5 Top Tips for Kinesthetic Learners and kiddos who have the wiggles!

Here is a picture of my little 5 year old, Collin, he is definatly a wiggler and a kinesthetic learner. This is how he likes to stand when we go over flash cards and when he watches TV! OK so I know that there is a difference between being a kinesthetic learner and a wiggler but if you take a minute to think about it the activities you plan for your kinesthetic learners will also help the wigglers get their wiggles out. WIN! WIN! I have had great success in my classroom using the following techniques, most not costing me anything! 1. Take a shake break (you tube has several great 1-2 minute videos for the kiddos to shake to!) 2. Use clipboards to write instead of sitting at the table, this way the kiddos can spread out on the floor and get comfy. I find their work is much better when they get comfy. 3. Use songs with motions to teach, there are many songs out there for everything under the sun like days of the week, months of the year, ABC's and numbers. 4.Seek and finds: hide numbers and letters around the room that you want the kiddos to find, have them march, jump, gallop and crawl to find what they are looking for. 5. Invest in a few mats with different sensory feelings and rotate the mats each day so the children have a different feel to sit on: not only does this help keep kiddos in their place but also helps those wigglers by putting something they can touch with thwir hands while you are teaching. This is also great for those little sensory kiddos who are trying so hard to "desensitize." These are my top five tips. Do you have any special routines or activities you use with success? I would love to compile a list of tried and true techniques to share with new teachers. Please leave a comment and follow my blog and TpT store for upcoming posts and educational ideas. Till next time, Christine