I work with 11 two year olds

Options
farrellb2
farrellb2 Posts: 120
in Health and Weight Loss
so I work with about 11 two year olds a every day for 4 hours. At the daycare I work at we have just recently started the "COLOR ME HEALTHY" program,- which is where they are trying to get us workers and the children to eat more colorful foods and get them to move more....so I was thinking maybe I could ask you guys for advice, anyone got advice for me? I'll take advice from ANYONE-parents, child care providers, babysitters, etc.

We like playing the game Simon Says- which they love and I love and yes I participate in it- if I say Simon Says jump for the sky I jump for the sky with them...Any other games to get me and my 11 crazy two year olds active?

Replies

  • kfitz10103
    kfitz10103 Posts: 354
    Options
    Head shoulders knees and toes? Also I do stretching with my two year old. You can make it kind of funny and help them learn their body parts. Ring around the rosy? Even dancing to songs would be fun. The good old macarena or even a zumba like dance routine that you can maybe find a kids workout video. How about the musical chairs, but use the same number of chairs as their are children?
  • VitaLeta
    VitaLeta Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    Go old school... When working with kids, I've found that some of the don't know the games we played as kids! Simple stuff, Red Light, Green Light... Hot Potato... all the silly games we've long forgotten. A lot of kids aren't ever even being taught!

    Now the kids I've worked with have been much younger, but they enjoyed kids yoga and stuff like that. There's some great yoga books out there that teach kids to do the poses by relating them to animals. Makes it really fun for them.


    Edit: hehe.... I miss read this at first... I saw 2- 11 year olds... :)

    2 Year olds would love any thing with music! I've used the Color Me Healthy curriculum before, if I remember correctly there are like imagination games, where they pretend to go on a camping trip or things like that. My preschool class loved that!
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    Duck Duck GOOSE!
  • snoopie212
    snoopie212 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    Yoga! There's some great dvds, and it can really help to calm the kids down. they're not great at it, but it's pretty fun and it will help with flexibility. you can also play kick the can - get a punch of cans and have a bean bag that the kids toss, or a bowling set. running, walking, "nature hike" around the building.
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    Two words.

    Hokey. Pokey.
  • See_Jenn_Run
    See_Jenn_Run Posts: 67
    Options
    I think dancing is a great idea for two-year-olds! My nephews and nieces are around that age and could dance for hours if you can keep up!
  • PlanetVelma
    PlanetVelma Posts: 1,231 Member
    Options
    How about "I'm a little tea pot"? I used to do that with both of my kids and they loved it. It's not a lot of moving around, but simple enough for 2 year olds. :)

    You could also do ring around the rosey, red light/green light, hopscotch, red rover...the possibilities are endless!
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
    Options
    I've worked in child care in the past, mostly under age 5.

    Why not play active games, like hide and seek, practice kicking around a soccer ball with them (you can shoot into a goal or just practice passing the ball between you), Monkey in the Middle, jump rope (you can make a game out of it by seeing who can jump the most times without stopping), etc. Good luck!
  • dsak
    dsak Posts: 367 Member
    Options
    Do you get time outside every day? If so... maybe a mini Olympics.... with something different every day.... running races.... jumping/hopping... kicking the ball.... my 2 year old loves to do all those things. She also loves to jump and dance and sing, so maybe incorporate some music/dancing time into the day.

    As far as healthy snacks.... at 2 they are learning colors, so... have a different color every day... and ask them to wear that color... and have a healthy snack that color as well. So... Monday can be orange day.... orange slices for snacks, and the kids can wear orange..... green one day... and have green grapes.....etc....
  • sociable15
    sociable15 Posts: 98
    Options
    My nephew lives with me and he turns 3 at the end of the month. He loves to race. Just race. lol. I know some places have "bike day" where they will close off like a section of the parking lot. Also, dancing and "getting the sillies out" is a good one he likes at daycare.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Options
    Obstacle courses (under the rope strung between two chairs, over the pile of mats, have to go from this spot to this spot on hands and knees, from this spot to this spot hopping on one leg).

    Skipping race

    I don't know if there's a name for this one but I remember someone had a radio and they'd play music. Everyone would dance until the music was turned off and at that point, everyone would freeze. Anyone who lost their balance was "out".

    Musical chairs

    Jump rope

    Hopscotch

    Teach them how to do somersaults

    Egg toss but just use balls instead of eggs, as soon as the ball is dropped, that team is "out"
  • hbrekkaas
    hbrekkaas Posts: 268 Member
    Options
    i agree with going old school! Hokie Pokie (sp?), Simon Says, Duck Duck Goose, musical Chairs, tag!

    There is a website: www.gameskidsplay.net. It has tons of games listed if you need more ideas.
  • farrellb2
    farrellb2 Posts: 120
    Options
    My main problem is a very small room! I can't do much in our toddler I room. With 11 kids its hard to get them all to kick the ball into a net without all of them doing it once...and it really sucks that we can't go outside much because of the heat and Our Gym that we usually use when we can't go outside has been off limits because of no air conditioning in there

    We love the hokey pokey, red light, green light( when there's like 5 of them left), we're working on head, shoulders, knees, and toes, some of them dont know them dont know where a certain body part is yet, so they get frustrated really fast. And we love the "getting the sillies out" we do it everyday after our two o'clock diapering...lol we have this CD with all the nursery rhymes but in a hiphop beat

Categories