Gross Motor Activity: Scooter Slalom

There are several fun things my boys love to do at the park. They love to play tag games, blow bubbles, and roll down hills. But their most favorite thing to do is ride as fast as they can on their scooters!

This gross motor activity was a spontaneous creation one summer morning when I took the boys out to the park extra early because they were driving me extra crazy. We like to call it "Scooter Slalom," even though I suppose technically it's not a slalom course since there are no flagged gates involved. But never mind that. This scooter activity turned out to be the most fun way for the kids to practice their scooter skills. Plus, watching from the sidelines kept me sane, and that's what counts.

We didn't purposefully set out to turn a normal scooting session into a creative gross motor activity. The "slalom" naturally evolved from the boys' interests. Isn't it great when things just come together perfectly. The scooter slalom, or obstacle course–whatever you want to call it– was wonderful for challenging their coordination, balance and control skills.

And did you know that gross motor skill development is absolutely essential for fine motor activities like writing?  (Note: this post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure.)

How to Make the Scooter Course

What you need: 

• Scooters, skateboards or bikes. These are the absolute best scooters, in my humble opinion. And the opinion of everyone in our neighborhood
• Sidewalk chalk. Honestly, if you don't have outdoor chalk you need to get some right away, it is an essential summer staple!
• A paved slope (or flat–whatever ya got!)
• High energy kids

To begin:

The boys and I all drew a variety of shapes and lines on the path with sidewalk chalk. The object was for the boys to use the marks as an obstacle course. The boys gave each mark or shape a corresponding instruction, which could be changed each time they went through the course.

For example, my son might announce, "This time we go around all the circles" or "Now we cross through the center of the X's" or "Now scoot only on the blue lines." Primarily, the goal was to hit all the marks from start to finish, but your kids can determine their own rules. After all, my goal was to be as uninvolved as possible!!

The slalom course turned out to be more challenging than they originally thought it would be but they were up to the challenge and kept giving those gross motor skills a work out. They learned they needed to slow down at certain points in the course, or work harder to keep their balance at other points. The obstacle course really kept them busy, both creating and drawing the path (I relinquished my chalk as early as possible!) and traveling along it via their scooters.

All in all it was a pretty good morning.

More Gross Motor Skill Activities for the Park:

• Throw rocks in the pond!
• Rolling down a hill
• 10 Tag Games for kids
• Outdoor Family Games (great for backyard play, too)

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