Kids usually love to jump, climb and run. My son also loves to do all this. So got an idea similar to this while browsing on the internet. So I wanted to give it a try and see whether My son likes it or not. I implemented it soon as my son (exactly at 3 years) came back from school.
He thought he should stand on each foot when I say to stand on this colour or that colour (we used to play such colour games earlier as well when he was in the stage of learning colours ). Then I showed him how to jump. He got excited and started jumping. He also asked his friends to jump with him. All of them had fun for almost 40-45 minutes which was a boon for me. This is a perfect way to engage children. We follow no screen time usually. So made this jumping activity kept him happy and busy.
Aim:
The main aim behind the activity is to engage kids. This is also a good Gross motor skills activity (Gross motor (physical) skills are those which require whole-body movement and which involve the large (core stabilising) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions, such as standing, walking, running, and sitting upright.)
Material required: (What I used)
- Cotton cloth (instead you can use Felt long piece )(I used 6+ feet long cloth)
- Felt in different colours
- Hot glue gun (Stanley I recommend)
- Hot glue sticks
- Basic things like scissors, paper, pencil
- A small paper clip(optional)
How to execute :
- Initially take a paper and draw a feet of the size you require.
- After drawing cut the feet from the paper, and place the feet on desired felt colour you choose and take the paper clip and attach this paper feet to the Felt. Just to make it not to move while cutting or else you can staple this paper made feet to Felt and cut it. Later remove the pins. (Don’t forget to throw pins safely)
- Then you have a pair of feet ready now, so by using this you can cut as many feets as you wish from different choice of colours of Felt ..(if you use different colours you can use the mat for identifying colours activity for younger babies/kids)
- Now all sets of feet are ready now
- Just arrange all them on a cotton cloth in the way you want your kid to jump, different direction, feet apart, feet together, feet to right, left as you wish .
- Then switch on the hot glue gun, let it get heated, then start pasting feet at the place you need and direction you need.
- You are done with your jumping path/mat
- Just show your kid how to use it. So that they will explore it and find new ways to use it .
Fun moments: when my neighbour’s 2 kids also joined my son in doing this jumping activity. Then the actual fun started, they jumped over it and enjoyed it.
It felt like heaven to me.
About mom: I am Sravya, a B.Tech graduate. Now, a crafter by profession who loves to learn new things. I believe in gentle parenting we are off screens most of the time, and always try to involve my son in a productive way n we ( me n my husband ) love spending some quality time with my son. I do many DIY Crafts n activity-based learning for my son at home, I have done Felt mats, alphabet charts many Felt Learning aids for him, I have a great passion for crafting and so I run a Facebook page for my crafts.
For DIY activities for your toddler and more resources for toddlers and preschoolers visit ProEves.