Wiggling and giggling comes natural to most preschoolers. Most preschoolers have trouble being quiet and still and encouraging movement reduces the risk of becoming couch potatoes. The activities encourage you and your preschooler to enjoy your time together and may help your preschooler learn without a struggle. These activities can be addictive for you and your precious giggler.
Your child can wiggle and giggle through an obstacle course in your home or outdoors. You can construct an obstacle course using sheets, chairs, short tables, steps, toys and pool noodles. Arrange the items so he must crawl under, over, around and through various obstacle configurations. You could call out how you want him to move, such as walk like a duck or wiggle like a fish. Alternatively, call out a letter, shape or number and have him “wiggle” through an obstacle identified by that designation.
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar”
Many young children enjoy Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” The story suggests various wiggle and giggle activities you preschooler could enjoy. Wrap a sheet around your preschooler and secure it with safety pins so she can wiggle across the floor like a caterpillar. Help her act out the story using hungry caterpillar and butterfly stick puppets. Scatter pictures of the items the caterpillar ate and have her run to each food in the proper sequence.
Your preschooler can dance wiggly, giggly motions. Join him in a wiggle dance until you both fall down giggling. He might create a very wiggly dance only he knows or make a paper or cloth ribbon on a stick wiggle to the music. He might dance to music, freezing in place when the music stops. Let him draw a wiggly path with yellow chalk and dance to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.” Encourage a group of preschoolers to join hands and dance across the room like a wiggling snake or caterpillar.
Art projects with a wiggle theme could make your preschooler giggle. On a piece of paper, draw lines with a glue stick as he wiggles around the table. He can sprinkle the glitter on the glue by shaking the glitter container with wiggly motions. Alternatively, he could draw wiggly lines on a large piece of butcher paper by holding a piece of chalk in each hand and wiggling and rolling across the paper. For a third option, he could sling paint on a large piece of butcher paper and blend the colors together by dancing carefully across the paper in an old pair of socks.
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