Day Care Exercises – 2 Fun Games To Get The Kids Moving

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How do you keep a group of kids busy at day care? Sure, there's always arts and crafts, snacks, and naptime, but what do you do to wear them down for that nap? What can you do to keep the kids healthy and active? Here, you'll find a few ideas of games that can be played in day care with kids of various ages.

Egg/Marshmallow Spoon Challenge

This game is fun for people of all ages, and it doesn't take much to get it going. You'll need a bag of large marshmallows or some plastic eggs, some tablespoons or large mixing spoons for the little ones, a couple of bowls or buckets, and kids.

• Place the bowls at one end of the room.
• Line the kids up at the other end of the room.
• Give the first kids in line a spoon with a marshmallow or egg on it.
• Have the kids try to carry the marshmallow or egg across the room without dropping it until they reach the bowl and put it in the bowl.
• That kid runs back to the line and gives the next kid the spoon to have a marshmallow or egg placed on it.
• If the egg or marshmallow is dropped before the bowl is reached, the kid must pick it up, place it back on the spoon and continue. Older kids can be required to start back at the beginning until they make it the whole way to the bowl.

This game will not only help get the kids up and active, but will help to improve balance, hand-eye coordination, and team work.

Color, Shape, and Letter Leap Pads

Depending on the level of education of the kids, you can cut out shapes, draw letters, or just use colored sheets of paper to create a floor covered in "leap pads" for the kids to jump to.

For the little ones that know their colors:

• Spread the colored paper sheets all over the floor. If they seem to slip easily when they are jumped on, use a little tape to hold them in place.
• Call out a color and each kid will jump to the color sheet nearest to them.
• The goal is to get from one side of the room to the other only using the colors that are called out.

You can create different variations of this game to accommodate older kids — for example, you can write letters on the paper and call out a word for the kids to try to complete.

Keeping kids active is so important. Not only will it help them to stay healthy and strong, but it will keep things more peaceful as the kids won't be bored and full of unused energy.

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2 May 2018