Diary Of A Footytot - Wk 3

I WOKE up this morning, naturally.  When I say naturally, I mean without the aid of an alarm clock or a three-year-old child jumping on my head. It's a rare thing, almost as rare as the hairy nosed wombat. 

The welcomed lie in may have been down to James' over exertion the day before but I think it was more likely down to seasonal change.  These dark mornings make you want to build a nest, curl up and go back to sleep. Unfortunately life and commitments don't allow the luxury of such lethargy.

I wish I was a hedgehog, hibernation is a really good idea.

Todays theme at Footytotz, hibernation.

The Training games

 Build a bed
The kids are put into teams.

In the centre of the room is a large circular shape with different coloured objects inside.  Each object represents food for each animal ie. Red shapes are nuts, blue shapes are water.

Hoops are placed in each corner of the room and each one signifies an animal's bed, the red hoop is the squirrel's bed and so on.

The children are told to run into the centre, collect a coloured shape and return it to the correct animal, so the red shaped (nuts) goes to the red hoop (squirrels).

Once the children have completed this task, they then have to repeat the process, only this time dribbling the ball to the centre, collecting the shape and dribbling the ball back.

Storing food
An assault course is set up. Each child is told to choose an animal they'd like to be. They then have to complete the course, through the bushes (under an arch) collect some food (a coloured object), run over the wobbly bridge (two wave shaped platforms) jump over the hedges (series of hoops lying on the ground) crawl through the rabbit warren (tunnel) and put the correct food to the animal eg the red object to the squirrels (red hoop).

This is then repeated whilst dribbling the ball.

Be animals
Two assault courses are set up alongside each other.  The children are selected in pairs to complete the course. They  crawl through the the bushes (archway), run over the bridge (wave shaped platform) jump over the hedge (a hoop) and kick the ball into the goal.

Because the class has remained interesting, the kids have grown in enthusiasm as the weeks have passed.  Their enthusiasm is infectious and spreads to the parents too.

Todays class promoted the value of team work, something my three-year-old usually avoids at all cost.  It's a lesson well learnt.

If today's training has taught me anything, its that hibernating is a lot more physically exhausting than I'd thought.  Think I'll stick with the occasional lie in instead.