This post was sponsored by Landscape Structures as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Outdoor Gross Motor Activities for Preschoolers
October is sensory awareness month, which is a great reason to celebrate at the park on a lovely fall day with friends. I am very grateful we have a great park nearby that is kid friendly (especially for younger kids). The smiles on these faces while they are actually learning gross motor skills, speaks for itself! The playground is a perfect environment for inclusive play where all children of all abilities can grow and learn together. In particular, Landscape Structures, believes that through inclusive play kids can learn so many life lessons such as leadership, persistence, support and empathy. This also encourages interactions that shape kids into thinkers, dreamers and leaders.
Like I said we are grateful to have such a place in our community – I know they are nation wide so to find an inclusive playground near you visit – Landscape Structures
What are Gross Motor Skills?
Whenever large movements involve moving arms, legs, or the entire body, the movements fall into the category of gross motor skills. These abilities require your child to learn to control large muscles of the body.
Preschoolers need lots of opportunities to develop these important motor skills. This is how they learn and grow!
Activities that Promote Gross Motor Skills
The gross motor movements are categorized into three skills. Most all of these skills can be exercised and learned at the park through slides, swings, bridges, climbing walls, monkey bars, tubes, see-saws, merry go rounds, jungle gyms and everything in between your child is exploring and learning.
Locomotor Activity:
- Walking
- Jumping
- Climbing
- Running
- Skipping
- Leaping
- Hopping
- Sliding
Non- Locomotive Activity
Stationary movements
- Pushing
- Pulling
- Swinging
- Rocking
- Swaying
- Rising
- Falling
- Reaching
- Stretching
- Bending
- Twisting
- Turning
Manipulative Movements
- Throwing
- Kicking
- Catching
- Striking
Help your child gain confidence and strength in their body as they learn gross motor skills in a variety of ways. It will also promote a healthy lifestyle of exercise and activity which we all know is vitally important as well. Learning these skills helps your child as they grow and mature into future activities that require more coordination as well. For more sensory activities check out our STEAM Activities for Preschoolers.
We are a husband and wife team, pairing our strengths together to teach our preschooler in the most fun and engaging way we possibly can. The mister is a high school educator at Northlake Christian school in Covington Louisiana and over the Innovation Center, which is all things STEAM. I am a SAHM that blogs pretty much everything we do in our little paradise, from what we eat, to where we travel to how we teach our little one. We hope you are inspired to incorporate STEAM into learning with your children.
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