One morning, educator Trish had a great idea to make an indoor spider web with the children in Toddler 1 at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Brigid. The children worked together by helping Trish use string to make different patterns, going from the climber to the table legs. When it was completed, the children used their gross motor skills to crawl under, and go over each of the strings of the spider web. We also had the climber opened at the time, so the children made it into an obstacle course by climbing up and down on the climber, then to go through the spider web.
At first, all the children crawled under the web to get through it, but Trish wanted to challenge the group by encouraging the children to go over the “web” strings. As soon as one child tried to go over, the rest followed!
This activity was great way to challenge the children’s special awareness, body movement, social skills, problem solving skills, as well as balance and coordination. All the children did such a great job, at navigating through our spider web! We will continue to provide opportunities for the children to build on their gross motor skills inside and outside the classroom.
