For the developing child the ability to move the body and explore the environment influences intellectual, social and emotional development. It leads to knowledge and understanding about the world and how we fit into it. It also helps us to develop and formulate concepts and ideas which later are shown through drawing and writing.

We learn to move and move to learn. Gross motor skills involve the large muscles of the body that enable such functions as maintaining balance, walking, climbing, jumping, pushing, pulling and ball skills. They are the building blocks for the development of fine motor skills.

Using this activity you can incorporate language like, Prepositions – in, out, on, over, beside, next to and Movements – throw, toss, slide, bounce and Force – harder, softer AND improve body skills like balance and movement control, hand-eye and foot-eye coordination.

Steps:

1. Create a frog cut out or use a cut out from a magazine

2. Mark a starting line with painter’s tape on the floor

3. Demonstrate to your child how to bend the legs and jump and then mark the spot where you land with another piece of tape

4. Now ask your child to stand at the line and jump forward as far as he can

5. Then measure how far your child jumped with the frog!

6. Introduce the concepts of length and distance using a measuring tape to know the exact distance jumped