LARGE MUSCLE & MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES:

Follow the Amazon River:

1. Children help create an obstacle course with tape, chairs, tunnels, slides, etc. which will become the Amazon River. Make sure there is a clear beginning and ending point of the trip. Children can make tickets if they want to make it more fun and social.
2. Children gather different props to view along their canoe trip: toy elephants grazing, tigers, hippos, snakes, birds, and alligators as they follow the river.
3. Children must then follow the river's path.
4. To make it even more fun, put out some props that would not seen in the rainforest and have children tell you at circle time if there were things that did not belong: great for teaching concept of exclusion and categorization. Frequently children with special needs need help in this area and it also supports humor and absurdities.

Baby Gorilla:

1. Demonstrate how a baby gorilla is carried on the mother's back.
2. Give each child a stuffed animal and have them crawl around on hands and knees trying to keep their animal on their back.
3. They must be very steady and careful to protect their baby.

   This is great large muscle activity for children who have poor impulse control, low muscle tone, and motor planning difficulties.

Orange Orangutan:

1. Children pretend that they are orangutans and swing from vine to vine.
2. They move around the room swinging their arms and pretend to go from vine to vine.
3. When tired, they pretend to bend down to a branch and pull off leaves to eat.
4. Now lay down to rest!

Great Big Elephant:

1. The class pretends that they are a herd of elephants.
2. The oldest elephant leads the herd, so a child is chosen to be the oldest elephant.
3. Give each child a straw to be the trunk and have children move around the room holding the straw with two hands out in front pretending it is the elephant's trunk.
4. Elephants say hello by touching trunks. So when children come near each other they can touch straws to say hi.
5. Elephants make different sounds: trumpet, scream, grunt, rumble, and even purr. Have children make different sounds as they move around the room.

Heavy Hippo:

1. The hippo is a huge, heavy animal with tiny eyes, and a huge mouth. Have children use their arms to be the hippo's mouth.
2. Hippos spend most of their day in water. The water protects their skin from the hot sun. Begin walking on hands and knees toward the Amazon River. Crawl slowly on the river bottom because the hippo is heavy and take deep breaths to stay under water.
3. Come out of river then roll in mud to cool off.
4. Now you are hungry, so go and eat some crunchy grass. When you are full, lay down and take a hippo nap.