Locomotor & Navigating Space - Full Resource

Walk around the room

Sing this song to the tune of The Farmers in his Den

Walk around the room, Walk around the room, EEE  AYE ADDIE OOO Walk around the room – substitute the following and change the actions to represent the new word:

Backwards, skip, jump, hop, gallop, run, crab walk, roll (pencil roll), slither, march, tiptoe etc.

Take it outside and change the song to walk around the playground/space.

Adapt for younger children:

Sing the song slower and if children are unable to walk independently, support with hand holding.  Maintain more floor based movements

Extension:

Take the activity outside and use on different surfaces; sand, puddles, bark chipping, under trees, through tunnels etc.

Indoors you use similar alternatives tunnels, bubble wrap, parachute to crawl over or under, bed sheets, pillowcases to jump inside

Toys

For this movement activity you will need to demonstrate the movements of a doll on a music box, robot and puppet.  See if children can identify how they move differently.  Using the first music suggestion, pretend to wind up the doll or robot and demonstrate moving in isolation with rigid limbs.  With the second piece of music, move as a puppet, floppy movements.

Music Suggestion – Doll on a Music Box – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Music Suggestion  - Vodka m’interese – Rene Aubry.

Adapt for younger children:

Listen to the music together and adults model the movements like the props

Extension:

Encourage children to move around the room and incorporate floor-based movement as well as locomotor movement.   Invite children to showcase their performances.

Animal Movers 

Call out different animals and ask the children to move like the animal.  To make it more fun (and for those who require visual clues), place a selection of small-world creatures in a bag)..shake a tambourine and pull out an animal.  When children hear the tambourine, they know to stop and look to see which animal is next.

Adapt for younger children:

Keep the activities on the floor, spend more time on each animal and allow for children to explore their adaption of the movement independently. Use the visual clues.

Extension:

Suggest more challenging animals and vary the intensity of dynamic movement; bear walks, duck walks, scorpion, spider etc

Puddles

Give each child a piece of chalk and invite them to chalk puddles on the playground.  Invite children to jump in the puddles, splash in the puddles, kick the water in the muddles. Play some music to encourage rhythm. 

Music suggestion: Raindrops keep falling on my head – Burt Bacharach

Adapt for younger children:

Adult draws the puddles and children, with assistance if required, practice two feet jumping in the puddles.

Extension:

Introduce challenge – only 1 child per puddle, 2 children per puddle, find a yellow puddle etc.  Progress to hopping

Traffic Jam

 Mark out a road either outside or indoors and invite children to ride their ‘imaginary’ vehicles around the track.  Adult will be the traffic lights – (adult can use spots, or paper- Red, yellow and green). Adult explains the meaning of the colours as traffic guidance.  Children travel around the circuit with adult demonstrating the traffic lights. 

Adapt for younger children:

Start with Red and green and when ready introduce yellow – get ready.  Adults model the game and design the circuit as appropriate.

Extension:

Create a more dynamic circuit, ie figure of 8.  Introduce quoits as steering wheels.  Invite children to be the traffic lights.

What’s the time Mr Wolf

Introduce the game – one adult stands facing away from the children with a distance between both.  Children and another adult chant “what’s the time Mr Wolf?” Adult turns around to face children and calls a time (eg 2 o’clock…children then take 2 steps towards the adult (Mr Wolf).  The game continues until 12 o’clock DINNERTIME is called and The Wolf must try to catch a child, that child then becomes the wolf. Repeat

Adapt for younger children:

Stick to counting up to five and with an adult scaffolding the activity.

Extension:

Have two children as wolves and encourage them to negotiate when choosing the time.  The other children must avoid being caught by 2 children.  Also extend the space available for running.

The High Wire

Using masking tape, secure a length of tape across the space either indoors or out…invite children to pretend to walk the high wire at the circus…vary the movements; tip toes, sideways, crouching, a jump in the air when you get to the middle…encourage children to create their own fantastic movements. 

Music suggestion: Circus Music – Instrumental Those magnificent men in a flying machine

Adapt for younger children:

Use the tape on the floor and encourage the children to move along at their pace; crawling, toddling etc. Use coloured slightly thicker tape.

Extension:

Make the tape line longer and encourage slower movements for more control.

Tape Vortex

Using the tape again mark out a complex vortex with the lines crossing and making shapes but always connecting.  Invite the children to walk along at the same time – they must not overtake each other and come off the tape.  This is great for navigating space and learning to take turns and prediction.

Adapt for younger children:

Encourage children to move along the grid at their pace.  Keep the grid simple, use coloured slightly thicker tape.

Extension:

Introduce more children to the space and change   the movement options, run, gallop, walk VERY slowly, hold hands with a friend etc.  Make the grid into shapes to develop mathematical skills, diamond, square rectangle, triangle etc.

Please Mr Crocodile

One child stands in the middle of the hall and the others stand at one end.  Children sing “Please Mr Crocodile, May I cross the water, to see your pretty daughter, without getting wet, please”.  The child in the middle (the crocodile) then calls out ‘Only if you are wearing red, have a brother, have long hair, like bananas etc’.  Those children walk calmly past the crocodile to the other side.  The other children must try and get across without the crocodile touching them.  If you get caught you become a crocodile.  Repeat

Adapt for younger children:

Adult is the crocodile and adults scaffold movements for the children, if unsteady walking, try it crawling

Extension:

Include numeracy and literacy…eg..If you have 2 vowels in your name.  If you are age 4.

You could also change the movements, hopping, skipping jumping etc

Galloping horses

Adults or older children hold a selection a hoops out to the side, the other children must pretend they are horses and gallop around the room, when they come to a hoop they must climb through and continue around the space.

Music suggestion: Les Sylphides III Valse

Adapt for younger children:

Introduce tunnels for crawling through, then introduce hoops and encourage children to crawl through with the bottom of the hoop touching the floor.

Extension:

Increase the amount of hoops and the height from the floor.

Catch the scarves

You can use scarves, large pieces of tissue paper or cut up foil blankets.  Go outside and give each child a scarf and invite them to hold it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing!  On the count of 3, everyone released their scarf and watches it fly around, then chase it and catch it…repeat.

Adapt for younger children:

Start indoors by throwing the fabric in the air and inviting them to catch it. Outside use larger equipment and scaffold the children with this activity.

Extension:

After letting go, invite children to catch their partners fabric. Stand on a hill or a slight incline to challenge the movement.

Horse and Rider 

Children find a partner and one child has a hula hoop and stands inside and holds the front (the horse) – the other child holds onto the back of the hoop (the rider). Sing Horsey Horsey Don’t you stop, Just let your tail go clippety clop, Your tail goes swish and your wheels go round, Giddy-up we’re homeward bound.  As they sing the horse gallops around the room with the rider holding on tightly. Swap places.

Adapt for younger children:

Sit on the floor with an adult and a small hoop, both holding on and sing the song while swaying and rocking.  Progress to standing and then walking with the hoop

Extension:

Try with two riders and one horse.  Encourage front galloping and change the leading foot.

Hula Chase

Give each child a hula hoop or quoit and show them how to place their hand on top and push them away to make them roll, (if this is tricky try down a gentle slope).  Invite the children to chase them until they stop.  Repeat

Adapt for younger children:

Let the children roll, and push them at their leisure.  If unable to do so, adult pushes and child follows.

Extension:

Roll the hoops to a partner and practice catching/stopping the hoop. Try with both partners pushing their hoop simultaneously.

Old Macdonald

Hold hands in a circle and sing the song.  When each animal is announced children must become the animal and continue moving in a circle like the animal.

Adapt for younger children:

Place all the animals on a blanket in the middle of the circle.  Sing the song and invite the children to crawl/walk into the middle to find the animal who makes that noise.

Extension:

Two children are chosen to be the animals and them must demonstrate their actions by moving across the circle and swapping places

Rolling pins 

On a sunny day take the children outside and practice pencil rolling down a gentle hill.

Adapt for younger children:

Arms stretched above their head and practice rolling forwards and backwards indoors.

Extension:

Progress to egg rolling, laying on the floor like an egg, remaining tucked up roll.

Funny Movers 

Print out all of the locomotion movements on the attached sheet.  Place them in the bag in the middle of the circle.  Children stand in a circle and one child chooses a card from the bag. The child must move around the circle in the way the card mentions, back to their place. They then choose a child to be next.

Adapt for younger children:

Adult selects an action from the bag and children follow the adults lead

Extension:

As children move around the circle they can weave in and out of the children in the circle, this may be easier if those in the circle are holding hands.  Progress to selecting two children at a time to move around the circle as the action card suggests.

Hot and Cold

Adults select a theme; maybe small world people, dinosaurs, shapes, dolls etc they must hide 4/5 of them around the outdoor space.  Children must try to find them…looking under/over.  If the child is far away from the items adult calls COLD…as the child gets closer, WARMER…when the child id very close…HOT, HOTTER..etc REPEAT.

Adapt for younger children:

Hide 1 or 2 items for the child to locate easily.  Gradually increase the level of challenge.

Extension:

Hide the items with some degree of challenge, ie, to climb, crawl to locate.  Invite children to hide the items for other children and learn how to play the game independently.

Construction City

Provide a variety of cardboard boxes, all different sizes and shapes, encourage children to create a city, with various buildings, a school, a fire station, a police station etc. Assist children to carve doors and windows.  Ensure children have the opportunity to crawl, stand, climb etc

Adapt for younger children:

Adults can provide a maze of tunnels and shapes for children to navigate.

Extension:

Include crates and planks to extend the development and movement potential.  Always supervise and scaffold children when using new apparatus.