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General Tips/Suggestions for Movement/Activity
General Tips/Suggestions for Movement/Activity
Go outside for daily walks - walk around your block or several blocks, but getting outside for fresh air and movement is very important. As your child can tolerate a certain distance/number of blocks, try increasing that distance after a few days or a week.
If your child is able to ride a bike or a scooter, this is another great outdoor movement activity.
Play tag. You don’t need a large area to do this. It could even be done inside your home. In simple terms, tell your child, “don’t let me get you” and encourage them to run away from. You can reverse roles and even tell them to chase after you. You can incorporate the whole family into this game and the ones below.
Kids in Kindergarten and older grades should be familiar with actual tag games as it is incorporated into their Physical Education (PE) classes.
Freeze Tag - One player is "It." The "It" player then must tag the other players. When a player is tagged, he/she must remain frozen in place. He/She can be unfrozen if he/she is tagged by a non-"It" player. When all the players are frozen, a new "It" is chosen, and play begins again.
Sock Tag -You'll need a spare knee sock, bandanna, or another scrap of fabric for each player. They should tuck it into their waistbands to create a "tail." You could place multiple (2 or 3) socks into each person’s waistband to make the game longer. There is no "it." Everyone can try to grab each other's tails. The one who collects the most wins the game.
Tunnel Tag - One player is "It." When a player is tagged, he/she must remain frozen in place, with his/her legs spread apart, creating a tunnel. He/she can be unfrozen if a non-"It" player crawls under the leg tunnel. When all the players are frozen, a new "It" is chosen, and play begins again.
Hula Hoop or Jump Rope - If you have these items at home, you can incorporate them into movement activities. Jump rope - first make sure the child is able to use their arms to get the rope over their head. The rope should be positioned behind them and they can use a gross motor movement (holding rope in each hand, bring the hands up towards the ear and in a forward/half circle motion), bring the hands forward over the head to bring the rope over the body. If they can’t time jumping over the rope while it’s moving, it’s okay, they can just jump over the rope when it lands/stops at their feet. Sometimes it’s easier for kids to turn the rope backwards over their body when learning to jump rope. In that case, the rope would be positioned in front of them and they would have to flip the rope backwards over them. For those who have a hula hoop and their child can hula hoop, this is another movement activity.
Races - this can involve the whole family. Set up a starting point and a finish line. You can use landmarks such as the side of the house or a tree or put down objects to mark the start and finish lines. Someone will say “Go” and race from the start line to the finish line. Do this multiple trials.
Another way you can have a race is have your child race against time. Again, mark a start and finish line. Time them as they run from one point to the other point. Perform multiple trials after rest breaks and see if your child can beat their previous score.
Shuttle run - similar to a race, but this involves running from one point to another and picking up an object and bringing it to the start line. It involves picking up an object without a loss of balance and a change of direction. Mark the distance for the shuttle run. You can decide on how long to make it, but allow for adequate space on each end without bumping into something. You can have the objects spaced 10, 20 or even 30 feet from the start line. Place 2 objects side by side at the desired distance from the start line. You can time your child for this activity as well, and kids are usually motivated to beat their scores. Say “Go” and your child would run to pick up one object and bring it back to the start line, and then repeat it for the second object. Time stops when they have reached the finish line. You might need to give them verbal reminders for what to do - for example telling them which object to pick up, giving them reminders to run the object back to the start line, and/or reminders to turn around quickly/not stop or pause when picking up the object. You can record their scores and then compare it over time.
Hide and Go Seek
-Everyone decides on a seeker.
-Create boundaries for how far you can go, which rooms you can hide in, etc..
-After you have finished deciding who is the seeker, where to hide, etc., you begin hide and seek! :)
-The seeker counts to a certain time with his/her eyes closed.
-The seeker goes and tries to find at least one person who is hiding.
The game can be kept simple to just find the person hiding or you can designate a safe spot in which the hiders can run/walk to if they aren’t found. Take turns with your child letting them be the hider and the seeker. Again, the whole family can be involved.
Balance. A curb can be used as a balance beam. Obviously safety needs to be the number one priority and if you live on a busy street, you might not be able to do this in front of your house, but you could always walk to a quieter street to do this activity. For younger children, you might need to hold their hands as they do this. As they become better at the task, don’t hold their hand, but stay close in case they have a misstep. This activity might also need to be demonstrated to your child. You also might have to physically get down on the ground to move one foot in front of the other if they need assistance with how to do it. You can start with walking forward and as they improve, have them walk backwards.
Scavenger Hunt - Create a list of items to find in the house or even a list of items to find outside. You could have your child collect the item, take a picture of the item, or just cross it off the list. If you are inside, encourage movement throughout the house by having to walk back and forth in the house, and possibly up/down the stairs.
An inside list of items to find could include: puzzle piece, candy wrapper, toothbrush, lego, sock, pretzel, money, rubber band, book, comb, ball, crayon, blocks, hat, sunglasses, fruit.
An outdoor list of items could include: feather, rock - big and small, tree bark, flower, grass, pinecone, acorn, leaves, stick, mulch, three leaf clover, insect, mushroom, bird’s nest, butterfly, bird
Laser beam - this game will require a little set up and some supplies: tape or some other kind of adhesive like putty and rope/string or streamers.
Tape the rope/string/streamer from one wall to another. A hallway works best so you need less string/rope/streamer. If you don’t have a hallway like the picture, then you could tape it from one wall to chairs on the other side. You can put it straight across or on a diagonal. Put some high and some low. The idea is that your child has to motor plan to get from one end to another without touching the rope/string/streamer.
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