October is Doc-Tober for Disney Junior! Your preschooler can see Doc McStuffins and her toy friends in new episodes on the Disney Junior TV channel and enjoy brand new Doc games and activities on DisneyJunior.com.au.

“She never stops. She’s go, go, go from the moment she wakes up till she goes to bed. Even in her sleep, she talks.” A friend of mine, that I have not seen in months was sharing what life was like with her four year old daughter. Sure enough, we watch her daughter happily run and play in the playground. She wasn’t the only child running circles around the playground. Children can be wonderfully, sometimes challengingly physical. 

Kids will often run, dodge and jump when given the space and opportunity to. Encouraging regular physical activity is key to keeping kids healthy. To celebrate Doc-Tober, we’re learning to care for others and ourselves. To stay fit and healthy, here are my top 5 easy to play running games for large groups. 

Five Easy Running Games For Healthy Kids

You only need a large space and some very simple supplies, if any, for these easy running games. 

BULLRUSH
I remember the adrenaline pumping through my body whenever I played this as a child. I’m pretty sure my 6 year old twins love this game and will love it even more as they get bigger (and faster!). For this game, players stand side by side on one end of the play area. Choose one player to be IT, and stand in the middle of the play area. Whoever is IT shouts,  “BULLRUSH!”. On this signal, all players have to try and run to the opposite side of the play area without getting tagged by IT. Whoever gets tagged, joins the IT team to help catch other free players. Players can only run to the other side when the IT team shouts, “BULLRUSH!”. The game continues until only one player is left. That player becomes the new IT in the next game.

STUCK IN THE MUD
Set out a play area for this game. Select one player to be IT. Once play begins, IT has to tag other players. Once tagged, players are stuck in the mud. They have to stay where they are when they were tagged, with their legs apart. Players who aren’t stuck, can free people who are stuck in the mud, by crawling through their legs. Once players are freed, they can run around again. Depending on the number or children and the size of the play area, it may be more fun to have a few people to be IT.

STUCK IN THE MUD PARTNERS
All players have to find a partner. Choose one pair to be IT. The IT pair has to try and tag as many pairs as possible. A tagged pair stay where they are, face each other with arms raised to form an arch. You can only be freed when another pair runs through your arch.

TURTLE TAG
Choose one person to be IT. Play begins when IT yells, “GO!”. IT chases other players. When IT comes near, players can avoid being tagged by quickly lying on their backs with arms and legs raised in the air, like a turtle on its back. As soon as IT has gone by, they can keep running again. If you are tagged, you are the new IT.

BACK-TO-BACK TAG
This one is great for team building. On the signal “GO!”, IT chases the other players. Players are safe for five seconds only when they stand back-to-back, elbows linked, with another player. As soon as they feel safe, or their five seconds are up, separate and run in free space until IT comes near again. Then find a new partner and stand back-to-back. If you are tagged, you are the new IT. 

Running games like these are so simple and fun. Do you have a favourite running game for kids?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment; I’d love to hear from you. If you are new here, you might like to receive updates direct to your email. We have many fun ideas to share.

The post Healthy Kids: 5 Easy Running Games for Kids by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

“No… not like that,” she commands. In her mind, she lives in an organised world. I raise my eyebrows at her and smile. I like her and her organised ways. She widens her eyes then takes a handful of LEGO DUPLO bricks into her small cherub-caricature hands.

Every preschooler learns through play. There are so many ways to play.

Over the past few months, my almost three year old daughter, Miss K has displayed a big interest in constructing with LEGO DUPLO. She loves building at home and at daycare.

Here’s a snippet of documentation from her daycare: “This particular morning she sat down with Ms Preschool Teacher and started to construct. She kept building and building. “Look” she said to Ms Preschool Teacher. “It’s a tower,” she continued proudly and held up her tower so Ms Preschool Teacher could see. “So lovely,” Ms Preschool Teacher replied. Ms Preschool Teacher then began to ask questions about the colours that Miss K had been using. She was able to name all colours.

The documentation continues: In this experience Miss K demonstrated her creativity through construction of the tower. Through her sustained engagement we understand that she feels safe and supported- she feeling comfortable to explore for a longer amount of time. Furthermore, in the experience she used her fine motor skills and displayed her knowledge of colours.

Here, we see the beautiful embodiment of play-based learning. Rather than the teacher being the ‘expert’ who is required to fill children’s knowledge stores as if they are empty vessels, we see the child having the potential to learn complex concepts at any age.

LEGO DUPLO: So Many Ways to Play

Imagine my delight when we received a LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure Pack to review and give away! We’re big fans of LEGO DUPLO, and being parents who watch Comic Book Men, it’s not surprising that our children are relatively well versed in the Batman Universe. 

Build Stories & Make Adventures

When I placed the Lego Duplo Batcave Adventure box on the floor next to our giant cardboard box, as an invitation to play, I honestly thought because it was LEGO DUPLO, only Miss K (who is almost 3) and possibly Mr E ( who is 4), would be interested.

Boy, was I wrong. It didn’t take long for Mr M and N (who are 6) to scramble onto the floor to join in the play. Although I hadn’t expected or planned for Mr M and Mr N to be play with LEGO DUPLO, Mr M and Mr N were obviously motivated to join in, build stories and make adventures… so I let them be, and they all played together.

Play & Discover

Miss K was fascinated with the canon on the Batwing. Let them play and discover. She figured out how to load the canon but got stuck with how to fire it. She asked me to help her fire the canon. I showed her once, and that was all it took for her to spend the next good 15 minutes just firing the canon and loading it – over, and over, and over again. I love how LEGO DUPLO is specifically designed to be fun and safe for younger hands.

Create & Share

Being twins, Mr M and N (now 6) they have had, for better or worse, more than their share of chances to work and collaborate with each other. Let them create and share. There were squabbles about how to build certain parts. I generally leave them be and let them sort things out. If the frustration levels start to get a bit much and accusations become painfully whiny, I step in with my suggestions or observations of the situation. (The number of times the words, “I think the missing part is under the book,” has solved many squabbles is unbelievable!)

LEGO DUPLO Batman Adventure Giveaway

If you’re after a gift for preschoolers (or older), LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure is a winner. It’s fun, has easy to use gadgets for younger hands and offers loads of different ways to play for quite a wide age range; Miss K (almost 3) and her brothers Mr N and Mr M (who are 6) spent a good afternoon playing together (while I made dinner… priceless!).

To celebrate the importance of play, we are delighted to have one LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure to give away to one of our lovely readers.

For a chance to win, in the comments below, tell me “How does your child play with LEGO DUPLO?”. The competition is open to Australian residents and closes 5pm (AEDST) on the 27th October, 2014 . Please note the terms and conditions of the giveaway.

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October is Doc-Tober for Disney Junior! Your preschooler can see Doc McStuffins and her toy friends in new episodes on the Disney Junior TV channel and enjoy brand new Doc games and activities on DisneyJunior.com.au.

I knew absolutely nothing about soccer… then I became a mum. Our boys started playing soccer almost two years ago. Now, I understand just how fun playing soccer is. It’s a social, fun way to get kids moving about, to build up their fitness and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

I am a parent who has never played soccer before – and it was a bit overwhelming / intimidating to figure out. However, it is possible, and simple to just have some fun with a soccer ball in the backyard with your kids.

Five Soccer Activities For Healthy Kids

Here are some ball activities that are simple and fun; some ideas to get you playing soccer with your kids:

BUBBLES
Randomly place a few cones around your backyard. Each child needs a soccer ball. Dribble your ball (“bubble”) around the backyard. Use only the inside of your feet. Don’t let your bubble touch another bubble or cone; otherwise your bubble will pop. If your bubble pops, you have to do ten star jumps before rejoining the game.

TREASURE
You will need a few soccer balls (about 3 to each child) and a hoop for each child. Place the hoops randomly on the ground, with the soccer balls outside the hoops. On your signal, children have to collect treasure by dribbling the soccer balls into their hoops. Stealing balls from other people’s hoops is not allowed. The player with the most treasure wins.

PIN BALL SOCCER
To start the game, place a row of cones (bowling pins) across the middle of the backyard. Each child , stands at edges of the backyard, with the row of cones between them. Players should have about three balls each. The player that knocks down the most pins is the winner. When all the pins are knocked down, reset them and start again.

PIRATES
Choose someone to be a pirate. The pirate does not have a ball. Everyone else dribbles a ball around the backyard. Pirates try to tackle the ball away from the dribblers. If the pirate tackles the ball away from a player, that player becomes the new pirate.

ONE-ON-ONE SOCCER
Even in our postage stamp sized garden, we just simply play a game of one-on-one soccer. We place the ball in the middle of the backyard to start. The players then have to try and kick the ball to their goal area to score a point. We take turns, and tag-team to play each other.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment; I’d love to hear from you. If you are new here, you might like to receive updates direct to your email. We have many fun ideas to share.

The post Healthy Kids: Soccer Activities For Kids by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

This afternoon, I caught up with another school Mum as we were picking up our children after school. We talked about the school holidays that had been, less than a week ago. She had a wonderful school holiday. They went away camping and she did nothing – she didn’t even bring a book to read. Every now and then her children would run by her. They did what they wanted to, and she went along with it.

Upon reflection, I think I had that sort of school holiday too. We didn’t go away camping, (still yet to pluck up the courage and convince hubby) – but I would wake up late, (that’s 8am for us parents, right?), and I would have a chat with the kids about stuff to do during the day. The kids had more control over their days during the school holidays. 

Here is what I have learnt about including children in making plans for the day – when you give kids choice and ownership over their own learning, chances are they will be highly motivated, very engaged and well behaved. That’s not to say I let them run wild with making decisions. I’m still the parent. I am still the responsible one, (so no… we can’t go and explore the tide pools because there are high waves today, and I’m pretty sure we’ll get swept away, thank you very much). 

During our school holidays, we played, we gardened, we cooked, we went out and met with friends, we rested.

The planner in me still plans for particular learning experiences, but I allow my kids to move away from them based on their interests. I then plan based on my observations of their interests and skills. 

Play Based Learning

Play-based learning is often associated with being child-led; i.e. the power of play revolves around the child, using the the environment or context they are in and the resources available to them. However, the way adults intervene, (or knows when not to intervene) in children’s play, is a crucial factor in play-based learning.

Like any aspect of teaching and parenting, adults move fluidly between the roles of manager, facilitator and player as they engage with children to help them develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes.

As parents and teachers, here are five things to consider, as we move between manager, facilitator and player on that play-based learning stage:

{ONE} Let them choose.

They choose who to work with. They choose the resources they make use of in their play. They choose the location of their play. Children learn best when they are motivated and part of their motivation comes from being in more control of their own learning and following areas of enquiry in which they are interested.

{TWO} Let them be creative.

Foster creative learners by allowing them the time, resources and space to undertake possibility thinking and re-frame their perspectives. This isn’t so much about us teaching in creative ways, this is about letting them think outside the box.

{THREE} Let them be curious.

Children are mini-scientists, who discover the world about them through an enquiry-driven interaction. They become researchers as they collect and interpret information. Let them choose what they want to investigate and present.

{FOUR} Let them take risks.

Let them choose which problems to work on and how to work on their chosen problems. Let them plan and collaborate with others. Encourage them to be resilient and persevere in their problem solving. Let them come up with solutions and recommendations.

{FIVE} Let them connect with others.

Children are social learners. A key part of being a social learner is the communication between those playing, whether that is adult to child or child to child. Let them try out their ideas in a safe and secure environment while learning the rules of a range of different forms of communication including talk, body language and turn taking. E.g. we share our ideas and listen to one another; we talk one at a time; we respect each other’s opinions; we give reasons to explain our ideas; if we disagree we they to ask why?; we always try to be kind and loving.

Every child learns through play. Play matters and there are so many ways to play and learn.

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