Movement and Muscles

So, I haven't blogged a lot about our co-op in a long time.  I may have mentioned that my boys are pretty active.  Almost six hours at Friday School this year makes for a long day with a lot of sitting.  Near the end of last year and over the summer, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what we would do to get some of the energy out in the middle of that day.  The end result was my class, Movement and Muscles.  It's based on a well established class for the littles that we call Wiggles & Giggles.  Our little ones learn to take turns and raise hands while they practice listening activities like musical chairs.  They tumble and dance, play with hoops and jump on a small trampoline, they roll on mats and hop on one foot. 

Movement and Muscles is for the older active kids at co-op.  My two boys are in and as well as a few other kids in the seven-12 age range.  I think I would have had more students, but *someone* decided to offer a Lego class the same period.  Drat!  If I would have let them, I would have lost Mal and Xav as well, but since I designed the whole class for their benefit and they can play Legos all day at home, I nixed that idea.

The class begins with a lesson about a muscle group.  It's very short, just 5-10 minutes, usually followed by an activity or two that involves using those specific muscles.  I think it's really important that they get used to recognizing what muscles are being engaged as they participate.  The remainder of the one hour class goes by quickly, as that's when we go a little crazy.

Some of our activities this year included:

• Jump ropes
• Hula hoops
• Dribbling balls with our feet around cones
• Chinese jumprope
• Exercise bands
• Mats
• ABCs of exercise (I've found a lot of these lists online)
• Beanbag games
• Threading nuts onto bolts
• Juggling

 It has been a very busy year!

Unfortunately, Mal often misses out on half of the activities.  He's really having a hard time reigning himself in for the class and not just losing all control.  And, like every class lucky enough to get both of my boys, I have to keep them separated.  They are learning that we are a team, but like most of us, some lessons are harder for them than others.

Thinking about all of the fun and goofiness we've had in this class brings a huge smile to my face.  I really appreciate the moms who have been so helpful to us and were/are so willing to participate.  Mid-year we lost Ms. Jane, who Malachi absolutely adored, but Mrs. Anderson is still jumping jacking her way through school with us and I really appreciate her help.