Kristi Mally & Physical Education Majors, Winona State University

Family Winter Wellness Carnival – February 16, 2017

Kristi Mally & Physical Education majors, Winona State University

PAPER PLATES & SODA BOTTLES Station

Exploration Activity: Each person has 2 paper plates. Put the plates on the floor and stand on them so one foot is on each plate. The goal is to keep the plates between the floor and the feet while moving the body through space. Explore moving in all kinds of different ways, such as:

Move in different directions – forward, backwards, sideways
Move at different speeds – fast and slow and medium
Move in a straight line or a curvy line
Move your arms up and down, or side to side, or anyway you want as you move the plates with your feet all over the space
Dance all over the place, keeping your feet on the plates
Pick up one foot and spin on the other foot, then go back to using two plates as you continue moving across the space. When you spin try spinning each direction and with both feet.
Hold hands with someone and move, still saying on the paper plates. Can you make a moving line or train?
Put some soda bottles on the floor (or pillows or any small, safe obstacles), move in, out & all around, trying not to touch the bottles

It is fun to turn on music, and practice starting and stopping, along with balancing. Music means move, and when the music is shut off it cues the kids to stop and balance

Making Muscles with Plates

Place each foot on one paper plate (keep the plate between the floor and your feet),twist your body and try to move across space. Can you move forward, backwards, or side to side?

Place each hand on a paper plate (keep the plate between the floor and your hands), push the plates all over the place making sure to watch where you are going. Add some challenges such as: move backward by pulling the plates, move sideways by sliding the plates, move and change directions, move in the shape of a square, triangle, or circle. a

Place each hand and each foot on a paper plate (4 plates needed)
Move forward using the same side of the body at the same time, in other words as you move your left hand forward also move your left foot forward
Move forward using opposite sides, in other words as you move your left hand forward move your right foot forward
Move your arms and legs apart and out to the sides, making yourself big, then move your arms and legs together and in, making yourself small. Go big and small and big and small.
Do the inch worm by moving your arms forward as you push the plates, followed by moving both feet forward as you pull the plates (imagine what an inch work looks like when it moves along the ground)
Keep the body still except for one body part and plate. Move one body part and plate at a time counting to 5 or 10, and then do this with each body part. Try stretching as far as you can go while staying balanced.
Try moving different combinations of body parts, such as two feet and one hand.
Sit on the paper plate, pick up your legs, and spin on your bottom

Balancing with Plates
Standon one plate with one foot, holding another plate in your hand
While balancing on one leg, move the plate that you are holding around your body, or up & down in front or to the side
While balancing with one foot on one paper plate and holding the other paper plate, touch the paper plate to different body parts. This is a great way to work on body part identification.
Place one plate on the ground somewhere close to the child. Balance on one paper plate, and then bend and reach trying to touch the paper plate that is on the ground with one hand, without losing balance and without moving off of the paper plate that you are standing on. Move the plate on the ground further away so the child has to reach further.
Balance and move across space, making a path of ‘stepping stones (paper plates).’ Start on one paper plate, step to the next plate and hold a balance for a count of 3, take another step onto the next paper plate, and continue balancing and stepping until you get the the others side of the room.

Balance the paper plate on different body parts and move around space without the plate falling off. For example place the plate on your elbow and try to move sideways, or place the plate on your back and try to move backwards.

Cooperation Paper Plates–
This one takes a partner. The two of you will put a paper plate between your palms; holding it so it doesn’t slip or fall to the ground. Try to move together keeping the plate between your palms. Try to hold it between your shoulders, elbows, hips, or knees. How about your tummy?

T-SHIRTS Station

Start with the shirt on the floor and have the child move around and over the shirt using different kinds of movements, such as crawling, giant steps, little steps, marching, skipping, jumping, and any others. Ask them to move quiet and soft, or loud and heavy.

Stand on the shirt with both feet, twist the body and move across the floor keeping the t-shirt on the floor. This one requires a slippery floor such as tile, wood, or linoleum.

Roll the shirt into a snake, put the snake on the ground and practice jumping over it. Place a bunch of ‘snakes’ on the ground, move to and jump over each one

Pretend the rolled up shirt is a tight rope, practice balancing on it with one foot

Hold both ends of the rolled up shirt, step through it, move it over your head, step through it

Pretend the rolled up shirt is a lasso, skip around the room twirling your lasso

Toss and catch the shirt, trying to get it to land on different body parts such as back of hand, elbow, knee, back and head

Toss the shirt and do some tricks before catching it, such as clapping or touching your head, or touching your knees, or turning a circle

Sit on the shirt (entire body must be off the ground), use your hands only to push and pull your body across the floor moving forward, backwards and sideways

Lay on the shirt (entire body must be off the ground), use your hands to push and pull your body so it is swimming across the floor

Sit on one shirt, while someone else gently pushes the child around the space

Sit on one shirt, roll up another shirt, give one end of the shirt to the child on the shirt, as someone holds the other end pulling them gently around space. Caution: pull very gently and make sure the child holds onto the shirt tightly, while sitting up keeping their body ‘strong.’ Kids enjoy pulling or pushing adults around too.

COTTON BALLS, CLOTHESPINS, and BUCKETS Station

Practice picking up a cotton ball with a clothespin, then move the cotton ball high and low, fast and slow, forward and backwards, side to side, in a circle, switch hands and repeat with this hand [Can use big spoons, or scoops or kitchen tongs instead of clothespins, or they can even just pick them up with their hands]

Scatter the cotton balls on one side of the room or in the middle of the room, and pretend that it is animal food. Place stuffed animals (or pretend) on the other side of the room or in the corners of the room. The children’s job is to pick up the food and take it to the animals, using different ways to move such as tip toe, running, galloping, skipping, sliding, jumping, hopping, and any other kind of way you can think of.

Use your imagination and have the children take the cotton ball on a journey through the forest or jungle, or over mountains or under the sea. As you tell the story add in a lot of different actions and descriptors of those actions

Read the revised version of Jack & Jill poem as children move ‘up the hill’ with a bucket to fetch the water (cotton balls).

Jack & Jill went up the Hill

Revised by Kristi Mally

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack ran down, running fast, and Jill came running after

Jack and Jill walked up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack walked down, walking backwards, and Jill came walking after

Jack and Jill galloped up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack galloped down, galloping big, and Jill came galloping after

Jack and Jill skipped up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack skipped down, skipping high, and Jill came skipping after

Jack and Jill jumped up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack jumped down, landing softly, and Jill came jumping after

Jack and Jill crawled up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack crawled down, crawling low, and Jill came crawling after

SOCK MONKEYS, YARN & ROPE Station

Read ‘I have a little monkey’ poem, as the children act it out, carrying their sock monkey with them, moving it as the poem says. The poem is included later in this handout. A sock monkey is simply a sock that you put on your hand. If you want you can draw a cute face, add some googly eyes, and even a yarn tale.

Have the kids put the sock monkey on their hand and take it on a journey up high, down low, move slow and fast, high and low, forward, sideways, backwards, curvy, straight, make shapes, and anything else you can imagine. Use a story that you make up to guide the journey through the jungle or rainforest

Lay the rope on the floor in a straight line. Walk on it like a tight rope, walk around it trying to stay really close to it without touching it.

Face the rope, jump over the rope, turn around and face the rope, jump back over the rope
Jump over the rope side to side
Face the rope, jump back and forth over the rope
Jump back and forth over the rope, while traveling down the rope
Hop over the rope
Leap over the rope

Shape the rope into a circle – explore moving in relationship to the circle such as around, forward, backward, sideways, in and out, over, one foot in and one foot out, hands in and feet out, get creative and find as many ways as you can move.

Make multiple circles throughout the space with multiple ropes, when the music is on children can jump in and out of a circle, when the music shuts off they can walk through the space not touching the circles. Change the way they move such as stomping, marching, prancing, bear walking, again get creative.

Make small circles that children can jump over, and make really big circles that children have to jump into and out of, or even so big that they have to jump a few times before they can jump out. Talk about big and small.

Make circles in a pattern across the space, and children try to get from one end to the other without touching the floor outside of a circle.

Hold the yarn and wave it through the air, to a song. Wave it high and low, fast and slow, big and small, in front, behind and to the sides, make a circle, get creative and move it in lots of different ways.

I have a Little Monkey

By Kristi Mally

I have a little cotton monkey; I love it … so …

I take it everywhere I go,

I hold it tight in my hand and shake it all around.

Shaking it high, shaking it low,

Shaking it fast, shaking it slow,

Shaking it above, and shaking it below

Shaking it everywhere I go

I have a little cotton monkey; I love it … so …

I take it everywhere I go,

I put it on my head standing nice and tall

Moving forward, moving backwards

Making sure it does not fall

I have a little monkey;I love it … so …

I take it everywhere I go,

I place it on my hand, and balance standing still

Marching, marching as a move

So my monkey does not spill

Lowering my body to the ground,

First I kneel and then I sit down

I have a little monkey; I love it … so …

I take it everywhere I go,

Sitting quietly, reaching far and wide

Placing the monkey by my side

Moving my body is such fun

But for now I am done

Below is another fun movement-based poem. As the poem is read the child acts out the movements.

Making Music in the Park

By Kristi Mally

I’m going on a walk through the park