Glossary of kindergym concepts
Here is a list of some of the concepts we use in kindergym programs:
Balance – the ability to maintain or in some cases, regain body position.
Bilaterality – using both sides of the body together in the same motion.
Body awareness - a child’s awareness of their body with respect to the identification and movement of various bodily parts.
Cross pattern – movement of opposite arm and leg simultaneously.
Depth perception – the visual perception of the distance between an object and its observer.
Directionality - spatial awareness of up, down, front, back, sideways, etc.
Eye-hand co-ordination - the ability of the eye and hand to work together to produce a manual task.
Fine motor – the use of small muscles of the body particularly eyes and hands to do academic tasks.
Fixation- the eye’s ability to focus on an object.
Gross-motor – the use of the large muscles of the body , particularly the arms and legs in co-ordination movement to accomplish certain motor skills.
Kinesthetic – internal neuro-muscular sense of recalling from past experiences where the body parts are and how to move them
Laterality – internal sense of one side of the body is different from the other particularly left and right concepts.
Listening skills – the ability to hear sounds and to interpret those sounds into a physical or motor action.
Midline – moving the eyes, hands, arms, feet or legs across the midline of the body without the use of other bodily parts such as the head, the trunk or the opposite limb.
Spatial relationships – one’s position in space and the relationship of other people, objects in that space with respect to size, shape etc.
Unilateral – the unison movement of the arm and leg on one side of the body.
Visual-motor co-ordination – the combining of the body and visual processes into co-ordinated movement .
How to set up an outdoor obstacle course for kids
Whether you want to entertain kids on a slow day, provide them with something to play with when friends come round, or to go all out and set up a fancy one for a birthday party, an obstacle course is a great idea for children of any age.
STEP ONE: GATHER YOUR ITEMS
Use items around the house, such as laundry baskets
You can probably find most things from around the house and in the garage. Gather items like laundry baskets, shoe boxes, sturdy plastic stools, clean rubbish bins, balls, household buckets and long cardboard tubes. Your child may have hoops or a cloth tunnel amongst his toys. In the garage find items like ladders, ropes, empty cardboard boxes, pool noodles, planks of wood, tires, plastic clamshells (for sand and water play) .
Further afield at Kmart , you may find resources like tunnels, popup soccer goals, boxes of plastic balls, kangaroo balls, cones to weave around, bowling sets etc for some very reasonable prices (mostly under $15).
Bunnings is also a great place to buy a couple of planks of wood of different widths for balance beams. You may be able to pick up some empty cartons to use as tunnels if you don’t have any at home.
If you’re super-enthusiastic, you could make your own balance board out of a piece of ply with a length of dowel underneath or purchase a circular wobble disc from Rebel Sport, this would provide a challenge from which to balance and throw beanbags at targets.
A trip to Kimbriki Recycling Centre in Terrey Hills for recycled treasures may yield some unexpected surprises. You can pick up a large number of car tyres for free and you may be lucky at the Reuse shop to get a few planks of wood for your course for a few dollars. Some wonderful tyre and plank arrangements can be made with planks joining stack of tyres together in various configurations.
STEP TWO: SET UP YOUR OBSTACLE COURSE
Once you’ve gathered up all your items, you just need to decide how to join all them together in one continuous circle obstacle course.
Here are a few ideas:
- If you have a tree with a branch from which you can tether a rope, you will have a huge hit as children swing off a launching pad across the river (blue tarp), or over the crocodile and land safely on the other side.
- Laundry baskets can be tethered to provide a jumping challenge.
- Shiny hoops from the dollar shops can be tied together with masking tape to provide a crawl thru challenge.
- Clamshells can be laid upside-down as a hard surface for children to run across.
- Ladders can be laid flat on the ground or platform ladders can be assembled at a low height (many ladders will not be suitable). Ensure they are set up properly
- If you have a rope ladder, this can be laid on the ground.
- If you have cones, the children can weave in and out of them. If you don’t have cones, empty buckets placed upside-down will do just as well.
- Shoeboxes could have little u shaped cuts in them to hold cardboard tubes or pool noodles for children to hurdle over.
- Carpet squares can be used as stepping stones.
- It may be possible to travel a small section of the course by scooter/ride toy/ horse etc.
- If you’re having a themed birthday party, the obstacle course could be adapted to accommodate superheros or fairy princesses, dinosaurs etc, with a few imaginative additions. Older children could be timed competitively for their circuit and prizes awarding for the three fastest.
SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT!
- Test your obstacle course with your child for a few days before the party to make sure everything is secure and make any necessary alterations.
- Children should all travel in the same direction (clockwise?) and have a staggered start.
And finally… have fun with it!
Enrollments for 2014 Pandatime musical Kindergym are now open
CLASSES WILL BE WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY in 2014
In order to enrol your child for next year, please put your details in the 2014 booking book if you are already attending Pandatime, or phone Trish on 94897814 or Teresa on 9457 8161 to book if you are not currently enrolled.
Fees may be paid by internet banking or cheque.
Details for the internet payments: BSB 082389 Acc 047036537.
Wednesday/Thursday/Friday $140 for 10 weeks start back Wednesday 5th Feb.
Annual insurance levy: $40. This insurance is paid to the NSW Gym Assoc.
EARLYBIRD DISCOUNT: For fees received before the start of term, fees will be reduced to $130 (plus $40 insurance). Earlybird payments must be received by FEB 4.
