Leaping into Leap Year!

Leap Day Gross Motor Kindergarten Lesson Plans
Photo ©2007 Jesse Gardner, Flickr

How do you celebrate Leap Year in the classroom? Since it only comes around every four years, we thought it might be fun to incorporate several special activities into your lesson plans next Wednesday! Here's an idea that we know your kinders will be able to get on board with...

Celebrate Leap Day {and help your kiddos get some of their wiggles out} with a variety of fun leaping/hopping activities... 

  • Have leaping contests! Set tape measures up in the hallway or gym and invite your kinders to take turns leaping as far and as high as they can! Provide recording sheets for students to write in their distance/height on each try so they can see their best jump, if they improved with each try, etc.
  • Have hopping contests! Tape lily pad cutouts around the classroom floor and invite students to hop along the 'path' - on one foot - for as long as they can. You could also simply have them hop in place.
  • Set up an obstacle course or relay type race that students must hop like a frog to complete.
  • Discuss all of the animals that leap/hop - frogs, kangaroos, rabbits, fleas, etc. - and pretend to be each animal.
  • And, of course, you can always play leap frog!

These are just a few of the ways you can incorporate leaping and hopping into your Leap Day celebration!

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