The Lil Divas spend a big part of their day sitting at desks in school. The last thing they want to do is spend even more time sitting at home to work some more. That's a big part of the reason why I try to keep things fun and active at home. This week, I am teaming up with two of my favorite bloggers, Train Up a Child and Mess for Less, to bring you some fun Learning Through Movement Activities for Kids.
Kids love active play and they need it too. Developing gross motor skills is an essential part of development. Activities like jumping, running, catching, climbing and riding a bike provide children with skills that enhance school success because they also lead to increased fine motor development and retention. In our home, gross motor activities equal fun and we know that having fun increases learning. Right?
The Oldest Diva has been working hard this year on mastering her math facts in first grade. Much like sight words and phonics skills for reading, they are at the core of many math concepts. While I want her to feel confident in her math skills, practicing anything over and over again can get tedious and boring. So to make it more fun and active, we play games. One of the games the Lil Divas enjoy is
Add it Up!
A Gross Motor Addition Game
To prep, you will need a beach ball and a permanent marker. Write numbers from 0 to 10 all over the ball, be sure to repeat them so you can practice adding doubles.
To play, simply throw the ball and have your child (or children) catch it. Once they catch the ball, they simply add the numbers under their hands before throwing it to another child.
Continue throwing the ball back and forth and keep practicing those math facts while moving and jumping to catch. It keeps kids active and learning as they play.
The Oldest Diva likes to try to play as fast as she can to challenge herself. We focus on both speed and accuracy. I like that the Littlest Diva can play with her. She is learning math facts while helping her sister and she doesn't even realize it.
This is a great game to play to practice more than just addition facts. You can practice multiplication, sight words, letter and number recognition, vocabulary and even have some family style fun.
For more Math Learning Through Movement be sure to check out what Train Up a Child and Mess for Less shared today. If you would like more fun math ideas check out our Math Fun Pinterest Board and of course our other math activities.
Making math active and fun has become a new mission of mine. The Lil Divas are excellent readers but math is much more difficult for them. Part of it is definitely a lack of interest but I am determined to provide the Lil Divas with a solid foundation on which to build. (By the way, that totally means you'll be seeing lots more math activities around here!)
Have fun Adding It Up!
Bern
