Magic Scarves

I love playing games with scarves with the kids. Everyone has an old scarf in the cupboard, if not you can buy a scrap of this sheer colourful material from spotlight for about 50 cents. Make each scarf around 20 x 50cm as it makes it manageable for the little ones to twirl and move with. Below I have put up some of my favourite activities I like to do with Magic Scarves. Magic Scarves offer the opportunity to develop fine/gross motor skills, dexterity, language development and movement skills.

•Toss scarves up in the air and then run under them and catch them. If they have difficulty getting the scarves to "float and flutter," toss the scarves up for them and let them catch them as they float down.

•Hoops and scarves can be combined as children dance inside the hoop with it lying on the ground and spin and twirl to lively music.

•Tie a "scarf ball," leaving some of the scarf ends loose so children can catch the ball by the dangling ends and throw it through a hoop hanging from the ceiling or from a low branch outside.

•Throw individual scarves into hoops placed on the floor or ground. Since scarves don't "go straight," children will develop unique ways of getting the scarves to land inside the hoops.

•Stand at the outside edge of the parachute and throw their scarves as far in toward the centre of the parachute as possible.

•Juggling with Scarves – Preschool-age children can develop pre-juggling skills that help to improve concentration, eye-hand coordination, tracking (a pre-reading skill), fine motor skills, and they get a cardio-vascular work-out too. Start by learning to toss and catch one scarf. Then, as coordination develops (which may take a long time) progress to 2 and 3 scarves.

• Scarf Toy Trampoline – Have 2 or more people hold the corners of a scarf and bounce a toy up and down in the middle of it, like a trampoline.

•Use an instrumental track to create free movement activities with scarves as well as direction following activities. Give children directions using prepositions of up, down, to the side, under etc.