Leaping just seems like something we should all do in the spring. I recently put together a movement activity that explores the different types of leaps that animals make. I am calling it Animals That Leap or Counting Leaps. The Counting Leap activity involves more that just moving like each animal. Children are asked to predict how many of each type of leap they can do between two traffic cones. Then they are asked to find out how many leaps of each type that they actually did. The worksheets for Kindergartners Counting Leaps I created were fun and easy to use.
Here is how we played Counting Leaps:
Two traffic cones were spread out on our lawn. A table for recording the number of leaps estimated and completed was set up near by. A beanbag was tossed onto the worksheet displaying the different types of animals to determine which animal leap to try. We could have done them in the order they appeared on the Counting Animal Leaps Chart, but I wanted to give the kids some control of the activity.
Deciding just how to leap to make each animal leap unique was a challenge. Adding animal noises to a particular leap seemed to help at my house. Although it would be totally possible to leap silently if it helped remember the number of leaps being done.
We did this activity with the next door neighbors. I think having someone else to look at as they try to leap as a particular animal helped the next person in line figure out what they wanted to do. No one really tried to copy they other one, but if they had it would have been okay with me.
Finding out if they had gotten close to their estimate was almost as much fun as the actual leaping. We found that as they moved from one leap to the next that they got better at estimating. I also found that they started making their movements larger or smaller if it looked like they were not going to match or get close to there estimate. (They were very creative with their math.)
Indoors or Outside
We did this activity outside on a pretty spring day. It could totally have been moved into the house if the weather had turned wet and rainy. If you are a classroom teacher, this could totally be done in an open space in your classroom or the hallway.
Here is the link to the Counting Leaps worksheet:
Counting Leaps (This set has been updated. The animals featured on the page has changed.)
If you are looking for more Outdoor Fun activities you may want to try my Outdoor Fun Pinterest board.
That looks so fun! Pretending to be different animals is practically a pastime in our house, what a fun way to make it an active game!
This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling – because moms come up with creative, FUN ways to teach. If they’re moving & it’s fun, they are no doubt going to remember what they’ve learned. Beats textbooks and cramming for a test any day. 🙂 Thanks for the cool idea, I’ll have to try it with my daughter.