Category: Movement Activites

Outdoor play

The Importance of Outdoor Play

Encouraging outdoor play is important in early childhood education. Playing outside gives children an outlet to express themselves, while also burning off some of their energy. Young children are able to explore a natural environment, take risks, and build confidence; a prime example of this is to pretend play. Why pretend play? When children invent

Snow Much Fun

Children love their outside time it gives them a change of scenery and a breath of fresh air! The children look forward to their playtime outdoors so they can explore the playground they get to go on walks, play with water toys, chalk, and they especially get to run off all of their energy! Once

Our Little Busy Bees

Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in children. Symptoms include hyperactivity/impulsivity that affects each child differently. Children living with symptoms such as losing things, being easily distracted, and forgetful are quite common in children starting at the age of 6 to 12. ADHA can also be diagnosed when a child becomes a

Ellyn

Obstacle Course Time!

I am thrilled about the warmer weather that is starting to set in, hopefully it is here to stay! I was thinking this month about how much fun I used to have as a child creating and executing obstacle courses when it was nice enough to go outside. There are so many ways you can

Spring is in the Air!

As soon as the first warm day following winter arrives, I start to have summer on my mind. I skip right over “spring” and start to imagine summer. This is because as a regular education teacher in a public school, I have the luxury of not working in the summer. It seems though, that people

Indoor Recess? No Problem!

With the winter months, comes many inclement weather days for our young learners. This can also lead to an over-abundance of built up energy for our little ones when they are not provided with enough engaging, gross motor activities. The CDA Council prides itself on 13 functional areas, and one of them include Functional Area

Ellyn

Winter Outdoors!

As it begins to get chilly this time of year, I like to think of different ways to encourage kiddos to play outside! As educators, you know that children have A LOT of energy! They need the time to expend their energy, but it can be tricky to keep their interest when they are cold!

Ellyn

Finding Everyday Items to Use as Toys and Learning Items

For this months topic I was thinking about how often children find random household objects to play with throughout the day. Most children I know have used pots and pans to form their own band, or made a collection from various items outside. Using these types of creative play in the classroom or home childcare

Summer Fun in Your Child Care Center

Summer is in full swing and with this time of year, usually comes a more relaxed child care/family care environment. Most teachers are happy to be outdoors, and most children are even happier to have more free time to explore and play. Walks to the local library, playground, bookstore, park, etc. are all possibilities now.

Outdoor Play

Outdoor play is a very important part of an early childhood education program. Playing outside is the a great way for children to develop their gross motor skills by running, jumping, skipping, etc.  It also helps  with developing social skills, teamwork, and imaginative play.  It allows children to use their senses to learn about the