Groundhog Day happens on February 2nd each year. Being a Minnesota resident, I can safely assume, that we will, most definitely have winter for 6 more weeks each year. That being said, it’s still a fun day to celebrate. Today we are going to talk about Groundhog Day motor skills including, Gross Motor Activities, Groundhog Day Fine Motor Activities and visual perceptual activities for Groundhog Day!
Groundhog Day Gross Motor Activities
Let’s start with gross motor activities. On Groundhog Day, the groundhog comes out of his hole to see if he will see his shadow. This makes shadow games the perfect option to celebrate on this day.
Use the Shadow Cards and Printables to create stops where your kiddos will imitate the shadows on the printable or task card. This can be done inside or head outside and look at your actual shadow while trying out this game! Read all out the shadow game for Groundhog Day in the full blog post!
Another great option to use these cards and printables is within an obstacle course. Create your traditional obstacle course using hurdles, beams, balance challenges etc. Within the course add the printables as a stop. When your kiddos arrive at the stop, they must imitate the shadow!
Groundhog Day No-Prep Gross Motor Games
Are you looking for no-prep Groundhog Day Gross Motor Activities? Well, we’ve got those for you as well. We have several games that not only can be printed, but can also be played in a digital manner eliminating any need to prep.
Let’s start with the Groundhog Day Gross Motor Friend Game. In this game you will meet your groundhog friend. Your friend will introduce themselves and ask you to imitate the shadow.
This game can be played on a computer, tablet or interactive whiteboard. It is available to play in PowerPoint, Google Slides or even right in the PDF file. If you wish to print the game and use it as printables, that works too!
Sticking with the theme of shadows, we have a couple more gross motor games that involve shadows that go perfect for Groundhog Day. The first being the Ocean Animal Midline Crossing Shadow Game. In this game each activity not only incorporates a gross motor component, but also a visual discrimination and midline crossing component!
How about an animal shadow game? This game again has a gross motor and visual discrimination component. The shadow portion makes it another great no-prep Groundhog Day activity!
Groundhog Day Gross Motor + Fine Motor Activity
Another fantastic idea for Groundhog Day that would be great as a group activity or a session where OT and PT work together is the shadow game.
How to Play
In this activity you would take two different figurines, for example, a Barbie Doll and a toy dinosaur. You could do this with an individual child or in partners.
You would take a look at their shadows, outside would be ideal, but you could create shadows inside with flashlights as well.
You would place a white piece of paper, under the shadow, so you can see the shadow on the paper.
Next you would copy the shadow. This would involve fine motor skills as well as gross motor skills such as squatting, standing, sidestepping and more.
You can discuss the differences between the two shadows such as which was more difficult to draw, which one is larger, which one is your favorite etc.
Groundhog Day Fine Motor Activities
Let’s talk about some fun fine motor ideas. An easy way to start off is with labeling the groundhog! This activity works on fine motor skills and handwriting.
Another cute Groundhog Day activity is the Groundhog Day Cut and Trace Activity. In this activity you are helping the groundhog find his way up through his hole for his special day!
Tip: If you are choosing to trace, I suggest laminating the sheet and using dry erase markers, this way you can use the sheet over and over again.
Groundhog Visual Perceptual Activities
How about we add a few visual discrimination activities to our collection of Groundhog ideas! Let’s go back to shadows again since they are a big part of Groundhog Day. The Visual Closure Activity Pack has several different shadow based activities that are perfect for groundhog day!
