After children have been sitting for a while, introduce a galloping activity with a song. If you have a piano or xylophone, play the notes, DBGDBG, repeatedly for the "galloping." Together sing the song, "Galloping," which goes "galloping, galloping, galloping, how fast my pony can go, when he's tired he'll come home, slow, slow, slow." With the last line, the children slow down their movements. Repeat the song with faster galloping and end slowly.
Change traditional nursery rhymes into opportunities to add galloping activities. Use the rhyme, "The Mulberry Bush" into a gross motor skills activity. After the chorus, sing "this is the way we gallop like a horse, gallop like a horse, gallop like a horse. This is the way we gallop like a horse, on a bright and sunny day." During the chorus the children should be in a circle. Then while singing the galloping lyrics, the children gallop in a circle.
Use a game of imitation to improve large muscle movements. Group the children in a circle and ask one child to suggest an activity for the other to copy. For example, the group can chug like a train. Introduce gross motor activities into the game by asking the group to pretend to gallop like a horse. Gallop yourself and have the children learn by following your movements.
Bring in hobby horses or create your own with a paper bag over a broom. Have the children gallop slowly with their horses. Use the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot," to sing "I'm a cowpoke on my horse, doing a lot of tricks of course. We can gallop fast. We can gallop slow. 'Round the circle, here we go." As the children get into the rhythm of galloping, practice jumping over fences and galloping fast.