Hula Hoop Advice

[Samantha33]

I picked up some Hula Hoops. 2 different sizes. I'm wondering at what age you begin teaching the children the rules of the hoop. Such as one person plays in the hoop others don't.

[Momof4]

I've heard of this before to keep children apart but I think it would have to be very extreme circumstances with some bad behaviour for me to ever ask them to do this. I want all the children to learn to play together, share, take turns, have good socialization skills, so I don't understand the reasoning behind separating them into circles. I'll be interested to see the reasoning behind this theory.

[mickyc]

I never understood this, sorry! I have hula hoops but we use them outside to play with. The kids use them to skip, lay on the ground and jump in, try to actually hula with them, roll them on the ground. I don't believe in making a child play in a set space.

[Daisy123]

I don't use set spaces for free play- if a toy is fought over, they get a warning and then they lose it. I do, however, use small mats in my classroom area where all of my learning activities are set up. If a child chooses an activity to use on the floor, then they have their own "work space". The other children learn to respect their friend's activities. This way they learn to share but also that some things are for one person only. I use my mats with early 2 year olds easily but I plan to use it with my new 18 month old too. We'll see how that works!

[Samantha33]

I have been reading past posts and know their were people who use the hula hoops to define personal play space. Inspired by Reggio was one person and I hope she is still around.

[Dreamalittledream]

I've heard of this before to keep children apart but I think it would have to be very extreme circumstances with some bad behaviour for me to ever ask them to do this. I want all the children to learn to play together, share, take turns, have good socialization skills, so I don't understand the reasoning behind separating them into circles. I'll be interested to see the reasoning behind this theory.

Guess I'm the odd man out here..? Huge fan of the hoop thing. Use it daily. I have about 12 bins of play sets sorted together on a single shelf unit (with the hoops) by theme (examples: Mr Potato Head sets, kinex, farm set with animals, block sets, dinosaur kit, medical themed...etc.) small/numerous pieces with most. I have a full array of other toys placed in other locations all around the daycare that each have full access to and must share, socialize with (they only use the hoops with the 12 bins). They simply grab a hoop, sit down, play, put all the little pieces back in the bin & bin & hoop back when they're done. I love that the babies learn very quickly not to surpass the hoop, frustration is zero (from the big ones) and that the pieces get all put back together.

[Samantha33]

Dream, at what age do you begin teaching the little ones?

[5 Little Monkeys]

I don't use hoola hoops but I get the concept behind it. I like the idea of it for when older kids are wanting to play and the little kids are "bugging" them. I don't have any older kids right now but it would have come in handy when I had two school aged boys over a summer and they wanted to build towers and such but the little ones would always knock it down! I also only allowed the little lego out when the little ones were napping but the hoola hoops might have worked for that too! My kitchen has a hallway that leads to the playroom so I used to just put up the baby gate and the older kids would play in the hallway so that I could still see both groups but the babies weren't interfering with the big kids play.

I would say to start teaching the rules of the hoop as soon as possible. The earlier they learn, the better and the more success you would have at using them. Good luck!

[Dreamalittledream]

Dream, at what age do you begin teaching the little ones?

Do you mean teaching the little ones not to surpass the hoops? My little ones starting out don't take long to get the concept right from the get go (1 year olds).

[Secondtimearound]

Lol sorry I'm figuring this out ! I've never heard of doing this !!! So you let them play inside the hula hoop and have personal space !?
Hmmm , good idea I suppose . My group right now play pretty good together and individually , but I could of used this with my last dd , she hated playing without us right with her .

[Dreamalittledream]

Lol sorry I'm figuring this out ! I've never heard of doing this !!! So you let them play inside the hula hoop and have personal space !?
Hmmm , good idea I suppose . My group right now play pretty good together and individually , but I could of used this with my last dd , she hated playing without us right with her .
Exactly; all about the personal space:)

[bright sparks]

I use the hula hoops too. They are only used for certain activities and work to prevent toys with multiple pieces from just being spread out all over the room, at which point they aren't played with anyway, and also lets the other children know that the child playing within the hoop should be left alone, or not so much left alone but they can watch them but not touch what they are doing. Hula Hoops are only used to one side of my playroom so any masterpieces created can be shown off and I teach the other children not to touch. These same toys can be played with as a group if they would like but if a single child wants to play independently and works hard on making something I think it is fair to them to be able to do so without another child destroying it. I think it is important that all the children share all the toys, but it is equally as important to have independent activities even within a group setting and it's an important lesson that the children need to learn about respect and patience too. I don't think that a child should have to share a toy with another child just because that other child wants it. If we are playing as a group I encourage the children to share by saying "lets share with everyone" but when a single child is playing happily with a toy and another wants it I do not use the term share, I ask the children to take it in turns and I give them a time warning before they need to give the toy to the next child to play with. Usually that child is no longer interested and only wanted the toy in the first place just because the other kid had it.

[Secondtimearound]

I agree !!! I love watching a child happily playing !!! And then can't stand watching someone else come over and cause difficulties !!!
I guess I do the same just without the hula hoops :-)