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Skill Focus
- Axial Stability
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Equipment
- No Equipment Required
- Music
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Group Type
- Individual
- Small/Large Group
- Special Needs
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Activity Type
- Turning
- Spinning
- Game
- Musical
- Morning Circle
- Warm Up
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Environment
- Indoors
- Outdoors
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Space Allocation
- Extra Small Space
- Small Space
- Large Space
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Special Needs
- Able-Bodied
- Physically Challenged
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Physical Benefits
- Balance
- Body Awareness
- Gross Motor Skills
- Motor Planning
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Key Language
- Space
- Turn
- Hand
- Floor
- Spinning
- Easy
- Hard
- Slow
- Fast
Beginners Incorporate pretend play. The turn on the knees with the arms out can be a helicopter preparing for take off, spinning on the bottom could be a spinning top, Turing on the tummy can be superman turning circles.
Intermediate Have the children give ideas on ways to turn.
Advanced Have the children rate both directions when doing each turn.
Special Needs Follow the above suggestions and apply turns that best suit the level of ability.
Ask the children to find a space in the room.
Ask for ideas on how they can turn with their bodies while keeping a part of the body in contact with the ground.
Some ideas could be: Turning on the knees. Turn around one hand on the floor. Turning while sitting. Spinning on one foot.
Encourage the children to think of as many different ways to turn as possible.
Have the children demonstrate their suggestions.
Have all the children try each turn a few times.
Emphasize which turns are easy or hard, slow or fast.
This activity can also be done using music. A different way of turning can be done every time the music plays and when the music is paused a new way of turning can be suggested.
Ensure that there is enough space between the children. Some turns will need more space than others.
Do the turns that may make the children dizzy only once or twice.
Vestibular-Cerebellum Stimulation of the neural networks in the cerebellum (balance center in the brain).
Proprioception Stimulation of muscle and joint receptors responsible for body and spatial awareness.
Motor Planning and Strategic Thinking Slowing down the body to plan the best strategy to carry out the activity.
Differentiation Conscious control over the parts of the body required to produce the desired movement without the movement of the other limbs interfering with the planned movement.