I love fall. I am especially looking forward to the weather this year. At 8 months pregnant cool weather is much appreciated! One of my favorite activities to do with my family is go to the local pumpkin patch. My son loves to play and climb on the pumpkins. Pumpkins are the perfect them to add into gross motor play. The pumpkin relay is one fun way that gross motor can be incorporated into the fall.
Pumpkin Relay
Needed: A Pumpkin or Something Round (A Ball) – We opted for an orange ball!
- Kids get into teams of 4-5 people.
- The kids line up in their teams
- Child one starts the relay.
- He or she rolls the pumpkin or ball to one end of the room (gym, field, sidewalk etc.) picks up a pumpkin card and returns back to their team.
GET THE PUMPKIN THEMED CARDS IN THE HALLOWEEN THEMED MOVEMENT GAMES
- The child who just completed the relay tags the hand of the next student in line. Some children may participate in the relay twice in order to collect all of the pumpkin cards.
- When student has completed the relay they sit down.
- Play continues until the first team has completed the relay and all team members are seated. (Optional) The team must try to spell out the word pumpkin to win.
I also played this game with my preschool aged child as a game of one. Since it was a game of one we didn’t play as a relay, but a gross motor learning game. He would race to get the letter with the ball. He carried, kicked and walked with it between his legs. When he returned with the pumpkin letter he would identify the letter for me and go after the next. He had a lot of fun doing it! As fun as this game is relay style it can be modified!
Incorporating More Motor Skills
Other ways to play include:
- Moving the pumpkin/ball with your feet.
- Carrying the pumpkin.
- Hopping on one foot holding the pumpkin.
- Jumping with the pumpkin.
- Knee walking with the pumpkin.
- Crab walking with the pumpkin.
- Crawling and moving the pumpkin.
- Walking with the pumpkin between your legs (courtesy of my preschooler coming up with this one!)
GET THE PUMPKIN THEMED CARDS IN THE HALLOWEEN THEMED MOVEMENT GAMES
Pumpkin Themed Resources From Pink Oatmeal
Get even more pumpkin themed resources from Pink Oatmeal to work on BOTH gross motor and fine motor skills. Your kids will LOVE these and so will you! Click on the name of the resource below to see all the details!
