Let's go to the zoo!

I returned to work last week, with Term 1 of Kindergym at the gymnastics club.

One good thing about this job, I don't have work in the school holidays. I do know what teachers go through now though, with all the extra work and preparation that goes unnoticed.

This terms' theme I decided on was "Let's go to the zoo". Lots of amimal themed activities and locomotive movements-

• swinging on bars, like monkeys
• tip toes, reaching up tall like a giraffe on the beam
• Balancing like elephants on a piece of 'string', which will probably be a rope on the floor
• sliding like snakes
• kangaroo jumping in hoops
• leaping like frogs on felt lillipads
• galloping over jumps like horses
• feeding hungry alligators
• crawling through tunnels like a wombat
• bear, crab and spider walks
• rabbit bunny hops in hoops
• rolling down slopes like crocodiles rolling(log rolls)
• rolling down slopes like echidnas (egg rolls)
• penguin walks on double beams

We have a great gym here in Millicent, loads of fantastic equipment and space.

I do have to make a few things to go with the terms theme though, and thank goodness for google and the amazing crafters that share how to make stuff. I have found a wealth of ideas to help me.

Seahorse made out of pool noodle. I use this for an ocean theme too.

Elephants out of paper plates

Felt lilly pads for frog leaping, this was made by my predecessor who left at the end of last year.

Alligator made from a box. Beanbags for feeding. I also use this one for my Pete the Cat themed class. In the books, Pete the cat has an alligator friend who is always hungry. 

Jump over the snake

Rope ladder climbing between the parallel bars. Watch out for lions!

Weaving through cones and over jumps

I sat up last night and made some zebras to hang up. Some binoculars(not shown) from toilet rolls too, to find animals. This helps kids explore all of the gym, and maybe they might have a go on something they normally wouldn't.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Gymnast and the Base Jumper

Izzy started Tiny Tots gym this year. She is really enjoying it and doing well. It is a very good feeling watching her, and goes to show me just how much she is growing up. It goes for an hour and also gives me the opportunity to leave her, I was a bit worried about how she would react, but she was fine. It's the first time I have left her anywhere that wasn't with family. I was concerned (her second lesson) that I should have taken her to the toilet before I left. It was in the back of my mind the whole time I was at home, and she was by herself for the first time. Would she say to the instructor that she had to go? She knew where to go. I tried to shove the worries out of my head, telling myself she was going to be fine, and she was.

I stayed for the first lesson. I had Summer with me, it wasn't much fun. For me or for Summer. It is the same gymnastics club we have Kindergym every week. All she wanted to do was to run around onto the sprung floor, play on the trampoline, it was a nightmare keeping her distracted. She gets so excited when we get to the door of the hall, she loves Kindergym.

Our kids will go through their lives with many different tags at the end of their names. At the moment Izzys is Gymnast. While Summers is a bit more adventurous. Summer - Evel Knieval or Summer - base jumper. For the way she stands on the seat of the plastic motorbike or when Izzy pulls the bean bag up to the lounge and it's all giggles as they jump from the lounge into the bean bag. Running and climbing straight back up there and doing it again. 

That kid is fearless, the way she steps off the lounge(or the coffee table) into the bean bag is enough to give her nanna a heart attack(if she saw it)! It's great to see them playing and laughing happily.