Tumbling Tykes: Day 15

Today’s class was all about focusing on the exercise at hand and doing it right. To warm up Ms. Mo had the class run two laps around the room. I love watching Isabel run, it’s so great to watch. She gets her little arms pumping like they are helping her push her feet forward as she moves. So humorous, I giggle every time!

After warming up they worked their way around the room doing each exercise with guidance from Ms. Mo…

Working on the cart wheel mat. Isabel loves to do cart wheels!

The goal of the trampoline was to jump with arms out (Isabel is not doing it here!) and then jump off the trampoline (without stopping) into the dismount position.

After the trampoline they straddled a pad and then did a slalom run through the cones without touching them. Isabel did great on this, I think she was the only one that actually ran through them all after Ms. Mo let them do it on their own.

After the slalom, they did a “cat crawl” through the tube. A “cat crawl” is keeping your knees up while crawling through it quickly.

I love this photo!

The exercise here was to keep your feet together while jumping over the cones. Ms. Mo said this was going to be a bit harder since these cones are slightly larger then the normal (slalom) cones that they use.

 

Finally get a shot of her straddling the pad. Her arms are droopy  and we’ve been working on that at home.

After working on the different exercises, the class met in the middle and did a few mat exercises with Ms. Mo.

Here Isabel is getting help doing the rock-and-roll.

The tree exercise.

She got a “cat walk” stamp today and exercises to do at home for the week ahead… until next week!

Tumbling Tykes: Day 14

I was visiting with one of the other mom’s during tumbling today so didn’t get many photos or hear what the whole class was about. But this is what I do know…

To get the class warmed up Ms. Mo had them all work on their yoga-type moves.
Above Isabel is doing the airplane… beautifully!

Rock-and-roll.

Candlestick.

Forget the name of this move… but Isabel looks to be putting her hiney down!
Which is a no-no!

Today’s class was all about balance beam work. On this beam they had to walk backward and then dismount. Above Isabel is getting help with her arms, she tends to get saggy-arms as she goes along doing her balance beam work. On some of the other beams, Ms. Mo had them doing different things like the ice-cream scoop.

Tumbling Tykes: Day 13

Ms. Mo has really been working with the kids to get them to stand up from a forward roll. Today was more obstacle course work and practice with the forward roll.

To get the class warmed up, Ms. Mo had them do a series of jumping exercises… jump the stick, jump the step, jump the hoops.

Isabel came back through the course; they had a few close calls (collisions with each other!!) since the kids thought they were supposed to go back the way they came instead of just running back to get in line!

Jumping over the step. Ms. Mo was also gaining knowledge as she watched each of the kids to see which foot is the most dominate.

Ms. Mo working with Isabel on the forward roll. Ms. Mo used several “aides” (steps, wedge, mat, and Ms. Mo) to help them get to stand up. No one actual stood up today.

Isabel coming down the mat from her forward roll.

After practicing the forward roll with Ms. Mo they were told to work their way around the room again, just as in past classes. Today the exercises were:
monkey roll, balance beam work with ice cream scoop, jumping the step (just like in the warm up), jumping the hoops (just like in the warm up), cart wheel practice, forward roll practice w/out help, and then forward roll w/help and “aides” (steps, wedge, mat, and Ms. Mo).

Ms. Mo hasn’t handed out certificates the last several classes so it was great to get one today! The scent for today was LEMON!

Tumbling Tykes: Day 12

It was hard to take photos today, the kids were moving around so much and Ms. Mo wanted to keep them moving and keep that heart a pumping!

They started their warm-up with a run and jump over Ms. Mo’s stick. They were supposed to run and jump in one fluid motion, most of them could do this but most lost their balance on the down side of the jump. Isabel did a good job; a few times she would lose her balance and stumble a bit. After jumping the stick, Ms. Mo had them jump on the trampoline. The object here was to bounce and then jump off the tramp without stopping and keeping upright. A lot of hesitation about bouncing/jumping off instead of stopping but they all did a great job! Most of them fell over after landing but you can see improvement! After jumping on the trampoline the kids moved around the room doing different exercises like…

1. doing the “star” jump off the dismount stairs and landing in the dismount position
2. hopping through rings
(this was a new activity and the kids didn’t seem to understand at first)
3. slalom cones or jumping cones
(they could pick which exercise they wanted to do here)
4. balance boards.
5. hand-eye coordination boards
(Isabel was able to catch the ball on both boards!)
6. hula-hoop hopping (another new activity but they got this one!)
7. individual work with Ms. Mo on the mat
(here they were practicing the forward roll; Isabel is very close to doing a forward roll and then standing up! – Ms. Mo told me after class)

“Star” jump off the dismount stairs into dismount position.

Hopping through the “new” rings. Like the tires football players hop through.

Slalom cones; Isabel chose to hop over instead of zig-zag each time.

Balance board work; she didn’t balance today.

Ms. Mo gave them a new exercise to practice at home… and I can’t remember the name of it, I do remember how to do it! She also wants forward roll practice, she mentioned that by next class she wants to see them standing up on their own without help!

 

Tumbling Tykes: Day 11

Today’s class started out with a warm up to get those little hearts a pumping and get those muscles ready for a workout! Afterward, Ms. Mo surprised them with playing with the parachute first instead of last!

Ms. Mo had them walk around in a circle and then they ran around holding the parachute… a whole lot of giggling going on!

Listening to Ms. Mo explain how to go under the parachute without hitting heads in the process… more giggling!

Squeals of delight were heard when the frog went flipping into the air!
I think this is their favorite thing to do!

The class also learned two new exercises; the tuck jump (no photos) off the dismount stairs and then learning how to do a backward flip.

Area’s of exercise were:
1. Tuck jump off the dismount stairs (a forward jump while grabbing your shins (quickly!)) before landing on your feet into dismount position
2. Balance beam work with ice cream scoops
3. Forward rolls without help (practice getting those legs up and over on their own!)
4. Cartwheel practice
5.Log roll and then finally the
6. Backward flip practice

Again different areas to work in while working on the different exercises that they have learned throughout class. Above, Isabel is working on the balance beam with “ice cream scoops“.

Each one of the kids whizzed through the exercises before heading back to Ms. Mo for the backward flip practice. Most of them not really caring about getting the exercise right, Isabel seemed to be in a hurry as well but at least tried to get the exercise done correctly before heading over to work on her backward flips again. I think with the class size growing it’s getting harder for Ms. Mo to watch and work on areas of improvement with each child like she used to before. However, she still is a great teacher and Isabel has really enjoyed the class and practices at home like she supposed to.

Working with Ms. Mo on her backward flip!

Ms. Mo calls the position of of their hands “pizza hands“.

Getting her legs kicked over is going to take a lot of “core” strength but I know she can do it. Good job, Girly!

 

Tumbling Tykes: Day 10

Today’s tumbling class went by really fast and I ended up with not very many photos.

Warming up before the real fun begins!

Ms. Mo showing the class how to do the Chicken Limbo!

Isabel was the line leader today so she got to try the Chicken Limbo first.

Today they jumped off backwards off the dismount stairs. The focus was to see how they dismounted with arms out, chin up, hiney out.

Balance beam work… toe, heel, toe, heel…

The BEST photo that I got!!!!…
Isabel actually balancing on the balance board! WAY TO GO!
(BTW… just like Kate, Isabel was holding the wall as well, until I went over and told her what she was to do… and she did it!)

After class I wanted to get a few photos of Isabel doing her other activities that I couldn’t get during class for various reasons…

Above she is working on eye-hand coordination.
The class threw bean bags into buckets while standing/kneeling behind the cones.

I had wanted to get a good shot of her doing the Chicken Limbo but this was the best that I got.

Ms. Mo gave out homework this week, along with our own “balance beam”…
1. airplane arms
2. toe/heel toe/heel toe/heel
3. look straight ahead
4. chin up (we need to work on this one!)
5. nice dismount (superman arms, knees bent, hiney out and chin up!)
Practice – Practice – Practice – Please!

Tumbling Tykes: Day 9

I found it a little odd that they would schedule a tumbling class during Spring Break. However since we were in town, we decided not to miss a day of tumbling! Enjoy!
BTW… I was using my pocket camera and some of the photos look terrible!

After warming up the class, Ms. Mo took the class around the room to show them each exercise that was to be practiced today. Afterward, the class was given “free time” to practice each exercise on their own, while Ms. Mo helped those that needed help on the forward roll with the cylinder.

After doing this with Ms. Mo, Isabel seemed to get better with balance and keeping her feet heel-to-toe.

Forward roll practice. Ms. Mo says she uses the cylinder pad to make sure the kids are tucking theirs chins down all the way when doing the forward roll.

Forward roll on the cone mat. Isabel was doing great on this! The object is to get each child to go down the cone and be able to stand up after the forward roll.

Hand-eye-coordination. Two boards were place on the ground with a stuffed animal on one end. Each child was to jump with both feet or one foot (depending on the board) on each board and were to catch the stuffed animal as it flew up in the air. Isabel was able to catch the first animal but wasn’t able to catch the second animal.

Next to the hand-eye-coordination boards were placed three balance boards. Each one with a taller and taller amount of board to balance on. Above Isabel is trying to balance on the smallest balance board.

The tallest balance board was the hardest to balance on but Isabel tried! The middle balance board, she said her shoes kept sliding off.
(Note to self: wear different shoes next week!)

Next week they will again practice on the balance boards and with the hand-eye-coordination boards and Ms. Mo is bringing her parachute again! What fun!