Home Bodies: Gross Motor Activities You Can Do at Home

What are gross motor skills?

Your child’s gross motor skills allow them take their first steps, play their favorite sports, and sit upright in their chair at school. Gross motor skills involve stabilization of our large muscle groups and active movement of our whole body to carry out these meaningful activities. In order to develop age-appropriate gross motor skills your child will utilize the following body mechanisms: muscle strength, muscle tone, activity tolerance, motor planning, postural control, body awareness, balance, coordination, and proprioception (our sense our body position and body movement).  If your child is having difficulty with their gross motor skills, they may appear to be clumsy, have difficulty completing activities of daily living such as dressing, or avoid physical activity.

Laying the Foundation

In order to develop more refined skills, such as fine motor skills, your child will need to build a foundation of age-appropriate gross motor skills. For example, in order to complete fine motor tasks at school, your child must first demonstrate appropriate trunk strength and postural control in order to sit upright in their chair. Once your child develops appropriate trunk strength and postural control, he/she will need to develop gross motor shoulder stability in order to prevent his/her shoulder from moving when engaged in writing activities. It is when these gross motor abilities of trunk strength, postural control, and shoulder stability are present when your child is able to develop more refined skills. Our gross motor skills lay the foundation for the more sophisticated and intricate small muscle movements.

Home Work

In a literature review of fundamental movement skills conducted, researchers found a positive relationship between children’s development of gross motor skills and health benefits such as increased physical activity and decreased sedentary behavior*.

At-home gross motor activities are just a jump, skip, and a hop away:

  • Obstacle Course: indoor obstacle courses are a wonderful way to get your child crawling through tunnels, jumping over “lava,” and running to the finish line. This also provides additional opportunities for supplemental sensory input for increasing overall regulation!
  • Yoga: yoga is excellent for incorporating whole body movements, core strengthening, and increasing our sense of proprioception. In order to further develop our body awareness, have your child imitate yoga poses in front of a mirror in order to increase his/her understanding of how his/her body is positioned in space. Yogarilla cards are a great resource for various yoga poses in a fun format for your child.
  • Dance Party: join in on the fun with your child and throw a dance party! Choose action-based songs, such as “I’m Going on a Bear Hunt.” Incorporate action-based songs that involve activities requiring the use of both the upper and lower extremities to utilize your child’s motor planning and coordination skills.
  • Play Catch: a simple back and forth game of catch with either a ball, balloon, or bean bag can facilitate development of motor planning, body awareness, and bilateral coordination. Additionally, with the balloon allowing more time to move throughout space, encourage your child to keep it off the floor utilizing different body parts, such as their feet or even their elbows.
  • Simon Says: have your child participate in a gross motor version of Simon Says. For example, you can state, “Simon says jump up and down. Simon says touch your toes. Simon says stand on one leg.”
  • Animal Walks: completing animal walks such as bear walks, frog jumps, crab walks, etc. Your child might even want to create their own kind of animal walk!
  • Bubbles: blow bubbles and have your child pop them with a body part that you designate. Try to blow the bubbles on each side of his/her body in order to promote crossing their body.
  • Tummy Time: If your child is not yet walking, encouraging him/her to spend time on his/her stomach will allow him/her to bear weight onto their arms. For example, you can place your infant’s desired toys around them in a circle so he/she has to bear weight onto his/her arms to reach out for them. If your child is walking, increasing the amount of time your child is bearing weight on his/her arms such as in a crawling position or lying on his/her stomach strengthens his/her shoulders, arms, and hands for the development of more precise fine motor skills. This can be done by playing games or completing puzzles in an all-fours position or army crawling during transitions.
  • Clapping Games: using both hands in coordination to complete clapping games such as patty cake are a material-free way to practice gross motor skills such as bilateral coordination and motor planning.
  • Stand Up: create a vertical surface for your child’s arts and crafts activities. When standing and using a work station in front of him/her (such as a piece of paper taped on the wall) instead of below them, your child is actively engaging and strengthening the muscles in his/her shoulders, arms, and wrists to promote gross motor development.

Questions or concerns?

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s gross motor abilities, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Reagan Lockwood, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

*Reference: Lubans, D.R., Morgan, P.J., Cliff, D.P. et al. Sports Med (2010) 40: 1019. https://doi.org/10.2165/11536850-000000000-00000

Photo Credit: Photo by Julia Raasch on Unsplash

Sitting Up Straight: The Importance and Impact of Postural Stability

Whether sitting at a desk at school, eating at the dinner table, or simply playing with toys on the floor, seated activities are an integral part of your child’s life. While we may not think of sitting as a complex task, it provides your child with a stable base to develop essential fine motor, visual-motor, and self-care skills. If you notice your child slouching frequently, propping his or her body against a desk or table, or fatiguing easily during seated activities, your child may be struggling with postural stability.

What is Postural Stability?

Postural stability refers to your child’s ability to achieve and maintain an upright and unsupported sitting posture against gravity. While seemingly simple, unsupported and stable sitting is dependent on a variety of factors, including muscle strength and tone, joint range of motion, the alignment of the body against gravity, and the support your child’s body receives from contact with surface they are sitting on. Core and trunk strength are essential for postural stability. If your child has a weaker core, you may notice slouching, propping of his or her head in the hands, heavy leaning against the back of a chair or the top of the desk, or sliding/falling out of chairs.

Why Does Postural Stability Matter?

While children are often on the move, a majority of their learning time takes place in a seated position. When children have to devote an excessive amount of energy to merely sitting up, the resulting fatigue can affect their ability to focus on classroom learning. Moreover, a strong and stable core allows your child to reach the arms away from his or her body in order to use the hands. Therefore, handwriting, scissor use, table-top crafts, self-feeding, and toileting tasks can all be negatively impacted by poor postural stability.

What Does Poor Postural Stability Look Like?

Some common signs of postural instability include:

  • Extreme or exaggerated slouching when sitting in a chair.
  • Leaning heavily or laying torso on the table or desk.
  • Frequently falling or sliding out of chairs.
  • Sitting in a “W” position.
  • Walking with a wide-legged stance.
  • Leaning against walls or holding onto rails for increased support.
  • Excessive fatigue following prolonged sitting (e.g. after school).

What Can I Do?

You can try to help improve your child’s postural stability through the following activities:

  • Knee walking: Try walking, playing catch, or playing “keep it up” with a balloon with your child standing on his or her needs. This helps to build the trunk muscles necessary for sitting balance.
  • Wheelbarrow walking: Encouraging your child to wheelbarrow walk helps him or her to engage their core and trunk, as well as build upper body strength. If provide support further from the core (e.g. holding the knees instead of the hips), your child will get a more intense core workout!
  • Animal walks or yoga poses: Encouraging your child to bear walk, crab walk, or perform other animal walks promotes core and trunk strengthening. Additionally, a variety of yoga poses (e.g. plank, boat, candlestick, etc.) promote overall strengthening which is great for postural stability!
  • Set your child up for success: Observe your child’s sitting environment. If your child’s feet are dangling in the air when sitting in chair, try providing a step stool or even a pile of books to rest his or her feet on. This will provide your child with a more stable base of support from the sitting surface.
  • Wedges or inflatable discs: There are a variety of tools available to help develop your child’s sitting posture. Sitting on a wedge or inflatable disc encourages your child to engage his or her core and prevents some slouching from occurring.

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s postural stability, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Natalie Machado, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

Reference:

Case-Smith, J., & Clifford O’Brien, J. (2015). Occupational therapy for children and adolescents (7th ed.). Canada: Mosby, Inc.

Photo Credit:

Anissa Thompson via freeimages.com