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Recommended Reading: Dr. Craft's Active Play. https://activeplaybooks.com/about-dr-craft/ See Sample Activities and Games 

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Recommended Reading: Dr. Craft's Active Play. https://activeplaybooks.com/about-dr-craft/ See Sample Activities and Games 

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Children naturally love to move and be physically active. You can set the stage to have fun playing with them every day with these resources.

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Help your Baby Develop Motor Skills | Track Baby Milestones

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Want to Help Your Baby Develop Important Motor Skills? Use Our Free Checklists to Help Make Sure Your Baby is Reaching Key Milestones!

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Learn about the benefits and best practices of physical activity in child care and early education settings. Physical activity habits learned in early childhood can last a lifetime.

Since many children are in child care throughout the week, it's important for providers to give kids daily opportunities to be active in a safe play space.

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Get Kids Moving | Healthy Kids, Healthy Future

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Learn about the benefits and best practices of physical activity in child care and early education settings. Physical activity habits learned in early childhood can last a lifetime. Since many children are in child care throughout the week, it's important for providers to give kids daily opportunities to be active in a safe play space.

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Did you know the important role that heavy work activities play in our ability to learn, focus, attend, and participate in everyday tasks? It's true. We all need calming and organizing sensory input in the form of heavy work tasks that provide proprioceptive input through the muscles and joints. Here, we'll cover what heavy work is, when heavy work is needed, and specific heavy work strategies that kids of all ages can do at home, in the classroom, or in their therapy session.

Heavy work is a powerful support for organizing input in self-regulation. The heavy work resources here can be added to your self regulation strategies.

Heavy work can be so many things! Below you'll find ideas for pushing, pulling, lifting, jumping, chewing, and other ideas for adding organizing proprioceptive input.

Want printable versions of these activities to use at home, in the classroom, or therapy? Try our Heavy Work Activity Cards for easy access to movement-based sensory input.

Heavy Work Activities

In a different world children would be ready to learn at all times. In an alternate universe children would not have temper tantrums or meltdowns in shopping centers. In another time and place all of us would be well-regulated all day and all night!

But that's not how things work and anyone spending time with children will know that there are moments when they are out-of-sync and not quite with the program.

We all experience dysregulation at one point or another! We cover more on this in our recent blog on on the Alert program, which also has ideas for heavy work input.

And that's all part of their journey of growing, developing and learning. You will be happy to know that when you are faced with these rather challenging times there is a powerful tool you can use to help children become more regulated...heavy work!

You can rely on heavy work to help you out to organize a dysregulated nervous system.

WHAT is HEAVY WORK?

Heavy work is activity that requires effort from our muscles and these tasks usually involve activation of the muscles and joints of the body through the proprioceptive system by movements such as pushing, pulling or lifting. The movement activities create resistance input to the muscles and this feedback is ultimately what calms and regulates the sensory system.

The sensory system that is activated during heavy work activities is called the proprioceptive system. The proprioceptive system receives messages when the muscles move to do work. These messages flow back and forth to the brain. The brain decides how much force a muscle should use based on the task at hand.

This allows children to use the correct amount of force when they need to hold something gently or when they need to lift something heavy.

It's a complex system that is constantly adjusting to make sure the brain is getting the right information from all the joints and muscles in the body and as well as making sure the muscle output is appropriate to the task. This concept is also known as body awareness and allows us to know where our body is in space and how to move our body.

The take away message about the proprioceptive system is that it is a universal and powerful regulator.

By working with the proprioceptive system you can even out disturbances in other sensory systems. You can increase energy levels if you need to and you can reduce high energy levels to help children reach a calm, comfortable space to interact with the world.

So when is heavy work appropriate to support learning and participation in daily tasks?

WHEN TO DO HEAVY WORK

The beauty of heavy work is that they are really easy to incorporate at home, in the classroom and in therapy settings. Adding heavy work to a child's daily routine will contribute to the development of their sensory processing.

Children will also gain valuable tools that they can use when the feel that they need to regulate themselves. How often you use heavy work input will depend on the individual child. Be guided by the child's enjoyment and response to the activity that you introduce.

Consider including a heavy work activity in the morning before going to school and again in the afternoon when children arrive home from school. Heavy work can also be incorporated into bedtime routines to help the sensory system feel calm and restful.

At school, heavy sensory input for the whole class can be incorporated at regular intervals during the day. Incorporating heavy work (and other sensory system input) into daily functional tasks, or setting up a sensory lifestyle, are all concepts covered in the book The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook.

Here is more information on proprioception, or heavy work and it's impact on attention and learning.

Strategies like pushing a ball or heavy basket, or wall push ups and chair push ups are some examples of heavy work. Heavy work offers effort from the muscles and joints and requires the proprioceptive sensory system. The resistance provides feedback through the receptors in the muscles, joints, and ligaments. This is what is calming and regulating because the movements are organizing.

Why Heavy Work?

If you look at the iceberg image above, you'll notice that the image depicts an iceberg with activity words above the water level. These tasks depict the heavy work actions that we see in action.

Heavy work may include:

Pushing

Pulling

Lifting

Carrying

Chewing

Jumping

Carrying

Squeezing

Climbing

Pinching

Brushing

Any other actions that use the muscles and joints with weight of the body or object

Under the water level, you'll notice words and phrases that depict underlying skills. These are the components of heavy work that you might not "see" in action, but they are occurring with and through heavy work.

These are skills that we need for everyday tasks. Heavy work involves these components, and are what makes body awareness and movement happen. These are the skills that contribute to the organizing and regulating capacity of heavy work. The potential of these underlying components to contribute to the effectiveness of heavy work activities.

These underlying components include:

We like to say that it's like the chicken and the egg saying. The underlying and contributing factors of heavy work contribute to the heavy work actions and the heavy work actions contribute to the underlying contributing factors.

How to use heavy work activities

Now you are ready to use heavy work sensory input to create happy, well regulated children!

Specific children may be given opportunities to engage in additional heavy
work activities during the day if they are struggling with sensory processing and attention the classroom.

Some deep pressure work activities require no equipment and very little space. Others may require some props and a bit of space. Select your heavy work activity according to the space and items available to you.

And have a few options available. Each child has a different sensory make up and preference and will respond differently to the heavy work input that you introduce. You will soon discover the activities that they enjoy and the activities that help them to feel calmer and more regulated.

Pushing Heavy Work Activities

Pushing or pulling heavy objects, like a wagon, a weighted sled, or a suitcase, engages the muscles and joints of the proximal leg joints and the large muscle groups of the legs. These activities also engage the proximal joints and shoulder girdle of the upper extremity, as well as core strength and stability.

Wall push ups- stand an arm's length away from a wall and place both hands on the wall at shoulder height. Bend your elbows and lean into the wall until your nose is touching the wall. Return to the original position. Repeat ten times.

Chair push ups- sit in a chair with you palms on the seat of the chair at either side of you. Push on your arms and lift your bottom and legs off the seat of the chair for a few seconds.

Pushing a box across the room- fill a box with books or toys and kneel in front of it. Push the box across the room.

Fill a laundry basket with laundry and ask your child to push it through the house.

Push a large therapy ball or medicine ball along the floor and up the wall as high as you can go

Push a wheelbarrow or trolley

Wheelbarrow walking

Pulling a wagon or sled

Pushing someone on a swing

Pushing off a wall or object while on a sensory swing

Pulling heavy work activities include activities like some yoga moves, playing tug of war, doing pull ups, and more.

Pulling Heavy Work activities

Closely related to pushing, pulling heavy work uses the upper and lower extremities and the core.

Pulling on a rope- tie a rope to a tree, pole or secure door handle. Hold the rope and see how far you can lean back while pulling on the rope. You only need one person for this tug-of-war game!

Tug of war- if two or more children are available have a game of tug of war

Pull up bar- it may be tricky for children to perform pull ups but just hanging from a bar is great work for muscles.

Pulling and stretching a piece of theraband or stretchy material.

Wall push-Ups- Have children perform wall push-ups by pushing against a wall with their hands. This provides resistance and helps build upper body strength.

Chair push-ups- Seated push ups from the seat of a chair. This is a nice sensory strategy for the classroom.

Jumping is a great organizing heavy work activity and ideas include using a trampoline, doing jumping jacks, rocket jumps, or star jumps, and other jumping games.

Jumping heavy work Activities

Jumping activities add heavy work through the hips, knees, and feet.

Trampoline- this provides endless hours of heavy work activity. Wonderful proprioceptive input while children enjoy the pleasure of jumping.

Jumping on a mattress on the floor or couch cushions placed on the floor.

Rocket jumps- crouch down and place your hands on the floor next to you. Count down from ten and leap into the air raising both hands up to the sky. Repeat the rocket launch a few times.

Star jumps / jumping jacks are great for co-ordination and heavy work.

Sitting on a small therapy ball and bouncing up and down.

Hopper balls with handles are also a fun way to bounce around.

Lifting heavy work activities include carrying a weighted backpack or stack of books, doing laundry, and yoga.

Lifting heavy work strategies

Lifting weighted items or carrying heavy objects such as books, backpacks, or baskets of laundry offer heavy work. In addition to holding weighted items, lifting can involve the body weight as well.

Carrying bags- allow children opportunities to carry bags of groceries or laundry at home

Weighted backpack- place a few magazines in a backpack and encourage your child to walk around with the backpack for a few minutes.

A message could be placed in the backpack and your child could deliver this message to a family member at home or to another teacher at school.

Carry a stack of books

Carry a full laundry basket

Carry a full tote bag

Weighted stuffed animal

Leg lifts, raising arms over head, holding a bridge position

Yoga positions use lifting strategies as well

Chewing and Sucking heavy work input

Oral motor exercises and input through the mouth and face offer heavy work through the jaw, cheeks, tongue, and neck. These can be very organizing and regulating strategies.

Chew gum, dried mango, or other dry fruit

Drink think liquids through a straw e.g. yogurt, thick milkshake

Specially designed necklaces, bracelets and toys are available for chewing.

Chew on a straw

Blow through a straw

Eat crunchy snacks

Drink a smoothie through a sippy cup with a straw-type top

Use a "crazy straw" in a cup. The smaller opening is great for oral motor input.

Play "Simon Says" with mouth exercises: Suck cheeks in/puff cheeks out/Make a big "O" shape/Stretch out the tongue. Use these printable Simon Says commands to target oral motor skills.

Chew gum

Use a straw to suck and pick up pieces of paper. Transfer them carefully to a cup using only the straw.

Drinking through a sports water bottle

Try this resource for more information on heavy work through the mouth.

More Heavy Work Tools
Animal Walks
Activities like bear walks, crab walks, or crawling like a snake can engage the muscles and joints while being fun for kids.
Climbing Activities
Encourage climbing on playground equipment, climbing walls, or indoor climbing gyms. Other ideas include using playground equipment for sensory input, or climbing up a slide, when safe and appropriate.

Climbing provides heavy work for the upper body and core muscles.
Squeezing Activities
Using stress balls, therapy putty, or hand squeezers can help improve hand strength and provide sensory input.

Other squeezing heavy work activities include:
Weighted Blankets or Vests-
Weighted vests and compression garments can be used during quiet times or when sleeping to provide continuous deep pressure to the body.

Another idea is using a regular blanket as a sensory burrito.
Yoga and Deep Pressure Poses-
Some yoga poses, like downward dog or child's pose, provide deep pressure to specific body parts and can be calming for children.

You can also include partner yoga poses in small groups for added heavy work.
Digging in the Garden-
Gardening activities, such as digging holes or moving soil, engage the muscles and joints. Check out our post on sensory gardening for more information on these benefits.
Bouncing on a Therapy Ball-
Sitting or bouncing on a therapy ball engages core muscles and provides sensory input.

1. For a great resource filled with heavy work activity ideas, grab this set of heavy work activity cards that offer themed brain break cards, in 11 pages of themed heavy work activity cards, with 8 activities for each theme.

2. Here are free (Spring themed) heavy work cards to get you started.

3. Creating an individualized sensory diet with scheduled heavy work sensory activities (and other sensory input as needed) is part of a sensory diet. Read this resource for what a sensory diet is and this resource on how to create an effective sensory diet.

4. This free slide deck offers a strategy to add heavy work in teletherapy sessions with children.

5. Here are construction truck themed heavy work tasks.

6. Kids love these dinosaur themed heavy work activities.

7. Here are outdoor heavy work activities that can be done right in the backyard.

You will quickly discover how powerful heavy work as sensory input is and how much fun the children have when they engage in these activities. In addition to heavy work, there are various other sensory based tools that you can use to assist children who may have more complex sensory needs.

Children with sensory processing difficulties benefit from sensory diet which introduces a variety of specific sensory experience that assist with regulation.

Want to use themed heavy work activities in therapy, home, the community, games, and the classroom? Grab the Heavy Work Activity card set:

Use these heavy work cards to help with building body awareness, motor planning abilities, proprioceptive input, or a movement activity as a brain break to pay attention between learning activities. Included in the pack are:

1. Trucks Heavy Work Activities

2. Insects Heavy Work

3. Sea Animals Heavy Work Exercises

4. Farm Animals Heavy Work Ideas

5. Jungle Animals Heavy Work

6. Woodland Animals Heavy Work Tasks

7. Superheros Heavy Work Exercises

8. Sports Heavy Work Activities

9. Monsters Heavy Work

10. Summer Heavy Work Ideas

11. Butterfly Life Cycle Heavy Work

Each activity page includes 8 movement and heavy work cards in that theme.

These heavy work strategies can be added to home programs, teletherapy activity plans, or used as brain breaks during learning and play.
Click here to get your collection of Heavy Work Activity Cards.

Free Heavy Work Activities Printable

Need heavy work ideas to use on the go? Need sensory strategies to offer to a parent or caregiver? Want to print this information so you can use the printed material to educate parents, caregivers, teachers? Want a printable list of heavy work activities?

Enter your email address into the form below to grab this free printable information packet.

Another great information graphic that I love is this way of describing self regulation strategies. Heavy work is one of the important ways to weave self regulation and emotional regulation into the day. Other ideas include play, imagination toys, and building an emotional vocabulary. This comes from our resource on self regulation strategies for preschoolers.

We all have sensory needs and heavy work is a great tool to have in your toolbox to meet these preferences.

I hope this resource has been a helpful way to better understand heavy work as a tool that we all need!

Printable Heavy Work Activities to Support Sensory Needs in Kids

Heavy work provides deep pressure input to the joints and muscles, which can have a calming and organizing effect on the nervous system. This type of proprioceptive input is often used in occupational therapy to help kids with regulation, attention, and body awareness. Our Heavy Work Activity Cards make it easy to implement these strategies. So, if you're building a sensory lifestyle, supporting a child before transitions, or just looking for ways to help kids feel more grounded during the day.

Heavy Work Activities for Summer

We wanted to add some information to this article, as a way to support families and caregivers of kids who are home from school during the Summer months. This can be a time when routines are off and there is more screentime. We know that screens can be a regulating tool for some kids. Most of us get that, right? When you feel dysregulated, it's calming to take some time and scroll. While that can work and be something we all use as a coping mechanism, for some kids it can be too much, especially when the screen time becomes ongoing throughout the day.

So, as an addendum to this article on heavy work, I wanted to add some tips I give to parents who have kids at home for the Summer once school is out.

These are heavy work strategies for Summer.

Summer Heavy Work Activities for Kids

Summer is the perfect time to use what you have in the home or yard to practice incorporating proprioceptive input into daily routines. This is what we're talking about when we say the phrase " sensory lifestyle" as a way to incorporate sensory diets into the day to day.

Heavy work activities provide resistance to the muscles and joints, helping children develop body awareness, motor planning, regulation, and attention. The best part is that many heavy work activities can be incorporated into everyday summer fun and family routines.

We broke this next section down into different types of Summer heavy work strategies. Some ideas are specific to chores. Others are more outdoor ideas. Still others are play-based. So when the kids are bored this Summer, this is a list to pull ideas from. You can find a printable list of these ideas in The OT Toolbox Membership (level 2 members). Or, you can get a different list, our 101 things to do this Summer for a printable fridge list. That list does incorporate heavy work, but it's not as specific as this below.

Outdoor Chores and Yard Work

First, I have a list of chores that incorporate heavy work. This is good for year-round because the chores never end. But, during the Summer months, it's a good time to have a list of tasks kids need to do before they hop on their screens or go out to play with friends. These chores add heavy work input, so it's calming and organizing as a warm-up activity for the day:

Pull weeds from the garden. If you don't have a garden or plants, pull weeds from a lawn.

Carry watering cans to water flowers and plants. Or pull the hose to water a garden, grass, or plants.

Push a wheelbarrow filled with mulch, soil, or garden tools. Or, take out the trash cans each week. Then pull them back into their place after the garbage truck has come.

Rake leaves, grass clippings, or garden debris.

Help move bags of mulch, potting soil, or bird seed.

Bring groceries into the house.

Community-Based Heavy Work

These ideas involve the community. Heavy work options can be built into outings into the community.

Carry library books

Help carry groceries for an older family member

Push the shopping cart or carry a shopping basket in stores

Use a reusable tote bag to carry items in stores

Walk to destinations carrying a backpack

Volunteer to help set up chairs at church or community events

Help stock shelves at a food pantry

Backyard Play Activities

We have an older article on backyard sensory diet activities you may want to check out. These ideas below are great for outdoor play:

Set up and carry pieces of an obstacle course

Push and pull a wagon loaded with toys

Carry buckets of water for water play

Build a fort using lawn chairs, cushions, pool noodles, and blankets

Play tug-of-war with a rope

Pool and Water Play Heavy Work

Summer means going to the pool, playing in the sprinkler, and Slip and Slides. The great thing is that all of these summer water activities are heavy work activities, too!

We have some beach sensory diet activities that incorporate water play and sensory input. Be sure to check out those ideas too.

Carry pool noodles, kickboards, and pool toys

Fill and dump large buckets during water play

Push floating toys or inflatable rafts across the pool

Move water using large sponges or watering cans

Help set up and put away sprinklers and water toys

Pull the hose out to the middle of the yard. Use it to spray and play in the water. Then when done, pull the hose back or wind it back up.

Use a lawn sprinkler. Jump, run, and play in the sprinkler.

Household Heavy Work Activities

These are more chore idea, but geared toward indoor tasks. We love having a chore list for incorporating gross motor tasks with heavy work input.

Carry laundry baskets to and from the laundry room

Help unload groceries and put items away

Push a vacuum cleaner across carpeted areas

Wash outdoor furniture using a scrub brush

Move dining room chairs.

Sweep floors

Dust furniture

Make beds

Wipe down windows and doors using firm pressure

Play Ideas with heavy work input

Next are heavy work activities designed around play. These are great for Summer days.

Dig in a sandbox or garden

Climb playground equipment

Ride a scooter uphill

Carry beach gear to and from the car

Build sandcastles using wet sand

Help wash the family car

Push a toy lawn mower

Collect and carry sticks for a campfire

Pick up and stack firewood

Move rocks during landscaping projects

Because summer often includes changes in schedules and routines, incorporating heavy work into play, chores, and outdoor activities can be an easy way to support a child's nervous system while keeping them active and engaged.

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Heavy work activities are powerful tools for self-regulation, attention, focus, body awareness, and calming sensory input.

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Article: Rocking and Rolling: Learning to Move

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Article: Rocking and Rolling: Learning to Move

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Reaching for a toy, 3-month-old Lucia surprises herself by rolling over. An hour later, she is still practicing.

Sitting securely at 9 months, DeShawn is using both hands together to hold, bang, and toss small toys. He shifts his weight and maintains his balance as he reaches for the squeaky dog in front of him.

Wyatt takes two steps, falls, gets up, takes two steps, falls, and gets up over and over, undaunted and determined to walk at 11 months.

Traditionally, we have thought of motor development as coming with maturation and that one skill leads naturally to the next as the child grows. But actually, motor development is a constant learning process. A child's body is continuously growing and changing, and his environment offers different opportunities for movement. Each new movement involves the child making adjustments in balance and posture. Gibson (2000) describes the process of motor development as the child finding the best possible solutions to the problems and opportunities presented by his environment.

Let's think about the early skill of reaching. In the first months, a baby seems to move her arms randomly, without control or intention. Some people call this body babbling -the body is practicing for controlled movement the same way babbling speech is practice for later language. Over the first four months, an infant's reaching becomes more controlled and purposeful. For example, Sima's first swipe at a hanging toy misses by several inches, but her next swipe includes some corrections of angle, eye-hand coordination, and force of thrust. Before long, Sima masters hitting dangling bells. But has she mastered reaching? Perhaps for the moment. But within two weeks, Sima has gained a pound and grown an inch. She is a little bigger and stronger, and she needs to readjust the force of her reach.

Later, at 7 months, she needs to reach from a sitting position-however, her reach makes her fall forward. She learns to shift her weight and her balance as she changes her position. And now she is crawling! How to reach for that giraffe when her hands and arms are busy holding her up? More learning. More shifting and balancing. And so on, with cruising, walking, stooping, and running. All of this learning and adjusting is complicated by Sima continuing to grow bigger, heavier, and stronger. At the same time, her proportions are changing. Her newborn head was almost the same size as the rest of her body. Over the first two years, her body begins to grow and change. As a newborn, her arms were thin and short; now, her arms and legs grow longer and stronger. Her trunk changes from that adorable jellybelly to the trim, strong body of a young toddler.

Learning about movement is discontinuous. This means that the skills learned from one ability-like crawling-are not the same skills that will help a baby learn to walk. In fact, crawling requires completely different skills than walking does. Toddlers give up a lot of speed, knowledge, and competence in order to walk. The payoff is the ability to do two things at once-move and carry things-and to see more from the relative increase in height (Adolph & Tamis-LaMonda 2014). In Karen Adolph's labs at New York University, new crawlers move right onto a steep incline with no fear of falling-they don't recognize the risk. A few weeks later, as experienced crawlers, they back away from the edge. When they return as new walkers, they have forgotten all they knew about falling off of edges and are willing to step right onto the incline. They can't apply the knowledge of edges and inclines they gained as crawlers to the exact same experience while using their new skill of walking; they have to learn about safety and risks all over again.

Infants and toddlers enjoy movement for its own sake; they like to roll and crawl and cruise. They also move because they are interested in the people, nature, and materials around them. Think of how you've encouraged babies to crawl toward you by being on the floor, a few feet away, with your big smile and open arms. Have you noticed a toddler crouch down to watch an ant crawl across the sand? Or step and fall and step and fall to cross the room to the water table? These motivations-reaching you, getting closer to the ant, playing at the water table- all encourage movement. The greater number and variety of opportunities children have to move, to reach, and to handle objects, the more chances they have to grow, test, and refine motor skills.

People who study motor learning describe how the objects in the environment invite certain kinds of movement. Any object makes certain kinds of movement possible-the object affords certain actions. So, the opportunity the object offers is called an affordance (Adolph & Kretch 2015). For example, a small wooden firetruck affords a child the chance to hold it, to run it along the floor while sitting or crawling, and to use it to put out pretend fires in the block area. The child-sized firetruck in the play yard affords the child the opportunity to climb in, turn the wheel, and ring the bell. It is helpful to look around your play spaces once in a while and review whether you are offering a good variety of these invitations for movement.

When we understand that motor skills are the result of opportunities for learning, we can take a more active role as teachers. Here are some ideas:

Create an obstacle course for toddlers using firm pillows to climb over, chairs to move around, and other household objects to maneuver past.

Play follow the leader with infants and toddlers. Let them be the leaders while you imitate their movements as they use their bodies in new and different ways!

Have open spaces indoors for active play. Provide floor space for crawling, walking, and running. Offer surfaces at different levels. Design spaces that allow children to climb and jump safely.

Think about it

Think about your program and classroom. How do you intentionally set up invitations for developing movement skills?

How might you set up spaces differently for young infants, mobile infants, and walking toddlers?

Appreciate the learning. Document and describe children's early attempts at new movements (body babbling). When you recognize the steps toward exciting milestones, look for ways you can help learning happen.

Notice how a child's temperament influences motor exploration and notice each child's individual approach to movement. Is the child cautious or completely unafraid? Offer activities that meet children where they are.

Observe yourself! Keep a list over the course of the day to see how often you provide opportunities for infants and toddlers to grow motor skills. Ask yourself if you have enough different kinds of activities in the environment to support the wide range of motor development.

What we are learning from researchers about motor development is pretty amazing! We thought for a long time that one kind of motor skill led to another. Instead, it turns out that skills like crawling and walking are quite different from each other. Infants and toddlers keep doing the difficult work of learning these new skills because it's worth it! Crawling is a much better way to get around than rolling. Walking offers the chance for toddlers to see the world from a whole new vantage point-with the added bonus of being able to carry things in their hands. When you recognize young children's hard work at learning new motor skills, you'll be able to support all the steps along the way!

References

Adolph, K.E., & K.S. Kretch. 2015. "Gibson's Theory of Perceptual Learning." In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed., ed. J.D. Wright. New York: Elsevier.

Adolph, K.E.,. & C.S. Tamis-LaMonda. 2014. "The Costs and Benefits of Development: The Transition From Crawling to Walking." Child Development Perspectives 8 (4): 187-92. www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4357016.

Gibson, E.J. 2000. "Perceptual Learning in Development: Some Basic Concepts." Ecological Psychology 12 (4): 295-302.

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Reaching for a toy, 3-month-old Lucia surprises herself by rolling over. An hour later, she is still practicing. Sitting securely at 9 months, DeShawn is using both hands together to hold, bang, and toss small toys. He shifts his weight and maintains his balance as he reaches for the squeaky dog in front of him.

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NAEYC Article: From Rolling Over to Jumping in Puddles

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NAEYC Article: From Rolling Over to Jumping in Puddles

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From Rolling Over to Jumping in Puddles: Moving and Grooving with Infants and Toddlers

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Here are some ways that families can support these their child's new skills as they develop.

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YouTube: Five Essential Tummy Time Moves

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YouTube: Five Essential Tummy Time Moves

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Five Essential Tummy Time Moves, How to do Tummy Time

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Article: Spending Time Outdoors with Your Child

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Article: Spending Time Outdoors with Your Child

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The Wiggle Jar- 32 printable activity cards

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The Wiggle Jar- 32 printable activity cards

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Sometimes in the middle of a four digit subtraction problem, I find one of my children on the verge of a brain meltdown-as in brain juice is starting to run out of his eyes, or leak out of his ears (or something like that).

I have learned to catch him pre-meltdown and ask him if he would like to ride his bike around the block or jump on the trampoline.

He has proven over and over that he does need physical movement in order to get his brain unstuck.

Other kids tend to have lots of wiggles they need to work out. And some tend to grow sluggish and slumpy (or grumpy!) by early afternoon.

My friends, Kelly and Candace, had similar students in their own homeschools.

After some discussion on the topic of kids who need to wiggle, I took Kelly and Candace's great ideas, combined them, and made 32 different activity cards for a Wiggle Jar.

Some of the ideas include:

toe touches

jumping rope

shape your body into the alphabet

stretch your arms

pretend you are in a band

flap your wings

stand like a flamingo

hop like a bunny

jog in place while you sing

Most of the ideas don't require any equipment, but some do. Here are the items needed:

trampoline

exercise ball

jump rope

hula hoop

something to make a circle (you could use yarn, your hula hoop, or your jump rope)

You can use the free cards to create your own Wiggle Jar.

Whenever you find your student needing a break, bust out the Wiggle Jar. I hope they will help your student through those brain meltdown moments.

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I originally wrote this post for Homeschool Share. Trying to clean up the site, and moving this one here. Sometimes in the middle of a four digit subtraction problem, I find one of my children on the verge of a brain meltdown-as in brain juice is starting to run out of his eyes, or leak ...

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Fun with Tape! - 25 Active Indoor Learning Activities with Tape

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Fun with Tape! - 25 Active Indoor Learning Activities with Tape

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Get active and learn with tape! Try these fun and creative learning activities with tape with your preschooler or toddler!

I have a thing with tape. I kind of like it.... just a little.

Okay, maybe a lot! It comes in handy for activities, especially for active ways to learn pretty much anything!

The great thing about tape is it gets the kids moving indoors.

When its too hot, or too cold to be moving outside doing activities with sidewalk chalk, you can come inside and learn with tape!

Download the Move & Learn Week of Activities

These 25 learning activities with tape, are not just "sit & learn" either, they're active learning! It will be lots of fun when you're stuck indoors!

Literacy, ABC & Letter Learning Activities with Tape

1. Create a tape maze to have the kids find their way through the alphabet from A to Z.

2. And Next Comes L like to just have the kids make tape letters. - And Next Comes L

3. Tape out large tape letters on the floor for the kids to walk along like Words of His Heart

4. 3 Dinosaurs outlines those same taped letters with objects from around the house.

5. Make a spelling mat (or math mat) with taped letters with an idea from Banana Splits

Bonus! Find some fun move and learn sight words at Coffee Cups and Crayons and some letter recognition at Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Plus, be inspired by our 50 Incredible Alphabet Activities!

Math, Counting & Number Learning Activities using Tape

1. JDaniel4′ Mom uses a road of tape as an activity course for kids to count through and do something before continuing on.

2. Create a tape maze to have the kids find their way and count (hint: adjust the numbers to their ability!).

3. For older kids, learn about perimeter and areas of shapes, with an idea from Day Dreaming Maths

4. Practice numbers with some hopscotch, adjust the numbers to what they're working on, just like Totally Tots

5. Use tape pieces to count, try mitten math, or make it whatever theme works for the season or holiday, from Toddler Approved.

Plus, you'll find many activities in our 40 Awesome Number Activities for Preschoolers.

Shape Learning Activities using Tape

1. Tape out shapes on the floor and roll a ball across to see what shape it lands on.

2. Make a graph with tape and sort blocks by shape, or even color.

3. Play an active tape shape game to learn shapes, and even sneak in letters from Toddler Approved.

4. Play bean bags to work on shapes and numbers with Somewhat Muddled Musings.

5. Tape shapes and walk along them, but also count their sides and match up numbers, like I Can Teach My Child.

6. Match cutout shapes to big shapes taped on the floor, from Toddler Approved.

7. Tape out shapes on the floor and fill them in with blocks, it takes skill to fill it up just right.

8. Check up on place value with taped number lines.

9. Trace giant numbers taped to the floor! What will you trace with?

Bonus: Find other fun ways to learn shapes with toddlers.

Learn Gross & Fine Motor Skills using Tape!

1. Make a giant tape road through the house to drive through.

2. Make road tracks from tape all around the house (literally, on the walls, chairs, everything!) like Apple Green Cottage.

3. Set up lines of tape as a goal to jump to. How far can the kids jump?

4. Practice balancing while walking along lines of tape. Even blow pom poms along them.

5. Or balance along the lines of tape while picking up objects with an idea from Smiling Colors.

6. Crawl and carefully pick pom poms off of tape through a giant spider web of tape.

7. Throw newspapers at a giant tape spider web to see how many you can stick!

8. Pull pieces of tape off, like Mama.Papa.Bubba! It's great fine motor practice!

9. Go apple picking inside - on a tape tree - for a fun gross motor activity!

Download the Move & Learn Week of Activities

Bonus: Get preschoolers moving and learning all sorts of ways with30 move & learn activities for preschoolers.

What are your favorite learning activities to do inside with your kids?

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25 Active Indoor Learning Activities with Tape

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Get active and learn with tape! We love these 25 creative ways to have fun indoors - all using tape!

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Recommended Reading: A moving child is a learning child

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Recommended Reading: A moving child is a learning child

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In order to learn, kids’ need to move! Grounded in best practices and current research, this hands-on resource connects the dots that link brain activity, movement, and early learning. The expert authors unveil the Kinetic Scale: a visual map of the active learning needs of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and primary graders that fits each child’s individual timetable. Teachers, parents, and caregivers will find a wealth of information, actionable tips, and games they can use to support children’s healthy development—all presented in a lively, full-color format with demonstrative diagrams and photos. A final section offers easy-to-implement activities geared to the Kinetic Scale.Downloadable digital content includes printable charts, games, and activities from the book plus a PowerPoint presentation for professional development, parent handouts, and bonus activities. An ideal tool for coaches, mentors, and trainers.Introducing the Kinetic Scaleunique framework encompassing all the elements of movement: reflexes, sensory tools (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, balance, and intuition), motor tools (power, coordination, and control), and languagebased on six stages of movement development from birth to age 7: snugglers, squigglers, stompers, scampers, scooters, and skedaddlersdesigned to foster a balanced diet of physical activity that helps each child move, grow, and learn on the child’s individual timetable