Children are natural movers and are constantly moving.  It has been shown that physical activity not only improves focus, but exercise grows brain cells as well.  Active kids make better learners.  At Treehouse, the Physical Education (P.E.) program begins in the Cedar/Dogwood classrooms and progresses with the children as they grow up into the River classroom.

The toddler program focuses on gross motor skill development, balance, coordination, and core strength.  The children work on basic fundamental skills such as running, galloping, marching, tiptoeing, jumping and throwing.  They also participate in group games such as Ring Around the Rosie.

As the children progress into the preschool program, they continue to work on the same basic fundamental skills, but move from specific skills-based activities such as tightrope walk and running races to games such as Sharks vs. Minnows, Red Light, Green Light and Alphabet Freeze Dance Yoga.  These games help students develop a concept of self-space/general-space, increasing spatial awareness.  They also allow children to participate as a leader and a follower, helping them gain a sense of leadership and self confidence while demonstrate the ability to follow directions given by both adults and their peers.

This month, the preschoolers played the following fall-themed where they practiced various locomotor movements while also honing their chasing, fleeing, and dodging skills:

• Red Leaf, Red Leaf: In this game, the children perform the locomotor movement named in the poem “red leaf, red leaf falling down, red leaf, red leaf ____ around.” The children perform the movement until they hear the bell ring and then they freeze.  In the older classrooms, each child has the chance to recite the poem, choose the movement, and ring the bell.
• Escape the Pumpkin Patch: In this game, the pumpkins (students) try to escape the pumpkin patch without being caught by the scarecrow(s). If caught, pumpkins must return to the pumpkin patch.  This game has two versions, a freeze game and a tag game.
• Oogedy Boogedy Tag: This is a basic tag game where the students who are “it” tag the other students using a foam ball. Once tagged, to get back in the game, the student must perform three “oogedy boogedies:” shaking their whole body while saying “oogedy boogedy.”
• Trick-or-Treat Freeze: In this game, students pretend to be “trick-or-treaters.” The students then act out the movement they think best fits the Halloween costume named, until the teacher yells “BOO!” and all the students must run to the sidelines and listen for the announcement of the next costume.  An example of a costume stated could be, “bat,” and the students would move around the boundaries flapping their arms like bats.  In the older classrooms, each child has a chance to choose a costume and yell “BOO!”