3 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make with the Parachute

When I think back to my elementary PE days, the most exciting week was when we got to use the parachute.

It was just one week a year which I found very disappointing. I wanted to use it every time!

Now I’m all grown up and I get to make the rules. That means the parachute comes to class at least every other month.

But I’ve heard through the grapevine that there are a lot of parachutes sitting in storage closets NEVER GETTING TAKEN OUT!

It’s time to “take action” and bring some fun to your next circle time.

Before you do though, read through my 3 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make with the Parachute. You’ll be glad you did.

3 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make with the Parachute

Mistake #1: You leave it in the closet because you just aren’t sure what to do with it. Don’t feel bad about this one. It happens to many teachers because either they don’t have any activities to do with it or the last time they took it out kids when CRAZY!

Solution: I can’t help the part about kids going crazy, because who wouldn’t go nuts with a huge, colorful parachute that goes up and down and makes your hair fly?!? But I promise when you give them opportunities to play with it more than once a year, they will begin to calm down and not be so CRAZY!

As far as activities go, there are a lot that you already know that can be adapted to the parachute. I’ll teach you one if you keep on reading.

Mistake #2 Taking out the parachute without practicing with the “pretend parachute“. Remember the part about how exciting the parachute is to kids? If you don’t teach them how to use the parachute before getting it out, you’ll for sure lose control.

Why? Because once the parachute comes out they’ll be so excited that they won’t be able to listen to anything!

Solution: Teach the children the activity you will do with the parachute, but don’t have the parachute come out of the bag right away. For example, if we were doing “Ring Around the Rosey,” I’d have them stand in a circle and walk around singing the song “pretending” to hold onto the parachute. Then sit down during the second part of the song (cows in the meadow…) and shake the pretend parachute. They are great at this “pretending” game especially if they know they’ll get to use the parachute once they’ve mastered the pretend parachute.

Mistake #3 Same activity every time you bring out the parachute Just like in the kitchen, you need to spice up what you serve at circle time. If you bring the parachute out and only do one activity every time, you’ll soon see kids lose interest and disengage. You would too, right?!?

Therefore, make a goal to learn at least 5 activities you can teach with the parachute.

Ready for one?

Check out “Come Under My Umbrella”.

Need a parachute? Here’s some recommendations…

6 Foot, 9 Handles: https://amzn.to/3rQgAUL

12 foot, 12 handles: https://amzn.to/3cpiXra

20 foot, 20 handles: https://amzn.to/3tl5asG