Physical Development

LESSON PLAN

Spooky Skeleton Dress Up and Skeleton Says

Lesson Objectives:

Students will be able to use their fine motor skills through cutting shapes in paper.

Students will be able to follow orders in Skeleton says (Simon says) and understand the purpose of the game. These orders will include jumping up and down (hopping), balancing on one leg, doing a somersault, skipping in a circle, bending down to touch the ground.

Summary of Tasks/Actions:

1. We will set up materials for creating a skeleton doll

2. Present the project of creating your own skeleton dolls, and show an example (that we will make in advance)

   1. Child will cut out white skeleton doll from paper

   2. Glue the skeleton onto black foam

   3. Attach skeleton limbs with fasteners

   4. Write their name on the back of the skeleton

   5. Color in skeleton (if they want to)

   6. Glue on pre-made hats

3. Explain how to play skeleton simon says

4. Play Skeleton Says (with halloween music in the background)

1. Hopping in place

2. Balancing on one leg

3. Doing a somersault

4. Skipping in a circle

5. Bending down to touch the ground

Materials/Equipment:

• Black foam craft sheets (we will cut these out prior to activity)

• White paper with printed out skeletons

• Metal fasteners

• Scissors

• Colored markers

• Colorful foam accessories (for their skeletons)

Why is this activity developmentally appropriate?

This lesson acknowledges gross and fine motor development, the activities are designed to stimulate both. The children will also have to listen and understand what they are asked to do, but their creativity will also be used in the activities. We approximately know it won’t be too easy or hard because we took these activities from the 5-year-old checklist (attempted or mastered), but we also know we can’t know and expect 100%.

REFLECTION:

Quinn was 7, and Alexa and Lenox were 11. The skeleton activity was a success!! Quinn took significantly longer to color her skeleton, probably because she was younger. They all had a bone to cut out, and Quinn struggled a little bit to cut out her bone. They all called the fasteners “ gold armpits” because they associated the fastener with that part of the body. Lenox and Alexa modeled many of the steps and Quinn watched them do it first and then tried to do it herself. Quinn said she had wanted to color her skeleton all grey at first, but after watching Lenox and Alexa color their bright colors, she decided to color hers different shades of pink. This is one example of modeling and copying.

The activity took WAY longer than we anticipated, closer to an hour, rather than the 15 minutes we had planned. However, they didn’t get bored of it because we were talking and playing while we were making the skeletons. This may have been because it took a lot longer to cut out the shapes than we anticipated, and it took them (particularly Quinn) about 30 minutes to color their shapes because they wanted them to look perfect.

Quinn was much more eager to play Simon says, while Alexa and Lenox were a little bit less enthusiastic (although they were great sports). Quinn was actually the best at jumping on one leg and balancing, probably because she was more focused. When they weren’t focused, they would stop even before we said “Simon says”. She took a little bit longer to process the directions, although she thought about it visibly more hard than the older girls.

Overall, the activity went really, really well and I think all three girls had a lot of fun. It taught me a lot about time management for planning a lesson. In the future, I will consider more about how long it takes to complete specific fine motor skills, and do more preparation in advance.