How To DIY Your Own Noun or Verb Gross Motor Game

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Help your child sort out the differences between nouns and verbs with a super fun noun or verb gross motor game from Alisha!

Have you ever played the game Red Light, Green Light before? I used to play it all the time as a kid and now love sharing this classic with my own children!

How To DIY Your Own Noun or Verb Gross Motor Game

Use the idea behind Red Light, Green Light to help your child understand the difference between nouns and verbs.

But don’t worry, even if you haven’t played Red Light, Green Light before, you’ll catch on quickly to this gross motor learning game.

Make kindergarten learning extra fun with these easy game!

To play the noun or verb gross motor game, you’ll need:

• Note cards or pieces of paper
• Marker
• Optional: a strip of tape

I love that this DIY gross motor game has super simple prep! All you need to do is write some nouns and verbs on your note cards or pieces of paper.

First, create your cards! I chose to write four nouns and four verbs, eight cards total, but you can write as many as you’d like.

Remember: Nouns are words that are people, places, or things. Verbs which are action words.

It can help to keep your nouns and verbs really basic and super clear. Pick verbs that are easy to act out and choose nouns that are very obviously people, places, or things.

The number of nouns and verbs doesn’t have to be even either. It’s totally up to you and you can always add more cards or take some away as needed.

Then choose whether to play the game inside or outside and designate a starting line. I chose to put down a strip of blue painter’s tape outside, but any starting point will work just fine.

Try this easy gross motor activity with just five lines of tape.

Get Outside and Play Your Noun or Verb Gross Motor Game

The rules are simple.

Kids stand behind the starting line and the person saying the words stands a good distance away. The person saying the words is the finish line.

Set the kids up at the start line, waiting for that first word to be called.

Call out the first word.

If the word is a noun, the kids should call out “noun.” But they don’t move a muscle!

For example, if I called out “boat,” my kids would stay put.

If the word is a verb, then the kids say “verb.”  Then, the kids should do that action to move forward.

I called out “crawl,” so my kids began crawling toward me.

If the next word called out is a noun, your kids should shout “noun” and then stop moving. But if you call a verb word, they should switch actions after yelling “verb.”

I called out the word “cow.” My kids stopped crawling, stood up, and said, “noun.”

Then I called out “jump.” Since it was a verb, they began jumping toward me.

Keep playing until the kids reach the finish line (the person calling out the words).

We had such a great time playing this game together! After we finished our first game, we hugged it out and jumped right back in for round two!

If you want to make the game longer, change from verbs to nouns more quickly or add in more nouns. For a shorter game, have them act out the verbs for a longer period of time so that they move toward you faster.

Have more fun moving and learning with a sight word bean bag toss!

Adapt Your Gross Motor Game for More Learning Fun

If your kids are old enough and well-versed in nouns and verbs, switch roles and have a child be the caller. The adult should play along saying noun or verb and moving.

If you have younger kids, you could have them just do the actions instead of calling out “noun” or “verb.”

To extend the learning, you could also practice sorting the note cards into noun groups and verb groups. Sorting is a great tool for learning!

What are some other learning games you recommend? Share your best ideas in the comments!

from Hands On As We Grow® http://bit.ly/2FcE6qf