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The main goals of school-based physical therapy are to improve strength, balance, coordination, and/or mobility to help students achieve educational benefits within their educational environment. Such skills can include: assisting children by supporting developmental milestones, refining walking/running skills, participating in group play, and throwing/catching. Physical therapists collaborate with other service providers such as occupational therapists, APE teachers, speech therapists, teachers, case managers and parents/guardians.
simple core strengthening activities for kids
simple core strengthening activities for kids
*Always make sure that when your child is completing ANY of these exercises that she is breathing! Breath holding allows your child to compensate and not use the crucial core muscles that these exercises target.
Source: theinspiredtreehouse.com
Bridging
Bridging
Have the child lie on his back with his knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Have him push hard through his heels to raise his bottom up off the floor. Be sure that he is keeping his head and shoulders on the ground.
How to Change it Up:
-Try having the child lift and lower with control (up for a count of 3, down for a count of 3).
-Put a stuffed animal between the child’s knees and have them squeeze while bridging.
-Have the child place his feet on a pillow or small ball and try to maintain stability while bridging. -Zoom some cars underneath — How many cars can you get under the bridge before it falls? -Find a few small, stuffed animals and walk them under the bridge — Don’t squish the bunny!
Superman
Superman
Have the child fly like a superhero and strengthen her back! Have her lie on his stomach on the floor and try to lift her arms up off of the floor so that her upper chest comes up too.
How to Change it Up:
-Can she lift her legs? How about arms and legs at the same time?
-Can she hold a ball between her hands or her feet while lifting up?
-Place a stuffed animal on the child’s back and see if she can complete this exercise with enough control to keep the animal from falling.
-Make it fun by having the child reach up for you to hand him pieces of a puzzle or to place stickers on the wall. -Make it even more fun by trying it on a swing or a large ball.
Plank
Plank
Have the child lie on his stomach on the floor with his hands flat on the floor at shoulder level and toes on the floor. On the count of 3, have him push up on his hands to straighten his arms and lift his whole body all the way to his toes off of the floor.
How to Change it Up:
-Have the child hold the plank position on his forearms with his elbows at 90 degrees instead of his hands.
-If holding his whole body off of the floor is too much, try dropping the knees to the floor for support.
-While in a plank position, have him lift an arm straight out in front and hold. How about an opposite arm and leg? - Can he hold a plank position long enough for another child to creep underneath or for 3 balls to roll under?
Wheelbarrow Walking
Wheelbarrow Walking
Have the child lie on her stomach on the floor. While you hold her knees (easier) or ankles (bit more of a challenge), have her walk her hands forward 10 steps and backward 10 steps. Can she walk forward to a ball and and put it in a basket with one hand? How long can she hold this position without pulling her legs away?
How to Change it Up:
-Place an object on the child’s back and see if she can get it across the room without it falling off.
-See if she can tap a balloon, keeping it up in the air in front of her as he walks.
-See if she can complete a puzzle from this position, wheelbarrow walking across the room to retrieve the pieces
teaching kids how to jump
teaching kids how to jump
Learning to jump off of the ground is part of typical child development and typically happens right around the age of 3 (for some kids before age 3 and for some a little later). Kids all learn to jump at their own rates. Some get it on their very first try. Others seem to get stuck in the pattern of jumping with one foot leading, almost as if they are galloping.
Source: theinspiredtreehouse.com
Frog Jumps
Frog Jumps
Give your child a cue to squat down really low, like a frog, wait a second and then JUMP! Sometimes, this hint to squat gives them just enough momentum through their legs to boost them off the ground!
Jumping Over
Jumping Over
Place something on the ground and encourage them to jump over it. A taped line, a favorite small toy, anything!
Jumping On
Jumping On
Make a target. Tape a piece of paper or stick a sticker to the ground a few inches in front of your child. On the count of 3, say JUMP! See if they can land on it.
Provide a Model
Provide a Model
Model jumping for them. Stand next to your child, encourage them to watch you, squat down and jump!
Try Bubbles
Try Bubbles
Jump to pop bubbles! Blow bubbles low to the ground for your child and see if he can jump up and pop them.
scooter board activities for kids
scooter board activities for kids
*Remember...safety first!! NEVER let a child stand on a scooter and always stay within arms reach to prevent injuries!
Spider Web Crawl
Spider Web Crawl
Line up two rows of 3-4 chairs with 4-6 feet between the rows. Wrap yarn around the legs of the chairs, zigzagging back and forth between the chairs to create a “spider web”. Tell the child to sit on the scooter, pretending to be a spider. Have him make his way through the “web”, moving forward with his feet and lifting each piece of yarn up over his head as he scoots through.
Superman
Superman
First, be sure you have a large, clear space to play. Position the child in prone (on his tummy) on the scooter. Tell him that he’s going to fly like Superman across the room or down a long hallway! Hold onto his feet and give him a big push! He’ll have to work hard to keep his head, arms, and legs lifted as he moves forward!
Body bowling
Body bowling
Set up a pyramid of cardboard blocks or empty shoeboxes. Position the child on the scooter on his tummy and tell him to keep his arms strong out in front of him. Grab hold of the child’s feet and push him forward to knock down the pyramid!
scoot and grab
scoot and grab
Position 2 kids in prone (on tummies) on their own scooters. Scatter a handful of small objects (e.g. checkers or poker chips) out on the floor – just barely within the kids’ reach when you push them forward on the scooters. Sit on the floor behind the kids, holding onto one of each of the kids’ legs or feet. Scoot the kids forward, giving them just a quick second to try to grab one of the objects before pulling them back. Whoever can grab the most objects wins!
push off
push off
Have the child push off of the wall to see how far he can propel himself. Let him try it on his tummy, either pushing off of the wall with his feet to move forward, or pushing off with his hands to move backward! Try it in sitting too, again pushing off the wall with either the hands or the feet!
Other activities using a scooter board
Other activities using a scooter board
The Caterpillar
Give a scooter to each child in the group. Have them figure out how to hold onto each other, forming a long line. See if they can scoot forward with their hands like a caterpillar!
Crazy Driver
Mark off a path on the floor using painters tape or masking tape. You can make one single line of tape or two lines to form a “lane” for your child to stay in. Get creative with the pattern – curves, zigzags, twists, and turns! See if the child can “drive” along the road in various positions (on his tummy, sitting on his knees, sitting on his bottom).
Tornado!
Give your kiddo a little twirl on the scooter in different positions (see above) or see if he can spin himself!
Rope Pull
Position two chairs on either side of a large space and tie a rope between the two chairs around the very bottom of the legs so that the rope is almost on the floor. Position the child on his tummy on the scooter and see if he can pull his way from one chair to the other! Make it more interesting by placing the pieces of a puzzle on one chair and the puzzle board on the other chair – how fast can he complete the puzzle this way?
heavy work
heavy work
Proprioceptive activities are often referred to as “heavy work”. Heavy work is accomplished by working against weight or resistance through activities like shoveling snow, playing tug of war, riding a bike, swimming, pushing a heavy strollers, or pulling a loaded wagon.
But heavy work activities don’t always have to involve a lot of space. Whether you’re a teacher with limited classroom space, a therapist who works in the corner of a crowded hallway, or you’re stuck in the waiting room at a doctor’s office and wanting to calm your anxious child – try these heavy work activities to provide that calming proprioceptive input!
Click for listing of heavy work activities & Ideas for small spaces
Click for listing of heavy work activities & Ideas for small spaces
1. Massages
2. Bear hugs
3. Play with a Body Sock
4. Yoga Poses
5. Pulling resistance bands with hands
6. Playing passing games with weighted stuffed animals
7. Weighted sensory bottles
8. Animal walks
9. Wall pushes
10. Chair dips
11. Tossing and catching heavy bean bags
12. Boxing with boxing gloves against a mat or bolster
13. Roll a therapy ball up and down the wall
14. Squeezing putty or play dough
15. Playing tug of war with Pop Toobs
16. Tearing paper (especially heavier card stock)
17. Crumpling paper and shooting into a garbage can
18. Pushing and pulling Squigz
19. Cooking activities (e.g. kneading, stirring thick dough)
20. Stepping up onto a chair or bench and jumping down (with close supervision!) 21. Squeezing sensory balloons (filled with dry beans, dry rice, or play dough)
22. Digging in a tactile bin of wet sand or Kinetic Sand
23. Writing on and then wiping off or erasing a dry erase board
24. Pushing feet against resistance band tied to the legs of a desk
25. Wall sits
Fun activities for kids
Fun activities for kids
Family Workout
KidsBop Dance Videos
BabyShark Ab Challenge
Playing with sidewalk chalk
Playing with sidewalk chalk
10_Ways_to_Play_With_Sidewalk_Chalk.pdfPage updated
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