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Age group(s) for which this activity is appropriate:
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond
Describe the activity:
Try building a giant chalk maze on the school playground or a vacant parking lot (be careful!) The drawing takes some skill, and an adult may want to chalk in dotted lines for the kids to color in with large chalk sticks. Make finding your way out of the maze a challenge.
A game of hopscotch can help kids learn to use their bodies in more effective ways.
Setting up an obstacle course (with balance beams, tunnels, and rope webs, etc.) in an open field can be a blast -- both building it and running through it. For older kids, orienteering can do wonders for their sense of physical stamina and coordination. (Find an Eagle Scout who might want to earn a badge for setting up this activity.)
Have one child unroll a large ball of string so that another child, when given the go-ahead, can walk (or crawl or hop) along the string to get to its end (and the prize that awaits there). The string (or rope or yarn) can wind up and down steps, go between rocks, snake up trees, and slither through doorways.
Exercise videos are available for children of all ages at video and sporting-goods stores and even some local libraries. Any activity that encourages kids (and adults) to move and grow -- whether stepping, jumping, yoga, or TaeBo -- are all great ways to keep your child's neurons firing over the summer.
What is the benefit to a child with learning problems?
Activities that require children to move and navigate through obstacles help foster a better sense of self-awareness. When kids move their bodies from one place to another, they improve their ability to judge spatial relations, their sense of timing, and the ability to start and stop when necessary -- all valued traits in the classroom.
By Jerome J. Schultz, Ph.D.
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Pregnancy
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