I need a preschool science activity that involves gross motor/large muscles

Question

I need a preschool science activity that involves gross motor/large muscles

Answer 1

Hmmm...using large motor for science???! A tough one...

How about SEARCHING for CRITTERS (Bugs) Go out for a walk and see what you can see...

SPOTTING OR KEEPING?

Let the kids decide if you want to "catch" what you see or just spot what you see.  Your group may decide to just observe critters and chose to learn more about "what the critters do and how they live."

WHERE?

Try a garden, yard, park, flowerbeds, hedges, and under rocks or logs. Lift up anything on the ground and find little bug worlds "underneath".

Many bugs hide among their favorite plants. Katydids are green just like the leaves. Many moths are brown and look just like the bark on their favorite trees. Butterflies are drawn to red, orange and pink flowers and also like phlox, alyssum, verbena, and herbs such as marjoram and thyme.

Look for beetles under fallen logs or rocks.

Crickets love cracks in sidewalks and buildings.

You might find the woolly bear caterpillar crawling across a sidewalk or on plants.

Keep your eyes open for ants of all sizes---they are everywhere.

Nature walks in general are good. http://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp...

Of how about---Water and Ice Concept

Talk about water and ice --in that water is a liquid and ice is a solid.

To demonstrate this-- give each child a 1 gallon ziploc bag with crushed ice in it. Add ice cream salt..and place a smaller bag filled with kool-aid, lemonade or juice in the larger bag. Instruct the children to shake the bag.

If you play music while the children shake their bags, the drink mix will usually become ice-by the end of the song.(large motor comes in with all the shaking and moving to music)

Also any cooking and making play dough is science (anything that turns liquid into a solid is science) With stirring, mixing, and rolling--large motor would be used. http://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp...

Oh! Building is a science. Have the kids make a giant village with all the blocks, duplos, pulleys, etc.

Answer 2

Go butterfly hunting outside.  Find a way to make butterfly nets at art time.  Buy some of those glittery butterflies from dollar tree and have someone scatter them all over the playground before outside time.  Let the kids try to catch the butterflies with their nets.  It's small and large muscles plus hand eye coordination!  Talk about the lifecycle of a butterfly.  When you go in for snack/lunch provide triangles of bread, raisins, and pretzil stix so they can make an edible butterfly.  The discovery table could have something that ties into the theme.

Answer 3

I recently saw an activity similar to "Sink or Float?" (where children predict whether an item will sink or float before lobbing it into the water table) called "Will it Bounce?"

Just gather a basketball, stuffed toys, a balloon, and/or other items that will or will not bounce and chart your results.

In my experience, keeping things simple makes the activity more fun for the children.  A lot of science experiments can get pretty complicated as most three- and four-year-olds have such short attention spans and have little patience when it comes to waiting for the predicted cause and effect outcome formed in the original hypothesis!

:o)  Have fun!