Physical Labor Day

This week we were inundated with back-to-school activities – picnics, ice cream socials, drop-in days, etc. Watching my girls play at the picnics it became glaringly obvious that we live in a very girly world. My kids don’t even have bats and gloves and when we play with balls it tends to be to line them up in a row and make a wall for our castle. I do exercise with the kids pretty much daily but we tend to run or bike, and right now Abby is in gymnastics and Bree takes ballet (and swimming at school). My husband sees sports knowledge as his domain so he decided that on Labor Day weekend he wanted to have some Daddy time to teach the girls some sports.

In addition to learning sports so the kids can make Daddy look good at the picnics, sports are important for the physical, mental, and psychological development of toddlers. Physically, learning sports will help improve their reflexes, keep them fit, help develop their bones and muscles. Mentally, the concentration required by sports will help increase the kids’ attention span and give them a sense of accomplishment. Psychologically, physical activity reduces anxiety in toddlers. All of these benefits can be achieved even if the kids aren’t yet playing competitive sports.

The core gross motor skills that my husband and I thought the kids should learn to play sports with balls are:

o Throwing forward to a specific target with multiple types of balls

o Kicking forward to a specific target

o Shooting a ball with 2 hands

My husband taught the girls how to shoot the basketball

by dunking…

and shooting from further away…

He also worked with them on throwing a football. It took a while for them to get the hang of it, but they did.

Both girls liked to get the football and run, so we had lots of chases and a little touch football game going. However, we quickly learned that stripping the ball was a serious offensive and threatened to end the game (aka caused a tantrum of epic proportions).

We also played soccer, working on dribbling, passing, and shooting.

There is nothing like spending a long weekend in the fresh air.

<3 Pedigreed Housewife

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