All kids have one thing in common: they’re great at knocking things down! That pile of mail you put on the stairs? The neatly stacked books on the coffee table? Your cup of tea? We’ve all been there. Today we’ll let kids knock down and stack up till their hearts content, while challenging gross motor skills along the way. If you’re looking for a fun indoor gross motor game for kids this winter, today’s Topple the Snowman game is for you!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Empty boxes, white paper, markers, and any other art supplies to decorate your snowman. Any size boxes will do, we saved some big ones from Christmas that worked perfectly, but shoeboxes would work too. Use as many as you want depending on how high you want your snowman to be.
WHAT TO DO: Take some time to dress your boxes up so they look like a snowman when they’re stacked (cover with white paper, draw buttons on the front of one; draw eyes, a nose, and a mouth on another, etc.). Once your boxes are decorated, have your kiddos stack them up in an open space in the right sequence (they’ll be working on size concepts and visual perceptual skills here) to make your snowman. Designate a starting point on the opposite side of your play space and instruct the kids to move in different ways across the room to knock down the snowman! Santa brought a new skateboard to our house, so my little guys got a kick out of using it in different ways (lying on tummies, sitting on bottom, sitting on legs) to glide across and topple our snowman to the floor! See below for more fun ways to play!
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- Scooting on tummy
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- “Bear” walking
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- Scooting on knees
HOW TO CHANGE IT UP:
-Instead of using a scooter, try these fun ways to move across the room to get to your snowman:
log rolling, crab walking, wheelbarrow walking, bear walking (on hands and feet with bottom in the air), frog hopping (squat low to the ground with hands on the floor between feet, jumping forward).
-No skateboard? Check out one of our most-used therapy tools – the scooter! This scooter from Gamecraft is just like the ones we use for therapy sessions at school. Awesome for balance, strengthening, posture, coordination, and more!
SKILL AREAS ADDRESSED: Gross motor skills, motor control, coordination, posture, proprioception, sensory integration, trunk stability, visual perceptual skills
Want to take a closer look at the skills kids are using in this activity? Check out our Clinical Closeup page, where we break down the skills listed below in terms everyone can understand.
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