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