Body Awareness

Let's face it....winter is a difficult time to make sure that our kids are getting enough movement throughout the day. It's easy to put on a show or turn on the IPAD to keep our little ones entertained. My love of GoNoodle knows no bounds, but sometimes you needs to have something tangible for kids to touch and move. Pinterest is filled with so many wonderful ideas for classroom based movement activities! I found this Movement Spinner Game and think it is a wonderful way to encourage movement, teach body awareness, teach directional concepts, and just have fun!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/133137732718398903/

Variations of this activity:
1. The spinner colors can be changed out to numbers or letters to work on a different academic skill. You could have stations set up around the classroom based on the color, number, or letter for students to walk to in order to complete the exercise. Colored rectangles of construction paper would work well for the colors. This would encourage motor planning, walking, coordination, and visual scanning.

2. You could change out the movement activities for body parts like a variation of "Head, shoulders,  knees, and toes." This would help a child learn the parts of their body and encourage motor planning to touch the part selected by the spinner.

3. You could have each student make their own spinner to also work on cutting, pasting, writing,    fine motor, and sequencing skills.

4. You could have children work in teams- one spin and read the directions while the other performs  the exercise and then switch places. This encourages listening skills, motor planning, and team work!

This activity has so many possibilities for classroom use! Have fun with this game during these cold months!

~Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT

Toe Walking

Toe Walking can occur for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few reasons that a child may be walking on their toes: issues with the vestibular system, developmental or cognitive issues, orthopedic issues, and possible sensory issues. Figuring out where the toe walking stems from can be a challenge and often takes a team approach.

A few items to consider are as follows:

Is the child tripping or falling? How is this impacting their ability to walk, run, climb stairs, and play on the playground? Does this child have any tightness in the back of the leg or the ankles? 

Please see this nice chart from the Inspired Treehouse:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/364510163569093497/

When assessing and working with children who walk on their toes, it is important to incorporate multiple body systems in the program. Balance, coordination, stretching, core strengthening, and sensory items should all be considered when thinking about how to best help the child normalize their walking ability.

Please see the attached link for a blog post from dino PT that offers some treatment strategies for toe walking:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505247651932185002/






Follow up care with the child's pediatrician and a team approach for both assessment and treatment are the best ways to combat this issue.

Remember, team work makes a difference!

~Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT

Snowball Fight!

Skills: throwing, motor planning, core strength, balance, hand/eye coordination

With all this snow, I have been thinking about fun ways to bring the outdoors to an indoor recess activity. Snowball throwing would be such a fun way to bring active learning to the classroom. You can make your own snowballs out of yarn or buy soft, fluffy white balls. 

 (picture credit: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=snowball+fight&chips=q:snowball+fight,g_5:elf&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBjP2wxsvYAhXIk-AKHevCCF4Q4lYIMSgA&biw=1047&bih=481&dpr=1.3#imgrc=uAGcdy-CfVl3rM:)

How the game works:

 

Decide what academic skill you want to address: math, color recognition, shape recognition, name recognition….the list goes on and on!

Write the answers, names, colors, shapes, etc. each on their own separate paper plate.

Attach the paper plates on 1 wall in the classroom. Make sure to place them at various heights and spread them out! They should take up a large space of the wall.

Place a tape line on the floor about 3 feet away from the “wall of answers”.

Place all of your “snowballs” on the floor in a pile behind the line or in a bucket.

Have students stand in a line behind the “throwing line”.

Ask the first student in line to answer the question. Once the question has been answered, have the student squat to pick up the “snowball”. The student will then throw the snowball attempting to hit the right answer.

This student then moves to the end of the line and the next student takes their turn.

Variations of this activity:

You could have 2 lines and play in teams to see who can hit the target first.

You could play in a seated circle and toss the snowball to the student who requests a turn.

You could have students kneel to throw, use ½ kneel to throw, or move the target farther back.

This is a fun game to play on cold days or just to get your class moving!

Movement Matters- Whitney Carter PT, DPT