Physical activities allow children to expend excess energy, teach body awareness, develop gross motor skills, and spatial orientation. Organized in larger groups, they teach cooperation and adherence to established rules. Physical activities become more attractive by using props. Additionally, well-thought-out and planned activities can be an excellent introduction to educational lessons. Below are examples of physical activities using educational wheels:
Games for younger preschoolers (3, 4 years old):
- It's not a wheel but…
The child and parent come up with uses for the educational wheels. They start with the words, 'It's not a wheel but…' and demonstrate their use through movement. Examples: raft – the child sits on the wheel and imitates rowing; steering wheel – drives around the room. - What is this?
The child holds an educational wheel in their hands. They think of a use for it, e.g., a plate, and show it through movement. Other participants guess the answer. - Sequences
We arrange a sequence of educational wheels, e.g., red-green-red-green. The child's task is to complete it. Then we add more colors. - Traffic lights
Together with the child, we set up a model of traffic lights from educational wheels. We explain the meaning of each color. Then we draw the lights on paper. We can also play a movement game 'Traffic Lights'. The child holds an educational wheel – it's their steering wheel. The leader has two wheels– green and red, which serve as traffic lights. When the green wheel is raised, the child 'drives' around the room, making engine sounds. When the red disc is raised, the child stops.
Games for older preschoolers (5,6 years old):
- Global reading
We prepare cards with printed color names (red, green, yellow, blue). We show the child the inscription along with the block in the appropriate color, loudly naming its color. Each time, we give the child a moment to remember and associate the inscription with the color and sound. Then we spread the inscriptions on the floor. We give the child educational wheels and ask them to place them on the appropriate plaque. - More, less
We lay out several educational wheels in different colors. We ask the child to indicate which there are the most of, and which the least. Then we ask them to add blocks so that there are the same number of wheels in each color. - Competitions
We prepare small cards with inscriptions like 'vehicle', 'animal', 'plant'. The child draws one of them. Their task is to arrange the drawn object.
For a larger number of children: We organize a competition. For each construction, the child receives from 1 to 3 points. Example scoring: consistency with the theme – 1 point, creativity – 1 point, the number of blocks used – 1 point. We record the results. The person with the most points wins.
- Numbers, letters, shapes
The child, along with a parent or friends, arranges the indicated or chosen letters, numbers, or geometric shapes from educational wheels. - Listen carefully
We give the child four educational wheels, each in a different color. Then we read them a story. Each time they hear a certain color, e.g., yellow, they raise the wheel of the appropriate color.
Example story:
Far, far away somewhere in the world, there was once a strange land. Colors: yellow, red, green, and blue had swapped places.
There were yellow trees, yellow grass, yellow forget-me-nots…
There were also red turtles, red peacocks, red crocodiles…
All raspberries, cherries, and pears were blue…
But the water, snow, and even the rain falling from the sky was… green!
The inhabitants decided to remedy this. They took up brushes and paints. They painted for a whole month. But all in vain. The grass was yellow again, the crocodiles red, and the pears blue.
Pedagogue Klaudia Sokołowska-Baryś for Marioinex Education
You can find our educational wheels HERE
