Recommended Age: 3 years
Level of Parent Involvement: Low
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- 2 sticks (ensure the sticks to no have sharp ends if using sticks collected from nature, you may also like to use chop sticks)
- Ribbon in different colours
- Scissors
Preparation
- None (aside from sourcing the materials)
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that they will be making their own twirling ribbon to explore different ways of moving their bodies
- Bring the materials to the table
- Let the child know that in order to make the twirling ribbons they will need two sticks
- Go with the child outdoors to find 2 appropriate sticks to use
- Once you have collected the sticks go back to the table and show the child the ribbon, letting the child know that they will need to cut the ribbon into smaller pieces
- Guide where the child must cut the ribbon to ensure all of the pieces are the same length (you will need about 5-8 pieces of ribbon per twirling stick
- Once the pieces of ribbons have been cut, let the child know that you need to attach the ribbon to one end of the stick
- Tie the ribbons onto the end of the stick
- Repeat for the other stick
- Demonstrate for the child how to hold the ribbons, one in each hand and twirl them around in circular motions, you can demonstrate back and forth motions, side to side, jumping over the ribbons etc
- Invite the child to explore moving with the twirling ribbons
Variations
- Moving the twirling ribbon to different styles of music
- Playing a version of musical freeze where the child twirls and moves their ribbon whilst music is playing then when the music stops they must freeze and make their ribbon still
