Gross motor development
Toddlers move their arms while pretending to fly like a bird.
Be Prepared: Determine the boundaries of an open area for toddlers to pretend they are flying like birds. Clear the space of obstacles. Offer the activity outdoors if possible.
Invite 3–4 toddlers to join you to pretend to fly like a bird. Encourage each toddler to sit on a carpet square.
Open the session by explaining that we often see birds when we go outside. Show the picture of a bird sitting on grass. Encourage toddlers to talk about birds they see near their homes or your center. Point out that the birds we see may not look like the bird in the 
picture. There are many different kinds of birds.
Explain that birds have two wings and they use their wings to fly. Show the picture of a bird in flight. Point to the bird’s wings. Also explain that birds build nests to live in. Show the picture of a bird in a nest.
Invite toddlers to point to one of their 
arms. Explain that we can use our arms to pretend we are flying like a bird. Stand up to demonstrate with your arms how a bird uses both of his/her wings to fly. Move your arms up and down, as if flapping your wings, and hold them out straight, as if coasting or coming in for a landing. You may wish to demonstrate in a stationary position or while moving around slightly.
We can pretend to fly around part of our room. Then we will come back to our nest. We can pretend our carpet square is our nest. Demonstrate coming back to your nest by pretending to fly a small distance from your carpet square and then returning. Emphasize you are coming back to your pretend nest.
Point out the space boundaries for flying. Then lead toddlers in pretending to fly. Encourage toddlers to move in the same direction. It is not necessary to move arms in a uniform manner. Remind toddlers that we can pretend to fly by moving our arms up and down. We can also pretend to fly by holding our arms out straight. After several moments of pretend flying, announce it is time to come back to our nests. Lead toddlers to their nests. Repeat flying and coming back if time and toddler interest permit. Conclude the session by reminding toddlers that we pretended our arms were the wings of a bird. Describe how toddlers moved their arms.
Most toddlers will readily use both arms for the activity and will likely imitate your motions and maintain proximity to you. Some toddlers may begin to make flapping motions as soon as you introduce the idea of pretending to be birds.
Maintaining the boundaries of the flying space and coming back to the pretend nest upon request support self-regulation skills in a playful manner. The two-part activity of flying and then coming back to a carpet square supports cognitive awareness of sequences. Some toddlers will be able to follow the activity structure and some toddlers may need reminders and repeated experiences.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
Toddlers practice moving their arms to swing a colorful streamer in different ways.
Be Prepared: To make one streamer, cut five lengths of crepe paper of different colors, eight inches long. Put the five pieces of paper together by twisting them about two inches from an end. Wrap the twisted end with one piece of masking tape. Immediately prior to the activity, put carpet squares in your activity space with enough distance between each for toddlers to swing their arms to their sides without touching anyone.
[Gently swing a streamer to your side as you invite 3–4 toddlers to each stand on a carpet square for fun in swinging a streamer.]
[Display a streamer.]
This is called a streamer. It is made with a special kind of paper. Look at the different colors in this streamer. It is fun to swing a streamer and look at its different colors.
We swing a streamer with our arm. Let’s practice swinging our arms. We can swing one arm at a time. We put our arm out to our side and then move it from front to back.
Demonstrate swinging your arm on your side, from front to back. Then lead toddlers in swinging one arm and then their other arm at the side of their body.]
[Give each toddler a streamer.]
Let’s have fun with our streamers! Let’s swing our streamer by moving our arm at the side of our body. Remember, we move our arm to the front and then to the back.
[Lead toddlers in swinging their streamer on their side, from front to back. Emphasize we use one hand to hold our streamer and we move our arm.
Then encourage toddlers to try one or more contrasting ways to swing the streamer as suggested below:
Briefly demonstrate each motion. Draw attention to moving your streamer from one hand to your other hand by describing your actions and using slightly exaggerated movements. Encourage toddlers to briefly stop swinging between each contrast. Example: Other hand. Stop. Slower, faster. Stop. Higher, lower.
Acknowledge toddlers’ actions. Example: “Tiana, now your streamer is in your other hand. Roberto, you are trying your other hand, too.”]
[Describe what happened. Emphasize how we moved our arm in different ways to swing the streamer. Encourage toddlers to tell what it was like to change hands or swing the streamer in different ways.]
It may be challenging for some toddlers to briefly stop moving their streamer between the suggested contrasting ways to move their arms. Offer gentle reminders and draw attention to how you stopped moving your streamer. The brief pauses can help toddlers think about and transition to a different set of arm movements. The pause supports the cognitive part of body control and awareness in this fun activity. Practice in swinging an arm supports movements in underhand throwing of a ball that toddlers may pursue during preschool or school-age years.
Some toddlers may not follow requested arm movements and may not move their streamer to their other hand. It is important to be flexible and supportive of each toddler’s actions with a streamer. Hand preference is not well established at this age. Also, it is not necessary to teach the concepts of right and left at this age.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
Toddlers practice moving both of their arms to swing two colorful scarves in different ways.
Be Prepared: Put carpet squares in your activity space with enough distance between each for toddlers to swing scarves without touching anyone.
Gently swing a scarf as you invite 3–4 toddlers to each stand on a carpet square for fun in swinging colorful scarves. Put down your scarf after toddlers are on their squares. Invite toddlers to stand tall and try to copy what you do, as suggested below:
Enthusiastically acknowledge toddlers’ efforts to copy your actions. Explain that we can have fun moving two scarves with our arms. We will have one scarf in each of our hands.
Give each toddler two scarves. Lead toddlers in trying the following ways to swing their scarves:
Encourage toddlers to stop moving their arm(s) briefly between each different movement.
Conclude the session by recognizing each toddler’s efforts with the scarves. You may wish to clap.
This activity extends the supports for body control and awareness offered in Options 1 and 2. The activity’s use of two scarves with concurrent movement of both arms is more challenging than the Option 2 focus on the movement of one arm at a time.
As noted in Option 2, the brief pause after each arm movement can help toddlers think about and transition to a different movement. This is a valuable cognitive part of motor actions. If toddlers find it challenging to briefly stop moving their scarf, offer gentle reminders and draw attention to how you stopped moving your scarf. It also may be helpful to slow the pace of the activity.
At this age, it is unnecessary to introduce the concepts of left and right.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: art smocks, foam brushes, card stock, craft glue for toddlers, crepe paper streamers from Option 3, chubby vehicles
Provide chubby vehicles on a low table to encourage arm movements. Toddlers may enjoy driving the vehicles with one hand or the other hand.
Leave several crepe paper streamers (Option 3) in a basket next to a mirror. Encourage toddlers to watch their arms swing forward and back.
The use of crepe paper for the Option 2 streamers may prompt some toddlers’ interests in working with craft glue and crepe paper. Cover a low table with paper and provide art smocks. Put a small amount of craft glue in a small cup and provide one small foam brush for each toddler. Demonstrate how to paint glue onto paper and press torn crepe paper bits on the glue for a small collage. Toddlers will see color transfer from the crepe paper into the glue. Consider leaving the materials out so toddlers can return for continued exploration.
Materials Needed: streamers
Younger toddlers may enjoy simply shaking a streamer while older toddlers participate in Option 2.
Preschool-age children may enjoy using the streamer to draw a pretend circle or line in the air. Encourage children to consider making up-and-down lines, side-to-side lines, and going around and around.
Older children may enjoy moving the streamer as a rainbow writer. Possibilities you might suggest include: making a square, a circle, a figure eight, and the first letter of their name.
Children may enjoy hearing you sing “I Can Sing a Rainbow.” You can become familiar with the song at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website: https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/sing-a-rainbow/index.htm.
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