Click here to read Walk the Line Activity & Blowing Pom Poms on Hands On As We Grow®
You’ll have an afternoon of active fun, all with just a few quick lines of colored tape on the floor! This walk the line activity works on balancing, new fun movements, and sets up a challenge for your kids to enjoy together!
You’ll never guess how much gross motor fun your kids will have with just simple lines of colored tape!
I finally got some colored tape (affiliate link)! I didn’t even have plans for it, but I felt the need to have it for some fun tape activities!
And boy, did we ever have fun walking the line. All with just simple lines of colored tape, too!
Walk the Line Activity is Just Simple Lines of Colored Tape!
Honestly, even I was amazed at just how into these activities my boys got. The best part? Setup was practically non-existent!
To create your own walk the line colored tape activity, you’ll need:
- Colored tape in different colors (ideally, if you only have one color, that’s fine too)
- Pom poms
- Straws
- Space to play
First, I taped some fun lines on the floor in three different colors and different ‘shapes’: a blue zig-zag line, a red curvy line, and one straight green line.
We ended up with two tape activities with this one setup of colored tape.
- Walk the line of colored tape.
- Blow pom poms along the coordinating color line.
- What other activity can you have them walk the line to do? We added learning to this walk the line zig-zag alphabet Christmas tree. You could do something similar.
I forgot to snag a ton of pictures of our original go-round with our lines of tape activity. But it was a hit!
So much so that we recently redid this activity again with my preschooler, George.
Below are the latest images of George doing the tape activities mixed in with Henry doing the line activities a couple of years ago.
Henry was 3 at the time when we first did this. George is 4 when we did it again with the new photos below.
Activity to Walk the Lines of Colored Tape
Simple: just walk along the lines of tape. One foot in front of each other.
Following one of the colored lines.
You could pick for your child – like follow the leader or “Simon Says” – or let them go around as they please.
The straight line is pretty easy. It’s straight after all!
But the curved and zig-zag lines are harder. Kids will need to work on balance to stay on their color.
Make it harder by doing it backwards, or even sideways!
You could “challenge” toys to walk the lines of colored tape, too! Drive trucks or “walk” animal toys along the lines.
Add an extra challenge to your next walk the line activity – balance and transfer toys!
Kids love to have their special toys involved in their play and learning!
What other ways could you walk the line?
- Cross the midline type of activity. Where you step across the line, with the opposite foot on one side of the line, and back and forth.
- Draw it in sidewalk chalk along the sidewalk and tried skipping along the line.
- Have two different types of lines (A zig zag and a curvy line for instance) that were close enough together that the left foot had to be on the zig zag and the right foot followed the curvy line at the same time.
- Add obstacles to the line of tape to hop over when your child reaches them.
Whatever you do, these types of movements help small children increase their body awareness, and improves their gross motor control and coordination.
These are all practical life activities to learn, but remember the purpose of the activity it all about the fun! And maybe to release some extra energy the kids may have.
Leave out the lines of tape for fun to happen for a couple of days!
You could also try something not so energetic, that has a little more fine motor color…
Blow Pom Poms Along the Lines of Colored Tape
After the walk the line activity, this next line activity works on motor planning, color matching, and breath control. Plus, it’s just plain fun while still being kind of hard for younger kids.
Ask your kids to blow pom poms along the lines, matching the pom pom color to the lines of tape.
Can your child hit the bullseye with pom pom target practice!
Blow the pom poms down the line with a straw. You could forgo the straw, but they make it really fun!
Set out a group of pom poms in various colors. Then ask your child to pick out the pom pom that matches their color line.
Or not – your call!
Then, set the challenge.
“Try your best keeping the pom pom on the line all the way to the end.”
A little insight, it may help to add a basket to the end of the line as a ‘goal’ point for them to aim for, but we didn’t think of that until later.
Older kids might respond to a penalty.
Sometimes, having something, anything happen when they don’t quite finish the challenge motivates them to keep going or try harder.
One “penalty” idea: start over at the beginning of the line each time your pom pom goes off.
Or you could just have them start back at the last place their pom pom was on the line.
Another ‘penalty’ for going off the line could be to mix the two lines of tape activities together, and have your child walk the line before they can the pom pom and start again.
It’s really harder than you think! Join them!
As you blow your pom poms along the line of colored tape, ask:
- Does it work better if you are closer or farther away?
- Do short, hard breaths work better than longer, slower breaths?
- Which line is hardest? Which is easiest?
- Does it work better to try to blow the pom pom short distances or longer?
Have pom pom races! I shared a pom pom racing activity over on PBS Parents using this same technique.
Ultimately: laugh. Joining in the fun will definitely make you laugh and make your kids’ day!
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