s.m.a.r.t. spaces
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Build better brains while playing in the park! Parks offer a wide range of opportunities that stimulate our sensory systems and encourage gross motor movements. Here are some playground activities that the brain loves:
These sensations help both systems mature and build our body awareness. Body awareness is the ability to understand where we are in space and how to move about through it. Having a good understanding of body awareness will help your child be able to sit comfortably while learning, stay focused on the lesson, and move about in a more coordinated way. PS: They are gaining the ability to sit still during dinner too!  Slides! Slides give us great sensory input in the form of vestibular stimulation too. When we slide down, we feel that sense of acceleration. This fast sensation promotes the maturity of the vestibular system, allowing us to have a greater sense of control of our body.
This grip builds the foundation for holding a pencil properly, which means moving across the monkey bars is helping your child with writing skills!
So the next time you find yourself playing in the park with your children, know that you are making your child a S.M.A.R.T. child! Want more information? Check out the article "M is for Monkey Bars" written by child development expert Gill Connell.
Have you incorporated a theme into S.M.A.R.T. yet this year? Themes do not have to take a lot of prep! Keep it CORE and choose just a few activities to add in a thematic component. Let’s do one together as an example. If you are using the PreK CORE guide, open up to page 110-111. Here is the Bugs, Bugs, Bugs theme. This will be a fun one for the students this time of year. Let’s say we choose a Slap Track suggestion, a Pencil Roll idea, and a Tactile Tracker. For the Slap Track, I am going to download these faded flower print cards (spring_flowers_creep_track_cards) to add a little variety and write some rhyming words on them. We have been working on long vowels so I am going to write the words bee, tree, see on them in an ABC pattern.
Next, I am going to add a bunch of paper worms to the Pencil Roll area for them to roll over. Here is a download you can use to save some time (worms.pdf). I am going to distribute them at a morning work station and have my student cut them out. Fine motor practice meets prep time!
Finally, I like the idea of the bees flying to the hive for a fun Tactile Trackers. Head over to the Time Saving Tips section of this newsletter to download a copy of this Tactile Tracker! Reference: |
AuthorSCheryl Smythe Archives
January 2026
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