This gross motor activity for practicing counting is simple, easy, quick to set up, and involves physical activity & movement play for your toddlers and preschoolers.
We are all looking for active indoor play ideas when kids are home. This week as we practice our numbers, we did a one leg hopping aka tiring gross motor activity for practicing counting.
My son had to make way to the finish line through a set of randomly spread numbers by picking up numbers 1 to 10 in order to make a path for him. All while on one leg!
Let me walk you through on how to set up and play this game.
Materials Required
All you need is:
- 15 blank pages
- a marker
- Some open space in your lounge
Step 1
First, cut or tear all of your 15 pages into half as shown in the image above so that you have 30 pieces of paper.
Don’t worry about perfection.
Then grab a marker and follow step 2.
Step 2
Write the counting numbers you want to practice. Repeat as many times as you want. Here’s what we did:
We wanted to practice 1-10.
I wrote it down once, writing one number per page.
Then repeated this 2 more times until all 30 pieces of paper were used up.
We ended up with 3 sets of 1-10 as shown in the image above.
Step 3
Then place the first set of 1-10 in a zig zag order.
See the image above on how I placed the pages.
The reason is as you’ll see in the next step, we’ll fill the gaps with other random numbers, but the ordered numbers that make up the path we want the child to follow, will still be there close to each other.
Step 4
Now fill the gaps with rest of the two sets of numbers.
You want it all to seem messy, but remember that ordered 1 to 10 numbers are still there.
If this looks very jumbled up or confusing, you can try placing the numbers in a straight line instead of in a zig zag manner as I did in the previous step.
Then fill up the space around the ordered numbers with random numbers.
Step 5
Now here’s how to play:
Ask your child to stand on one end and try to reach the other end which is the finish line by making a path for himself.
He has to pick up papers numbered 1-10 turn by turn.
He can only step on the spot from where he picks up the paper in order to move ahead.
I made my son do it on one leg because he’s big enough.
You can choose to do this or not depending on your child’s abilities.
Your child will make a path for himself by picking up numbers starting from 1 hopping or moving ahead till they reach 10.
The random numbers will give them a challenge to think and identify the correct number to pick next.
We had a lot of fun and leg switching too.
Why not take 5 minutes to set up this gross motor activity and practice counting with your child TODAY?
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THIS WAS FUN