Career Day at Elementary School

My son has the privilege of being in a kindergarten class with ample parent help.  We have six room parents.  No joke.  It is wonderful.  Room parties look like a Pinterest board, the teacher has help with testing, sight words, small groups, you name it.  From time to time, the teacher sends out a sign up for additional classroom help and I cannot seem to open the email fast enough to get a shot at volunteering in the room.

Until Career Day.

Adam’s teacher asked for one parent to come in each day and teach the class about his or her career.  I was thrilled.  While I wear many hats at the gym, I chose to teach my favorite subject: coaching gymnastics.

I went over the basics of my job, asked if they knew other coaches, and then started the fun part: gymnastics!

So how do you teach gymnastics to 19 children in a school setting?  Let’s get creative!

“Let’s tiptoe slow, here we go, tip toe, tip toe, tip toe…” (Buy it here)

Then, I had set up four sets of circuits, enough to keep all 19 kids moving, but not enough to cause chaos.  I need gymnastics that was for anyone, anywhere.

Here are some ideas of gymnastics stations that can be recreated at home.

• Potato Head – works fine motor and grip strength
• Fishing – tie a string with an object at the other end, roll the bar until the string wraps around the bar and the object comes to the top
• Hopscotch – mix it up and jump apart together, one foot two foot, or hurdle to the farthest number
• Cartwheel mat – don’t have one at home? Use the back side of a yoga mat and draw line line, circle circle, line line (or foot foot, hand hand, foot foot)
• Backward roll – I used an incline, but try a more basic drill, a flap jack. Kids can lay on their backs on the couch and slide their head and hands to the carpet, then pull their toes over to stand
• Balance beam – use a piece of tape, make a web, a heart, or other shape and try to balance on it
• Balance board – use a pillow and try to balance on one foot

We had a blast and I hope you do, too!

And let’s not forget the Crazy Tiptoe Song!