Kids usually love to jump, climb and run. My son also love to do all this. So got an idea similar to this while browsing on the internet. So I wanted to give 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 feet when I say 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 ..but now a days it’s like an hour of screen time in a day. But I don’t want to increase it. So made this jumping activity which 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 to give a try )
- Cotton cloth (instead u 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 n draw a feet of the size u required(lip bigger than u r big feet)
- After drawing cut the feet from the paper, and place the feet on desired Felt colour u choose and take the paper clip n attach this paper feet to the Felt ..just to make it not to move while cutting or else u can staple this paper made feet to Felt n cut it .,later remove the pins..(don’t forget to throw pins safely *baby *)
- Then you have a pair of feet ready now ,so by using this u can cut as many feet’s as you wish from different choice of colours of Felt ..(if u use different colours u 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 u want u r kid to jump ..different direction ..feet apart ..feet together, feet to right ,left .,as u wish .
- Then switch on the hot glue gun ..let it get heated ..then start pasting feet at the place you need and direction u 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 neighbor’s 2 kids also joined my son in doing this jumping activity. Then the actual fun started ..they jumped over it and enjoyed. It felt like heaven to me.
About mom : Myself Sravya, I am a BTech 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 towards crafting n so I run a page in Facebook for my crafts you can check Facebook.com/craftladysravz .Recently I have also started selling Felt & other accessories for diy mommies.