Beep Beep!
Over the last few weeks we explored the world of Transport & Construction at Kindergym!
Planes, trains, buses and more - our group time activities took us on adventures that had us listening, working together and finding the fun in being a team. One of our favourite team activities was the ‘Wheels on the Bus’. How grown up the children looked when they boarded the bus, stopped to give the driver a ticket, then found a seat, buckled up and all joined the fun of working through the song’s actions 🎶
Discover the Set Up
Throughout this theme we got moving on the monkey bars, floor and beams!
We went digging into the world of construction and demolition over at the monkey bars! On the giant wrecking ball, we took on the first phase of our mission: knocking down the building. Then we donned a high vis vest and construction helmet and stepped into the construction zone 🚧, where we hoisted the tools up to the workers on the roof (that was heavy work!). The final job was building and painting and we moved the building blocks in kindergym style (upside down), to get them ready to stack up high.
Beep Beep… we took special care to look left and right before crossing the road at the zebra crossing on our floor circuit! 🚦We worked on matching the red, yellow and green traffic light colours while balancing on a wobble board, then hopped into the car and followed instructions to find a parking space. We finished with a ride on a bike, up and over the speed bump and then all the way around the roundabout!
All aboard! Cars, trains and planes took us on fun adventures while we were in the beam zone ! 🚗 We scooted through the car wash in our little cars, building arm strength as we pushed along, then we made our way across the train tracks stopping at each station to move in a different direction. At the high beam, we purchased a ticket, posted it in the ticket box, then got ready for take off! With arms stretched wide, we taxied along the beam, then took a flying jump at the end before coming in to land again on the floor. After landing, we transferred to the helicopter take off zone. Holding scarfs, we swished and turned, just like the blades on a helicopter 🚁
Teaming up to teach road sense
We know we are in a unique position to help parents explain big concepts, so that children can make sense of the world around them. Children are so excited when they arrive at Kindergym. They are ready for fun, but they are switched on for learning as well and that is because they are interested, motivated and engaged by the environment we create. Our kindergym teachers built a wonderful world under the theme of transport and construction over the last few weeks, with so many opportunities for children to learn through observing, listening, experimenting and asking questions.
During our transport and construction lesson, we particularly enjoyed reinforcing the following concepts to improve road sense:
Fast and Slow! Judging speed and understanding the difference between fast and slow can help children to choose the correct speed for the space around them. Slow is best in small spaces or close to roads, but fast is fun when there is lots of clear space! The speed signs set up on the air track prompted children to experiment with speed through running and walking, associating their action with instructional signage - just like you do when driving the car. We even had feedback that children were asking about speed and spotting speed signs when driving home from kindergym class 🚙
Stop and GO! Responding to a stop sign or a call to stop can definitely keep kids safe and practising at the gym made the concept fun! We used a hand held stop sign on the beam to give the cue to stop and balance before moving on and another to remind us to stop in tuck at the end of our forward rolls. My personal favourite was practising stopping at the train stations. As a team, we hopped on the train to travel the countryside, chugging along together, then stopping at each station to pull the whistle and complete a gymnastics activity before heading to the next station 🚂
Left and Right! A sense of left and right comes along earlier than you think and creating space for questions can encourage kids to seek more information. We practised looking left and right before crossing at the zebra crossing and used directional picture cards for the kids to follow to the little car parking spaces on floor. Scooting on the cars and finding a place to park was a great chance to imitate an everyday experience with independence and we saw lots of smiles on this activity.
Here is a little insight into a few minutes of a kindergym class - just one little activity, but so much learn: