Have the students stand in a circle about arms-width apart. Explain to the children that you are going to throw the ball around the circle, sequentially saying the letter of the alphabet together as each person catches the ball. When students know their alphabet fairly well, have each one state the letter and a word that begins with that letter as he catches the ball. As motor skills develop, move up to a larger ball.
Have the students count repetitions out loud with you as you do warm-ups. Incorporate other subjects as you move into other locomotive activities by giving students adjectives and ways to move, such as, "stomp angrily five times" or "hop like a frog eight times." Allow the children to lead the activity by stating how many times they would like the class to move in a particular way.
Give each student a lanyard that goes around their neck with a simple word such as "cat" attached to it, with multiple words that rhyme. Students pair up, linking arms in their pairs. Break up one pair, making one student "it." The other student has to run from "it" until she finds another student with a word that rhymes with hers around her neck. The running student latches onto the student with the rhyming word, and the student latched onto that student now becomes the student running from "it." Change things up by having students find words that do not rhyme with theirs.
Give students pieces of paper that review lessons including shapes, colors, letters, numbers and other concepts. Have one student run to a student with a matching paper, saying the name of the item on the paper out loud, and sit down. The student with the matching paper then runs to the next student who has a matching paper. For sequential items such as letters or numbers, have the students run to the item that would follow theirs. When students have mastered matching and sequencing, have them go for papers that do not match or are not sequential.