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We waited quite a long while before purchasing a trampoline (affiliate link). My kids wanted one for such a long time, but I was hesitant because of the safety issues.
My kids get hurt walking down a carpeted hallway – so the thought of them bouncing on a trampoline? Kind of frightening for this Mama. But, long story short, after many promises of using it safely and properly, we did get one – and the fun trampoline games that have taken place since are incredible!
Even more incredible? One year in and no injuries.
Almost all of my favourite fun trampoline games for kids involve sidewalk chalk. Chalk shows up so nicely on a black trampoline and washes away gorgeously too. The first rainfall gives you a blank canvas again.
On this particular day I decided to write both letters and numbers.
I wrote the alphabet, in a random order, around the outside of the trampoline. Next, I wrote the numbers 1 – 10 in a small circle in the middle of the trampoline.
Find many other gross motor activities like this.
The ideas for how to play trampoline games like this are endless. But here are a few ways we played on this day:
Jump from Letter to Letter
I let Sam just jump. It is so neat to see how simply adding letters and numbers to a space makes learning those numbers and letters so natural.
Sam was jumping the numbers in order, he was asking me if I thought he could do a big enough jump to get from “A” to “R”, he was simply saying the letters as he happened to land on them. Awesome.
Call Out Letters As You Jump on Them
I asked Sam if he could call out all the letter names as he jumped around the trampoline.
Once he succeeded, I asked if he could do the same thing, but say the letter sounds.
Find the Letter And…
I called out a letter and he ran to jump on it as fast as he could. I would make it tricky by giving him a job to do when he got there, “find the letter “S” and jump on it 4 times”.
I would make it even trickier by giving him a few letters in a row to find, “find the letter “S” and jump on it 4 times, then find the letter “R” and jump on it twice”
Jump & Spell Your Name in Order
I had Sam practice spelling his name by jumping on the letters in order.
Counting & Skip Counting Numbers
After awhile we moved to the numbers.
He counted them, and then skip counted them by jumping over numbers.
He counted them backwards.
Memory of a Sequence
I would call out super tricky combinations for him to remember and jump, “Jump on 3, 7, T, R”
No trampoline? Try painter’s tape like we did here.
The games just kept coming as we kept jumping.
Trampoline games like this are wonderful as they can be adjusted to whatever skill your little one is working on. If you are just introducing the letters, you could write just one great big letter in the middle of the trampoline. Little ones could learn all about that letter by walking it, jumping it, crawling it, you name it!
As a kindergarten teacher I know it is really important for little ones to be moving and exploring with their whole bodies as they learn. Using the trampoline is such a simple, versatile way to make this happen!
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