The Captain’s Corner – Game On!
1 August, 2023
Sports and reading might seem like opposite activities, but over at StoryCaptain, we actually think they make for a great combination. Exploring sports through books can help deepen your little one’s understanding of how different sports work, bring home important lessons like teamwork, and reinforce how joyful it is to be physically active. And with so many sports to try, we were really excited to unpack this theme with you in this month’s box.
This theme pairs particularly well with some real-life activities that we curated for you too! Here are a few of our favorites along with helpful tips and visual aids to ensure success with your little one.
Learning through Play
Bring this month’s theme to life with these activities from our WobbleCaptain and CuriousCaptain club activity guides. We had a lot of fun practicing them with our little ones!
Medals Ceremony (WobbleCaptain)
Supplies: Paper plates, markers/crayons or other decorating supplies, scissors/ hole punch, ribbon or string, stuffed animals (optional)
Steps:
- Give your child three paper plates and have them decorate each plate. (We used stamps, paint, and nail polish)
- Cut/punch a small hole at the top of each plate and attach a ribbon/string to make a medal strap.
- Arrange the stuffed animals in a row or circle and let your child present medals to each stuffed animal in a fun awards ceremony.
Tips for engagement: Consider giving the ceremony a theme, such as “Animal Olympics” or “Superhero Awards” and choose with your child what sport or activity they won for. If your child is older, they could even act out the competition with the animals.
Base Running (WobbleCaptain)
Supplies: Toys, pillows, or other markers to create bases, and stuffed animals (for younger children)
Steps:
- Set up the base course. Place soft toys, pillows, or markers in a circular pattern to represent the bases (first, second, third, and home plate).
- Introduce the activity to your child- you likely will need to act it out yourself. It took us a number of attempts for our daughter to understand the game.
- Guide them around the bases, narrating a pretend game, and cheer them on.
- For younger children, carry them around the course or use a stuffed animal to act out the game.
Tips for Engagement: For children who seem to understand the idea of running around the bases, introduce additional baseball elements. For instance, add a ball element and have the child throw the ball while standing at home plate prior to running the bases or encourage them to run as fast as they can by timing them.
