Preschool Olympics

This week for preschool my theme was exercise. Despite how crazy all my kids were today, they really loved what we did, so I thought I'd share. Today was "Preschool Olympics" Day. We started out with Show and Tell. I had each of the kids bring an object that was related to exercise or a sport and they presented it. Then we talked about the importance of exercise, different ways to exercise, and what to do when you get tired from exercising. Then we had a discussion about the Olympics. After we got the boring stuff out of the way, I turned on the Veggie Tales song, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" and we stretched our bodies (the kids thought this song was hilarious!). Then we headed to the craft table to make flags. We colored an American Flag and an Olympic Flag, then we marched through the house and outside chanting, "USA! USA! USA!" It was pretty funny, the kids REALLY got into it. (Hmmm...wonder what the neighbors thought?!) Once outside I lined the kids up and did these exercises with them:

1. Jump Over the River - Kids jump over a sidewalk chalk drawn river, and if they "fall in" they have to "swim" to the shore.
2. Run/Swim Race - The kids started at one end of the sidewalk and ran until they reached the "River" (the one drawn with chalk), where they had to swim through it. Then they continued racing to a determined landmark (in our instance today, the green trash can), and then they raced back.
3. Wall Push-Ups - Kids stand an arms length away from a wall with their feet together and their hands against the wall. They then do "push ups" against the wall pressing their noses to the wall each time.
   
4. Jumping Jacks - I actually had to give them a jumping jacks lesson. So I told them to jump into the letter x (very appropriate, since I also had to teach letter x today), and then jump back and be as straight as a pencil.
5. Hopscotch
6. Catch the Bubbles - I just blew bubbles in the backyard and had them run around and "catch" them.
7. Football Throw - I taught them the correct way to throw a football, they were amazingly good at it!
8. Jumping Beans - I had the kids stand in a line and bounce a few times and then jump as high as they could.
9. Turtle Balance - I placed a stuffed turtle (you could use anything soft - a stuffed animal, a bean bag, etc.) on top of the kids heads and then had them walk on their tippy toes in a straight line. First with one hand holding the turtle. Then with no hands. And finally with no hands and with their eyes closed.

When the kids were all worn out, we marched back inside and had a medal ceremony. I presented them each with a cookie wrapped in foil that said "Winner" across it and ribbon glued to it so they could wear it around their necks. They LOVED their "medals." It was a fun day, and a super easy preschool lesson to do!

Sorry I was way too busy playing coach/referee/cheerleader to take any pictures. But I wish I had because they were so cute!