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Activities to help core strength
CROSSING THE MIDLINE
Good core strength is the essential foundation for not just gross motor skills but fine motor skills too!
Draw an imaginary line down the middle of your body, starting at your head – this is your midline.
BE AN ANIMAL: Getting down into a squat position, crouching and being on all fours are all great for core work. Put a bunch of animal names on paper into a hat and be ready to move like whatever your child pulls out – frogs, kangaroos, bears, crabs, dogs and more work here!
WHEELBARROW WALKING: Hold your child's knees or ankles as they walk forwards (and backwards!) on their hands. You can have races with siblings or have your child throw balls into a basket to up the fun level!
HOP SKIP AND JUMP: You can keep things simple and play on the trampoline, have a game of hopscotch or jump with a skipping rope. All of these things build lower extremity strength and activate the core muscles.
SUPERMAN STYLE: Get your child to lay on their stomach on the floor and encourage them to fly like Superman by lifting their legs and arms off the ground – separately and then together. Motivate them to reach as far as possible by holding out stickers or a toy. The same activity can be done over a gym ball. 24
SPECIAL ISSUE
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JUNE/JULY 2020
Crossing the midline with our hands/ arms is something the majority of us do every day without even thinking about it and it’s an important developmental skill children need to acquire to assist with writing, cutting, sport, tying shoelaces, and more.
• Using a spray bottle and towel, your child can wash the windows in your house or on a flat surface such as the table.
• Paint a vertical surface. Grab some large paintbrushes and paint a fence with water.
• Place finger puppets on one hand and encourage your child to remove the puppets with their opposite hand.
• Wash the car. • Sorting objects into piles encourages crossing the midline to place objects into the correct pile. • Dance with scarves or ribbons. Make up a dance with lots of cross body movement.
• Squirt gun target practice – set up paper cups and let your child take aim with a water gun!
• Trace a large lazy 8 on its side (infinity figure). If you are working on the vertical, make sure your child is standing square on and in the middle of the figure.
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