Val Sabin Action Kids Compendium:

Action Kids Compendium comprises of Action Kids 121 and Action Kids 162 Parachute Games.

Action Kids Training

Read about Action Kids Training

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Action Kids 121

Physical Development with Fun Activities for your child or small groups of 2 and 3 year olds. By Val Sabin

This manual contains 121 activities specially designed for one-to-one physical development activity interaction between a parent or other adult and child.

Parents attending Action Kids Clubs with their children have often referred to continuing the physical fun activities at home and this manual has many ideas for parents, carers, childminders, grandparents, uncles, aunts and indeed any other adult looking after a child or a small group of younger pre-school children.

PIAGET, the famous psychologist and biologist highlighted the importance of sensory-motor intelligence developed in infancy through motor-skill development and integration.

Movement

There is now greater recognition that movement is essential to learning and is the foundation for a child’s later ability to abstract, generalise and analyse the surrounding world, communicate with others and develop emotionally in a stable way.

Research studies show a strong link between regular physical movement and exercise using all the senses for children and their build up of learning strategies and patterns for later successful academic achievement.

The physical development activities can also progress emotional awareness, cognitive development and social skills.

A sensitive approach by a parent or other adult using the ACTION KIDS 121 activities promotes the development of locomotor skills, manipulative skills, physical fitness, co-ordination and balance in enjoyable ways for the child.

Additionally, there are many opportunities for children to increase their abilities to listen, concentrate, comprehend, focus and experience feelings of success and achievement as they improve their physical capabilities and fitness.

User Friendly

This comprehensive and user friendly manual and library of physical development with fun activities has been specially designed for pre-school children at home, in playgroups or in nurseries. Containing 121 activities or groups of activities which are suitable for individuals, pairs or small groups it is accompanied by 28 pieces of original music on a CD.

There is extensive guidance and the detailed activities are progressively arranged in each section in an easy-to-apply framework. Therefore, it is easy to organise and plan programmes of activities for different groups and preparation time is cut to a minimum. Thus greater precision and clarity in long, medium and short term planning is possible.

There is information for guidance on differentiation, co-ordination and balance, mobility, spatial awareness, manipulative and aiming skills, outdoor and indoor resources, equipment and safety.

The activities are grouped into sections on:-

Copying and Role-Play; Words and Actions; Clapping; Moving and Stopping; Moving on Different Body Parts; Using Tools; Using a Ball; Balancing and Steering; Using Small Equipment; Large Apparatus; Shapes; Wiggling and Wriggling; Moods, Emotions’and Rhythms; Matching, Grouping, Sorting and Filling, Parachute play; Quiet.

Alphabet-related images also run throughout the publication. There are water, sand and table-top activities as well as opportunities for carpet area, indoor and outdoor play. The ELGs for Physical Development and links to all other areas can be addressed and assessment recording sheets are included.

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Action Kids 162 Parachute Games

162 Parachute games for young children. By Val Sabin

Parachute games possess characteristics which are both similar to and distinct from any other area of physical activity or physical education. Not only do they develop and combine both social and co-operative aspects in the games but also they allow children to experience the sheer exhilaration of coming together to bring the parachute to life.

Parachute

A parachute cannot successfully be manipulated by only one, two or three children. It is the joint co-operation of a group which creates successful exciting and exhilarating results.

Another aspect of these activities which make them distinctive is the involvement and requirement of a major piece of equipment – a parachute silk.

These can be obtained in different sizes according to need i.e. the number of children in the group and the size of the room or space to be used. If funding is a problem however, it is important to recognise that a sari silk can be used to great advantage in a small group, or several saris can be crossed in the centre to form a “circle” for a larger group.

You will find examples of stories, action songs, role play, music etc which involve children moving with the parachute, going under it and on top of it and using small equipment and toys etc with it. The number of activities which can be delivered for parachute games are limited only by the imagination!

There are obviously a limited number of basic structures involved in parachute games. However these can be used in a huge variety of contexts to add interest and fun, e.g. activities can be:-

• the mastering of basic actions or structures
• produced in different orders accompanied by story or rhyme
• accompanied or guided by pieces of music
• put into different imaginative situations
• put into co-operative or competitive games
• used with small pieces of equipment
• involved in using and developing core skills such as counting, language, colour, shape, knowledge of the world etc
• put into everyday situations e.g. baking a cake!

At their heart, all parachute games are sensory. They involve touching the parachute silk, moving beneath it or over it, lying beneath the canopy and watching it rise and fall above them or even being lifted in it or wrapped up like a birthday present!

For children these will be new and exciting sensations, and working together can create unforgettable experiences and a great deal of fun!

It is always important for the practitioner to enter into the spirit of games and activities with the children, however, in parachute games it is essential. The practitioner, plus any other adults present will need to spread around the parachute and grasp it and the games with both hands! It is a time to throw off inhibitions and enjoy the game.