Activity Plan

Students Name: Caitlin Ashberry

Date of Activity: July 7, 2016

Type of Activity: Gross Motor

Age Group: Toddlers

Number of Children: 3-10

Because I have noticed this about the childrens behaviour, interests and skills:
I have noticed that the children are interested in balloons and are building their gross
motor skills.
I will do the following to support/interest/challenge them:
Overview: we will be playing with balloons suspended on strings.
Preparation: I will blow up 10 small balloons so there is one for each child should they
all want to participate and tie them to long strings. I will suspend these from the cord
that runs between the play house and the fence at different heights from just above the
childrens heads to at their waist level.
Beginning: I dont expect it will take more than the appearance of balloons to interest
the children but if it doesnt, I will sing, Ive got a lovely bunch of balloons hanging in a
row to the tune of that song about coconuts while pushing the balloons around so they
swing back and forth.
Middle: I will encourage children to reach for higher balloons and to see what happens
when they push or hit the balloons. I will label colours, You pushed the green balloon!
to foster vocabulary.
End: The activity will be free-flow rather than having a set time for finishing. Children
can pass through once or stay in that area and play for longer.
Possible follow-up activities:
1. Piata
2. Throwing balloons
3. Balloons in water either in the indoor or outdoor water table
Inclusion:
By hanging balloons from different heights, children at different levels of physical
development/size will be able to reach them and make them move.
This is what happened:
(to be completed after implementation of the activity and handed in to the Placement
Facilitator for feedback)
Beginning: During outdoor play I blew up a few balloons and started stringing them up
on the support ropes for the shade tarp. A few children came to watch and Child T who

had a balloon from an activity indoors held his up so that I could tie it up with the others.
Once his balloon was hanging a few other children held out theirs to be hung up as well.
Middle: At first he children werent quite sure what to do with the balloons on strings.
Some of them pulled them, others pushed on them. Child N had offered her balloon to
be hung up and she decided she wanted it back so I untied it. Once she had her balloon
back in hand, the other children wanted to have individual ownership of the balloons. It
took the children a little while to figure out what to do with the strings on the balloons as
theyd usually played with balloons on their own but they managed to figure it out. Child
T dragged his balloon around even when he got on the riding toys. Child C held hers by
the string when the wind picked up so the balloon flapped it the air. Child N collected up
every abandoned balloon until she had a collection trailing along behind her as she
walked around with them around the outdoor play area.
End: At the end of our outdoor play time, I tied the balloons back up so that the junior
group that was coming out after us could use them as well. The children were more
interested and more comfortable with playing with the suspended balloons this second
time around but we were out of time to use the outdoor space.
Aspects of childrens development and learning that were supported/challenged:
P- The gross motor skills of reaching and pushing were used in the first part but I think
the children actually got more gross motor out of running and playing with the balloons
once they were taken down.
Cll This activity didnt prioritize too much communication but the children were able to
use their words to express ownership of the balloons such as by saying Mine and
there were moments of receptive language as well such as following simple instructions
like, No balloons in the sandbox.
C- The children were able to explore cause and effect in seeing how the balloons would
react to different kinds of treatment.
E- The children had a sense of ownership and enjoyment in using a familiar object in a
new way
S- The children were able to engage in parallel play and observing their peers to see
what other people were doing with the balloons.
This is what I learned:
a)

About myself as a teacher: I am sometimes unsure of how much to push the top
down education side of teaching with toddlers. Should I have spent more time
modeling colour vocabulary? I think I am starting to get better at letting the children
lead the activity. They wanted the balloons on the ground and I think that letting them
follow that desire actually led to more gross motor activity because they added
running and riding into the activity as well.

b)

About teaching: I think this activity went very well. I am so used to more formal
teaching set ups where I have curriculum based goals to meet that learning to let the
goal of the activity be, The children use a variety of gross motor abilities is an
adjustment. I also found this activity fun and it was really good to be able to enjoy
something with the children.

c)

About children: This activity was a good reminder that for toddlers especially,
novelty takes time to adjust to and they need time with a new material or new set up
to figure out how to use it and how to be comfortable with it.

Placement Facilitators feedback and suggestions for further growth:

Placement Facilitators/Observers signature:

_______________________________________

Date: ______________