| Do you need to work on improving the gross motor | | | | your child's ability. |
| skills of your children? Have you ever watched your | | | | - Play "Simon Says" with your child. |
| sons stumble as they're clearing the table and dump | | | | - Ask him to stand in front of a chair, behind a chair, |
| food all over the floor - or seen them playing with their | | | | next to the chair, on top of the chair and crouch under |
| siblings and thought to yourself, "Oh no, my son is as | | | | the chair. |
| clumsy as I am!" Don't panic - there are lots of | | | | Tell your child that he must be your shadow and mimic |
| different ways you can work with your children to help | | | | all your actions as your walk about and perform simple |
| improve their gross motor skills. | | | | actions. |
| We've all seen kids who just aren't as coordinated as | | | | - Learn action songs and perform the actions as you |
| some of their peers and thought they were clumsy or | | | | sing them. |
| a klutz. Many of these children actually have a | | | | - Ask your child to imitate the movement of different |
| condition known as developmental coordination | | | | animals: creep like a snake, waddle like a duck, hop like |
| disorder. The good news is that you can work with | | | | a rabbit etc. |
| your children and help them to improve their motor | | | | - Encourage him to balance first on one leg, then on |
| skills. | | | | the other for as long as possible. |
| Gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to | | | | - Put a 2x4 on the ground and have your child practice |
| control the large muscles of the body for walking, | | | | walking across it. Have them use their arms to |
| running, sitting, crawling, and other activities. | | | | balance. If they fall off, it won't be a very long drop! |
| Gross motor skills include: | | | | - Ask your child to gallop like a horse. |
| - balance - the ability to maintain equilibrium | | | | Older kids need wide open spaces in which to practice |
| - body awareness - for improved posture and control | | | | their gross motor skills. As homeschooling parents, we |
| - crossing of the mid-line | | | | have the ability to arrange the environment of our kids |
| - laterality - awareness of the left and right sides of | | | | to help with significantly improving gross motor skills in |
| the body | | | | children: |
| - major muscle co-ordination | | | | - Give children jungle gyms to climb and slides to go up |
| - spatial orientation - awareness of the body position in | | | | and down. You can either provide this equipment in |
| space and in relation to other objects or people | | | | your own yard, or take your children to the park on a |
| Without reasonable gross motor skills, children often | | | | regular basis and encourage them to play. |
| struggle with the fine motor skills that are required for | | | | - Give children toys to ride on - from bikes to scooters |
| formal school work. | | | | to skateboards. |
| There are many activities we can do with preschool | | | | - Play different ball games with your child, games |
| children when we are improving the gross motor skills | | | | which would require them to throw, kick and catch. |
| of children: | | | | - Provide objects for your children to push, pull, jump |
| - Play with a large ball. Encourage your child to kick the | | | | off of and jump over. |
| ball, using one foot and then the other. Then throw and | | | | - Trampolines - consider purchasing a safety net for |
| catch it too. You can let some of the air out of a | | | | this piece of equipment. |
| beach ball to make it easier for children who are really | | | | Encourage your kids to participate in the above kids of |
| struggling with learning to catch. | | | | play situations when improving the gross motor skills of |
| - Encourage your child to ride a bike, a push bike or | | | | children. You will be amazed when their clumsiness |
| pedal bike with or without training wheels, according to | | | | turns to coordination. |