Motorcycle Landing Game
by site editor Rick McCharles
The first thing we teach at Gymnastics is SAFE LANDING and SAFE FALLING.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Updates from July, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Rick Mc
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Rick Mc
gymnastics road safety theme
Kit Poole is a Rec guru now retired from Scallywaggs Gymnastics in Australia.
From her blog:
… This week was great fun for all. Our theme was road transportation which included cars, buses, motorcycles and trucks.
I made roads for the children to follow simply by visiting my local discount store and purchasing black fabric VERY cheaply. Then cut it into 4m lengths by 1m wide. Finally my husband helped the painting process by making templates of rectangles out of cardboard which we laid on top of the middle of the fabric and painted in white to make the lines on the road. …
I then gave each child a red fireman’s hat, a rubber ring (as the steering wheel) and a fire hose.
We made the fire hoses from garden hose chopped into roughly 30cm lengths and got some blue feathers and glued them onto the ends to make it look like the water. ..
details on Kit’s Kindergym Treasures.
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Rick Mc
Introducing Forward Saltos to Beginners
BIGGEST chance for injury is hitting the face on the knees. I always emphasize keeping the knees wide apart:
Leave space for the face.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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Rick Mc
starting gymnastics at 6 months
GYMTRIX™ offers a series of videos for parents who want to ‘train’ their babies and toddlers at home.
A physical literacy program to help your child learn skills through fun activities on DVD!
Click PLAY or watch a CNN feature on YouTube. (2011)
That’s Doreen Bolhuis, President & CEO of Gymco Sports.
Those start at 6 months. … What do you think about that?
… Many gyms don’t start kids until 18 months.
Check out gymtrix.net for yourself.
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Rick Mc
introducing Rope climb
Inexperienced coaches ask young kids to climb too high, too soon.
Instead, challenge them with these drills. And others close to the ground.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. No audio.
Those are precomp kids from Taiso, Saskatoon and Altadore, Calgary. But the drills are the same for everyone. Even non-gymnasts.
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Rick Mc
preschool gymnastics tips
Another great instructional from Darlene of Gymtastics GymTools.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
From little things, big things grow
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I’m confident that Darlene and staff can teach backward rolling safely to preschoolers. But I try to avoid that skill, myself, with “pumpkin heads”.
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Rick Mc
Forward Flip using Rings
A safe way for young kids to start salto rotations forwards and backward.
Of course there’s no need to use a mini-tramp. This can be done from standing under low Rings.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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Rick Mc
Preschool Back Flip
Be very, very careful with this one.
Work up to it slowly.
Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.
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Rick Mc
Boundex – Unique Product for Young Kids
I can’t recall seeing anything else like this.
Bounce, stretch, snuggle, sit or hide surrounded by a pool of stretchy, responsive lycra. Push and pull, building coordination and balance in this unique setting.
VERY safe.
The Boundex was developed by Eileen Richter, MPH, OTR/L, FAOTA, to engage babies and young children and foster their innate drive to develop and use their bodies as nature intended by providing a unique sensory motor activity.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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Rick Mc
Backward Roll Progressions
Small children have disproportionately large heads — so progressions should take that into account.
- down hill
- leaving space for the head
RecGymPros has some recommendations ➙ Teaching Back Rolls
Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.
Recreational Gymnastics 
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