Colours, Shapes and Numbers
Purposeful play is an often overlooked tool for learning, but not at kindergym!
Colours, shapes and numbers are all around us, everywhere we look! Bright colours draw our attention to circles, squares and triangles, spheres, cylinders and boxes. In the gym, we climb on them, we crawl under them, we imagine them to be igloos, boats, palaces and aeroplanes. We can have lots of fun with colours, shapes and numbers and when children are having fun, they don’t realise how much they are learning.
Discover the Set Up
Our monkey bars are set up to explore the colours of the rainbow 🌈 Stop to spin the colour wheel before swinging on the rings, then dismounting on the matching coloured landing zone. Climb up the cargo net noticing the rainbow colours as you go! Finish with some strength work - show us a tuck hang and a star hang, then, jump, jump jump on the air track using the same shapes.
On the beams we will practise shape recognition by selecting a shape card and then walking the length of the beam to find the matching card. Next, we will turn upside down as we count from 1 to 5 with donkey kicks over the low beam following along our number spots. On the high beam, we are building up our muscles by showing off a froggy hold while counting to the number chosen on a bean bag 🐸
There are plenty of exciting things to discover during our floor rotation - we think you will love the colour memory game 🎨 We will practise some rotation activities then stretch out into a rainbow shape, rocking back and forth on a barrel. This is a great way to develop early gymnastics bridge skills. Finish with a roll down the wedge, tucked in tight. It’s fun to think about the different shapes our bodies can make when we practise gymnastics!
1, 2, 3, Learn With Me!
A quiet start is not uncommon when introducing a child to a new space with lots of other people, but the colour, fun and movement of kindergym classes soon takes over. Confidence grows lesson to lesson and it won’t be long before a visit to the gym becomes a highlight of your child’s week. From there, it’s our mission to find ways to encourage the curiosity of children when they come along to Kindergym!
It's no secret that curiosity is the key to learning. In the gym, we see curiosity in children when they experiment with movement, trying new ways to move and getting used to the feeling of balancing, swing and rolling. Sometimes we watch children repeat movements over and over again, eager to learn which adjustments work and what result is achieved on each turn. It's amazing to watch a child’s commitment to learning when we see that happen.
In this developmental stage, when children are so open to learning, we know that we also have the opportunity to incorporate foundational concepts, like colours, shapes and numbers! We have lots of fun counting out loud, matching counting to rhythm, sorting colours and building with shapes.
By bringing colours, shapes and numbers together, we can really start building a big vocabulary and get interesting conversations happening. At a very young age, even before speech, when we offer children opportunities to explore an engaging environment, like our kindergym set up, we naturally prompt their instinct to inquire. They learn new words, then they learn how to use them, then they ask for more. We love it!
Curiosity could be the most valuable tool a child might take with them as they head off to school. As lots of our kindergym kids are getting ready to move to school next year, we are happy that they will find some confidence from their time in the gym to take with them. Good luck little ones - we look forward to hearing all about your learning adventures!