Working our Muscles, big and small

 Making sure we practice and work our muscles is very important to our preschool learning. We found many amazing ways to challenge the way our body moves and work to help us grow stronger! Check out the different ways we moved and explored on this rainy Monday afternoon. 

Ms. Amy came to visit our class for our opening meeting today. She heard we have been really into maps and decided to take us on a bear hunt around the classroom. Everyone got a turn to play a role in the adventure, though not at the same time so we really had to work to be patient. We followed the map through the grass, river, mud, forest, and snow to the cave of the sleeping bear. Check out the video below to find out what happened when we tried to enter his cave!

After our meeting time we decided to get some wiggles out in the gym. We got the bikes out and that was a HUGE challenge. The tricycles at school are very different from most bikes our friends have at home. Using different parts of our legs to make the pedals go was hard, but everyone kept trying!

We also worked as a team to build a foam block structure. It took many tries to get it to look just right, but the end result is pretty magnificent.

Often, when people think about moving their muscles they think big strong muscles like your legs or arms. But we found some great ways to work our small muscles too, we even worked our head muscle (brain) today! Sometimes it can be harder to focus in and do those small, careful movements. Strong fingers help build strong writers. Steady pinchers help develop good grasp and support your writing hands. You can work your small muscles in so many ways. Take a look at what we did today.

We laminated several types of maps for the students to trace, color, or draw on. 

We worked both small and large muscles by standing to paint today. Changing the way you do something simple can really challenge your brain and body.

GL spent almost the entire day working on his small world. How beautiful is his creation?! 

Using tweezers to pinch and move cotton balls is a great way to strengthen those fingers and hands. 

We collected TONS of golf tees and used blocks as hammers to create beautiful patterns and designs in a large piece of foam. Talk about hand-eye coordination. 

Have a wonderful Monday evening. Stay dry! Or better yet - go dance in the rain!