 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. It's time to go! Where's your hat? Did you remember your library bag? Do you have a smooth morning routine? Do you wish that you could record your voice and press play each morning? Does your child seem to need daily reminders about what they need to do to get ready for school? Children (and adults) have a capacity to meet challenges and achieve goals through high level cognitive functions called "executive skills" (Dawson and Guare, 2010). Our executive functioning allows us to plan, organise our behaviour, have sustained attention and persist to complete a task. We can manage our emotions and monitor how we think about a situation; making adjustments as necessary. Some children may struggle with one or more aspect of executive functioning. Dawson and Guare (2010) categorise executive functioning skills into those which help to select and achieve goals; and those which help to create a way to achieve those goals. 1. Executive functioning skills to help select and achieve goals.
2. Executive functioning skills to help create a way to achieve goals.
 Poor executive functioning skills can affect the morning routine! A visual checklist can provide a way to help children to address the "select and achieve goal" part of getting ready for school in the morning. I have created these checklists (boy and girl versions) to be made into "lift the flap" resources where the child can lift the flap to say "done" once a task is completed. As everyone's school routine is different, I have also included "my week at school" blank visual schedule. This can be used in conjunction with the "lift the flap" resource. I need this visual schedule ---- > LIFT THE FLAP MORNING ROUTINE Here are a few tips for introducing a visual checklist or timetable...
Would you like more information on executive functioning? Check out this FREE e-course by my friend Colleen at The OT TOOLBOX! --- > I want to know about executive functioning.
How are mornings in your home? Do you have any visual checklists in place? What is working for you? 
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 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Technology has come a long way in recent years. Whilst face to face learning is great... there are many benefits to online learning and professional development. As a sole trader in the private sector and as a mum; I've appreciated the convenience of doing training in my own home at a time that suits me! Online learning has also opened doors to training from around the world which is amazing! Different countries and different states within those countries have varying standards and requirements for professional development so it is best to check with your local registration board. For my fellow Australian colleagues; you can find the OT board registration standard for continuing professional development HERE. The Australian minimum competency standards for new graduate OTs can be found HERE and can help guide professional development goals. Here is a list of online learning opportunities for paediatric OTs (and some would also be suitable for parents and teachers). Take note that some are only available at certain times of the year. Some organisations offer a rotation of webinars and courses. Some online opportunities are paid and some are free. Some opportunities require membership with an organisation prior to access. Associations and Educational Websites
General:Paediatric OT
Standardised Assessments Sensory Processing
Self Regulation
Executive Functioning
School Age
Autism
Dyslexia and Learning Difficulties  SALE PERIOD: FEB 11 TO FEB 19, 2019! Are you a supporter of online learning? What is your favourite course or webinar that you have participated in online? Save this page so you can find it when you are looking for continuing education. Pin it or share it with your colleagues! Definitely worth keeping as an OT reference. Yes, you are right... I always do things that I find useful myself. I love having all these opportunities listed together for my OWN reference! Let me know what you think! Do you have any further recommendations to add to this list?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Resources you might like:
 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... counting sheep doesn't always work, does it? Do you struggle to help your child to sleep? Do they stay asleep through the night? Fitts is an Occupational Therapist and a writer at The Sensory Toolbox. Today I would like to welcome Diana Fitts and occupational therapist and writer at The Sensory Toolbox. She shares with us 4 Smart Sensory Sleep Tips. Thanks for joining us Diana! Full night’s sleep? Sleeping in? Lazy weekend mornings in bed? If your child has sleep issues, these are phrases you probably haven’t heard for a long time. Sleep is something we take for granted when it’s going well but becomes an emergency pretty quickly once it takes a turn for the worse. What’s often taken for granted is the huge role that sensory factors play in the ability to fall and stay sleep. This applies for all of us, whether we’ve been diagnosed with a sensory issue or not. Remember the last time you tried to sleep in the middle of summer when your AC was broken? I bet it didn’t go so well. Our senses are consistently sending information to our brains during the day, taking in data about what we see, touch, taste, smell, and feel. By the time we go to sleep, we need our brains to settle down, which means we need to lessen the amount of information that our senses are sending our brains. This lets us relax and eventually fall asleep. So, how do we do that? Here are my top sensory tips for a better night’s sleep. 1. Prime Your Child’s Brain No, this isn’t as “mad scientist” as it sounds. Our brains are designed to recognize cues. Similar to Pavlov’s dog whose mouth waters when he hears a bell, our brains take in sensory information and prep our bodies for our next actions. We hear our favorite dance jam and we get energized; we smell our favorite tea and feel relaxed; we enter a classroom and we’re back to our high school days and feeling anxiousabout a test. While these connections often happen by accident, we can create them as well. Essentially, we can use environmental cues to tell our brains and bodies how to behave. Start by choosing a song, audiobook, bedtime story, essential oil, lotion, soap, etc that your child likes. Start playing or using this chosen object every single night as your child goes to bed and drifts off to sleep. While it will take some time, your child’s brain will start to associate their chosen object with sleep. The audiobook will play or the essential oil will spray and your child’s brain will know that bedtime is coming and it’s time to relax. 2. Be an Environmental Sensory Explorer With your child’s unique sensitivities in mind, go into your child’s room at night and take stock of all of the sensory experiences you encounter. Some good questions you can ask are: --how many sounds do I hear and how loud are they? --how many lights are there and how bright are they? --what do I smell and how strong is it? --what’s the temperature like? --how many covers is my child using? Once you’ve collected as much sensory information as possible from your child’s room, start eliminating as many sensory experiences as you can. Even if your child isn’t super sensitive to sensory input, any sensory information that enters your child’s brain during the night is information that could excite them and pull them out of their sleepy brain space. Start experimenting with different sensory experiences and see how your child responds. Maybe they like for the room to be cold; maybe their chosen object is classical music and that’s the only sound they can tolerate while sleeping; maybe they need a light sheet instead of a heavy comforter. Even small sensory tweaks can make a big difference in your child’s night, so don’t take anything for granted. Yes, even the sound of the bathroom fan down the hall can make a difference! Only remove or add one thing at a time though so that your child doesn’t get overwhelmed.  3. Have a Traveling Comfort Object At this point, you may be saying, “all of this is great, but there are times when my child needs to sleep away from home, and I can’t re-create the perfect sensory experience they have at home!!” Have your child choose a comfort object they can snuggle with whenever they’re sleeping, at home or away. In addition to priming the brain for sleep, this comfort object will give your child a sense of normalcy, even if they’re sleeping somewhere new for the first time. 4. The Same Thing that Helps Your Child Fall Asleep May not Help Them Stay Asleep Your child may lull into sleep under fluffy warm covers with their favorite music playing. A few hours later though, they may get too hot and annoyed by the music, leaving you with a cranky kid in the middle of the night. If your child is having success falling asleep, but can’t seem to stay asleep, consider all of the factors you can. Are their pajamas sweaty? They may have gotten too hot. Is the radio playing a loud song? They may have gotten annoyed by the sound. Does the room reek of aromatherapy? The oil diffuser may have been set for too long. The great thing about our technological age is that everything comes with timers. If your child loves music, smells, and fluffy covers as they fall asleep, set the music to turn off after 20 minutes, only add enough essential oils to the diffuser to last an hour, set the AC to turn on after a few hours. While this may take a lot of problem solving and planning up front, it may help your child sleep through the night. Sleep will never be an easy thing. There will always be ways to shift and adapt to make your child’s sleep routine better. Finding the right components may not happen quickly, and that’s ok!There are a lot of stops and starts when living in a sensory world, but there are also a lot of people here to help you through it. Do you have a child who struggles to go to sleep? Have you considered these sensory tips? Are there any others that have worked for you?
Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. You may like these products:
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Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details.
The sun on our backs, the waves at our feet, books on the beach, cold drinks, long summer days... ahh the summer school holidays have been a wonderful time to relax with my children, re-charge my senses, reflect and plan for the year ahead.
I have even had some time to devote to this blog! January is all about getting resources ready for the new school year. For each new year and each new OT child; I provide a workbook to record things we do each week. This often works as a communication tool with parents when they are not present for sessions. This year I have combined some of my most used resources together at the beginning of the workbook to provide an introduction to OT and a reference to look back on. I have created separate "school age" and "preschool age" pages. 
The "school-age" pages include...
The "preschool" pages include:
I plan to use these "cheat sheets" with my new Kindy kids who are having difficulty with pre-writing and pre-scissor skills too! I created these pages for my own use but I'm sharing them with you too. Not an OT? You may want to use my "cheat sheets" at home or display them in your classroom! You are welcome to distribute them to individual children or families in your class. Please re-direct your colleagues or friends to this page to get copies here for themselves! GET YOUR COPY OF MY OT WORKBOOK PAGES-----> USE THE FORM BELOW Join our FREE e-newsletter!Subscribe to get your copy of OT WORKBOOK PAGES! This form collects information we will use to send you our newsletter with our latest posts, products and special offers. Already subscribed? Don’t worry you won’t be added twice! 
My friend Jaime at MissJaimeOT is introducing a Manipulation Dot Packet to address fine motor skills in a fun way! This printable packet has been designed to be use with whatever fine motor trinkets you have on hand - pom poms, stickers, coins, bingo chips, beads, you name it. You can print it over and over and the possibilities are endless!
You can work on a huge list of goals: developing hand dominance, crossing the midline, in-hand manipulation and translation, grasping skills, separation of the two sides of the hand and increasing speed and coordination of upper extremities. This is a must-have printable for any therapist who has limited time and supplies. I can't wait to use my copy! Plus.. the progress tracking sheet allows you to easily keep track of your child's abilities over the course of a therapy session or the whole school year. Parents can grab a page and incorporate the week's spelling words while giving their child a fun motor activity to boost manipulation skills. Teachers can set up the pages for a quick and easy "motor centre" that easily incorporates maths and literacy. How awesome is that?!! The Manipulation Dot Activity Packet is available for sale at $7.99 US until Saturday January 25th (midnight EST- US time). You can get your packet here ----> Manipulation Dot Activity Packet Don't forget to get your FREE copy of my OT workbook pages too using the form above! Do you have your own OT workbook pages or "cheat sheets"? I would love to see them! Show me on IG and tag #therapyideas! 
 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start! You can see I've had a relaxing holiday when I quote "The Sound of Music"! Today is all about getting back to the very beginning. For OTs the way we look at a child stems from our training. I've already referred to this in a previous blog about the OT assessment process. Today I want to introduce (or re-introduce for those who have already seen it) the Pyramid of Learning by Taylor and Trott (1991). Before I continue, this diagram is published in "How does your Engine run? A leader's guide to The Alert Program for Self-Regulation" by Williams and Shellenberger. (Read more about the ALERT program HERE). Permission to publish this diagram here at Your Kids OT was obtained by Maryann Trott directly in October 2018. The Pyramid of Learning is a way of looking at the whole child. The very foundation of the pyramid is a child's central nervous system which is closely linked to their sensory systems. Adequate sensorimotor development is built on adequate registration and processing of sensory information (from the tactile, vestibular, proprioception, olfactory, visual, auditory and gustatory systems). Sensory motor development includes postural security, awareness of two sides of the body, motor planning, body scheme, reflex maturity and ability to screen input. This then supports perceptual motor development including eye-hand coordination, ocular motor control, postural adjustment, auditory language skills, visual-spatial perception and attention center functions. These are the underlying supports needed to help children achieve the pointy end of the pyramid (ie. daily living activities, behaviour and academic learning).  Children are referred to occupational therapists for various reasons. Most of the time our referrals are functional problems that is affecting the "pointy end" of the pyramid. For example, a child has difficulty with dressing, a child has difficulty completing a handwriting task, a child is having difficulty with attention. It is then the role of the therapist to see if there are underlying issues that need to be addressed. Can the therapist help the child gain new skills, modify a task or the way the task is performed or does the therapist help the child to compensate for the difficulty? This is all part of the clinical reasoning that a therapist figures out. Children may have difficulties with one or more of the areas of development but this may not always affect their ability to complete functional tasks. For example, a child may be tactile sensitive but they are able to cope with wearing clothing so there is no functional issue. We do not address underlying issues for their own sake. For example, we do not address reflex maturity just so that there is reflex maturation. If the reflex maturation is affecting a higher level issue (eg. hand dominance for handwriting is presented in a child who switches hands constantly, has weak hand strength, has difficulty crossing the midline .... then reflex maturation may be considered together with all other aspects affecting hand dominance and handwriting).  Therapists use play as both way to address therapy goals and a goal in itself. Read about "Why is my child just playing when they see an OT? What to know about some of these underlying skills?
Ask your occupational therapist if you have questions about the pyramid of learning! Ask your occupational therapist if you have concerns about your child's ability to perform functional activities! It is almost back to school time in Australia and I'm busy collating my resources ready for term 1. You can see some of them in the links below and I'll be sharing my FREE workbook pages next week. Until then, 
Reference: Taylor, K.M. and Trott, M. A. 1991 in Williams, M.S. and Shellenberger, S. (1996). “How Does Your Engine Run?”® A leader’s guide to the Alert Program® for self-regulation. Albuquerque, NM: TherapyWorks, Inc.
 HAPPY NEW YEAR! A quick look back at 2018 before we move forward with 2019! What you liked in 2018!
What you liked from the archives!  2018 BEST NINE ON INSTAGRAM Best NINE was generated by @2018bestnine_official.
Find more ideas on Instagram ----> Your Kids OT IG page. I share my day-to-day life as an OT over on IG. Quick snap shots of therapy ideas, frustrations with work as a mobile OT and celebrating milestones achieved by my OT kids! Some times I bravely show you a photo of me (usually hiding in my stories). 2018 saw me host a monthly photo challenge on IG at Your Kids Therapy Ideas! There were so many wonderful therapy ideas shared throughout the year. It was also a priviledge to collaborate with other therapy bloggers who were my guest judges throughout the year. A big thank you to ...
Make sure you check out and follow there IG accounts! Here is my first bit of exciting news for 2019....Your Kids Therapy Ideas is continuing as a re-post page! This means that I will be re-posting YOUR therapy ideas throughout the year (with acknowledgement and links back to your page). You don't have to be a therapist to share your ideas! Just follow the page and continue to tag #therapyideas. The second piece of exciting news for 2019 is that I'm taking Your Kids Therapy Ideas to Facebook in the form of a group. This will be another avenue to share YOUR therapy ideas! You can also just join and read other people's ideas. Everyone is welcome to this group (well except people trying to crowd fund, advertise products or jobs). Parents, teachers, therapists, psychologists.... all welcome! This group is newly formed, however I'm excited to nurture it in 2019! Find the group HERE. Don't forget that you can join 16 000 others and follow Your Kids OT Facebook page. You can also join almost 200 000 monthly visitors to the Your Kids OT Pinterest boards too!  Thank you again for your ongoing support of Your Kids OT! If you have any comments or feedback, I always love to hear from you! Looking forward to 2019! 
 Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it goes quickly, sometimes excruciatingly slow. This year has been very very full. Full of good times and difficult ones too. I've spent the day reflecting on 2018 - the good, the bad and the ugly. It has been really helpful to think of what has happened, what has been achieved and what still needs attention. Your Kids OT has been my baby for 5 years now. Thank you to everyone who has been here from the beginning (the birth). Thank you to the new friends who I have made along the way. Your Kids OT blog continues to develop, change and grow. There have been milestones achieved, periods of growth spurts, some growing pains, some mistakes, awkward silent periods and laughs along the way. Thank you for everyone who has supported Your Kids OT! I have really appreciated it! As a parent (in real life and of my blog)... I'm always learning and listening. I hope to keep learning from you as well as sharing my experiences! I love to hear from you so don't hesitate to email me on cindy@yourkidsot.com if you have any feedback. As I look towards 2019, I am excited by what lies ahead! I already have some projects under way with some blogging partners. I look forward to sharing these with you in 2019. I want to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas as you enjoy the wonder, hope and joy that the season brings! Best wishes for the season and a happy new year to you all! 
I started my Christmas shopping today! (Yes, I'm asking for a pat on the back!) Christmas decorations aren't up yet but with the end of the school year approaching, I like to get some shopping done before my kids go on their summer break.
Last year, I shared a Christmas Activity Sheet which was so popular with you! It was designed to be used at the Christmas table with your kids or for therapists to use in their sessions (or even give away). This year, I've gone bigger and better! Last year's activity sheet is here together with three new pages! Find lots of Christmas jokes, find-a-words, hidden pictures, colouring, drawing and more! I've called this set of printables my Christmas Fun Sheets! Yes there is a lot of colour on these pages... well, it's Christmas! You may want to laminate the pages to use over and over! Simply subscribe to claim your FREE Christmas FUN Sheets as a thank you! (Current subscribers will only be added once to the list) Remember to select "shrink to printable area" for these pages!
Looking for more targeted therapy created printables for Christmas?
My friends at the Inspired Treehouse are committed to building strong, health bodies and minds through their free and low-cost developmental play groups for kids. They run a non-profit organisation to run these programs; making them accessible and appropriate for all children. You can grab a set of therapist-created Christmas printables and meanwhile support this worthy organization. This offer is only available until December 6th, 2018. There are over 170 pages in this Holiday Activity Bundle and it includes the following downloadable pdf files.
I want to find out more --- > Holiday Activity Bundle (All proceeds for this sale will go to the Inspired Treehouse non-profit organization.) 
One last thing!
This week, share your fun Christmas therapy ideas on Instagram to participate in the final photo challenge for 2018. Find the photo challenge at Your Kids Therapy Ideas. You only have until the 7th December to share your photo. Tag #therapyideas so my guest judge (Margaret from Your Therapy Source) can choose a winner! There will be a prize too! Have you started your Christmas themed ideas in therapy or in the classroom? Have you started your Christmas shopping? 
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 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. My name is Cindy and I have a problem! I'm not the only one with this problem. It seems that it is an occupational hazard. Yes, it is hoarding ... or collecting... or keeping things "just in case"... My colleague Regina from Cotalife describes a hoarder as "a person who carefully guards an accumulation for future use". (I like it!) I like to think of it as responsible recycling, re-purposing... upcycling! Over on Instagram, I recently started a new series called "I'm not a hoarder... I'm an OT!" Q-tips were my first in the series!  Q-tips (or cotton buds) in Australia are widely sold in supermarkets and are such a fun way to encourage a pincer grasp (pinch between two fingers), a tripod grasp (thumb, index and third finger with an open webspace) or a lateral pinch (thumb laying across the index finger). OTs use Q-tips all the time to help with the development of fine motor skills and to provide novelty into their OT sessions. I have recently started to cut my Q-tips in half which I find even better than using the whole Q-tip sometimes! Kids can stabilise the Q-tip without it bending and can also place it so that they open up the webspace (between the thumb and index finger). Here are my top 10 ways to use Q-tips! 1. Dot painting or stamping. Read more about Q-tip stamping here. 2. Q-tip painting. 3. Draw on a chalk board. Make sure there is some chalk dust residue. 4. Water painting on a chalk board. Trace over chalk drawing or water paint directly onto a chalky board. 5. Threading/lacing. Use pony beads or even bread bag ties to practice simple threading/lacing skills. 6. Pattern copying and shape making. Use the Q-tips to make simple shapes (squares, triangles, rectangles, octagons, etc) or make pictures (eg. houses, rockets, televisions, etc) or simple patterns (eg. zig zag, castle, etc). 7. Post/poke them. Use the Q-tips to poke into the holes of an upturned kitchen colander, old spice jar, styrofoam block or egg carton. 8. Make a marble (or pom pom) maze using Q-tips as the walls. Try sticking the Q-tips onto contact paper to make the maze. Use paper along the trail so that the marble has a smooth surface to travel along. 9. Poke Q-tips into playdough (eg. add arms and legs to playdough people, add spider's legs, add spikes to a porcupine, add feathers for a turkey). 10. CRAFT! I know this isn't very specific but there are so many great Q-tip craft ideas out there. You can find one for any season or theme you are working on. Check out my Pinterest Board for some amazing Q-tip craft ideas!  Do you love Q-tip dot painting (or stamping)? Be sure to check out my latest printable resource! Alphabet dot pictures has been a labour of love. Every single dot was hand placed (electronically) by me and this resource has been a long time in the making! Each letter of the alphabet (capital letter and lower case) comes with two dot pictures. Use a Q-tip to paint each individual dot or join the dots together like a traditional dot-to-dot picture.  I have to say .... things that you can buy in bulk are very easy to hoard! (LOL) Are you a hoarder? I mean ...are you dedicated to recycling, upcycling and re-purposing? What do you collect? What are your favourite ways to use Q-tips? 
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 Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Today on the blog, I would like to introduce Tanja from Empowered Parents. Tanja is an early childhood educator. We recently collaborated on an article "Awesome Activity Ideas for Parents of Preschoolers". Make sure you check out the article! Today Tanja shares with us 7 gross motor skills your preschoolers should master! What are gross motor skills and why are they so important for your child to master? As a teacher in the early childhood classroom, movement was one of the most important activities in my daily routine, for good reason. Gross motor refers to the coordination of the arms, legs and other large body parts when moving. It involves skills such as balance, strength, muscle tone, agility, attention span, body stability, postural control, eye-hand and eye-foot coordination, as well as an understanding of position in space. Babies start developing their gross motor control when they learn movements such as lifting their head, turning, holding onto structures and eventually walking. Control develops from the head down and from the body outwards to the limbs. Later, children start developing their fine – or small – muscles, which are needed to be able to hold a pencil or button a shirt. During the toddler and preschool years, building these skills is crucial as children need good motor control to be able to function and learn optimally when they start formal schooling. Here are a few examples of how motor skills are needed for learning and functioning:
Read this interesting article on how children need motor skills to stabilize their page when writing. As parents, it is important to know what the basic skills are that your child should master and how you can go about helping to develop them during the early years. 7 Types of Gross Motor Skills There are two main divisions of motor skills – locomotor and object control. Locomotor refers to movements such as running, jumping and swimming. Object control refers to movements such as throwing, kicking and catching, which involve objects or equipment. Below are 7 kinds of movement skills that your child should master by the time they start formal schooling. They will all be learnt during play. As long as you are providing lots of opportunities at home for your child to engage in different activities, they will learn these skills naturally. Make sure that over and above activities you plan, such as building a balancing beam to walk across, your child has lots of time for independent free play.  1. Walking and Running Children should be able to walk and run forwards, backwards and sideways. By playing games such as running and chasing games, children learn to understand the position of their bodies in space. This means they can move between spaces without knocking into others and they have an awareness of where things are in relation to themselves. They also develop the ability to stop suddenly, turn or change direction. 2. Ball Skills Playing with balls is one of the best activities you can do to develop a child’s eye-hand and eye-foot coordination. Encourage activities such as hitting, bouncing, throwing, catching, kicking and dribbling balls of all types and sizes. Beanbags are a great alternative for developing eye-hand coordination. 3. Balancing Activities Balance involves being able to perform simple actions like balancing on one leg for a few seconds, jumping on one leg or walking along a narrow beam, heel to toe. Play games or set challenges such as timing how long you can balance on one leg or building simple obstacle courses with beams or planks to walk across. 4. Rhythmic Activities Children need to learn to hear rhythm and beat, as well as coordinate their bodies to move with it. Simple activities such as marching to a beat or dancing to a piece of music will encourage rhythmic movement. Young children should have lots of opportunities to move freely to music and sound. As they get older, children should be able to follow a simple dance routine and may enjoy attending a dance class such as ballet.  5. Climbing and Strength Activities In order to develop their muscle and core strength, children can climb up jungle gyms, climbing frames or even better – trees! Other movements such as hanging from monkey bars, wrestling, lifting up, doing somersaults, pulling and pushing during play will also develop their muscle tone and strength. Swimming is an excellent activity for developing strength, agility and coordination. 6. Hopping, Skipping and Jumping Activities such as hopping, skipping and jumping help develop a child’s bilateral coordination. This means they are able to coordinate the two sides of their bodies, such as when alternating feet during skipping. Coordination is one of the most important skills because it will greatly impact a child’s ability to function at school. If the two sides of the body are not coordinated and the child is not able to cross his midline, he will struggle with reading and writing. Here are two examples of difficulties with crossing the midline:
7. Riding Learning to ride a toy motorbike or tricycle is great for developing gross motor skills such as core strength, balance, and bilateral coordination. Older children can be challenged to transition to a bicycle as their balance and coordination improves. There are many more skills and movements that children learn during the early years. These are the basic ones that parents can focus on to ensure their children have good physical development before staring school. All these skills can be learnt through simple, fun play activities. We often feel our preschoolers should be doing more “formal” activities to get them ready for school and are tempted to sit them down to learn to write or read when they are not yet ready. The best start you can give your child is to let them move and play as much as possible in the early years. This will ensure that when the time comes to learn to read and write they will have all the necessary gross and fine motor skills in place, and learning will be easy! Here are some ideas for fun games you can play at home with your children to develop their gross motor control. Please share your favourite movement ideas and games in the comments section with us!
Thanks Tanja for sharing how we can be encouraging gross motor skill development in our children. Do you have some great ideas for encouraging gross motor skills? Join in the fun in my monthly photo challenge on Instagram at Your Kids Therapy Ideas. Tag #therapyideas with your fun gross motor ideas to play along in November (2018)! Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. You may also like:
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AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here.  
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Disclaimer: The information on this site is general in nature and should be used for educational and entertainment purposes. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. This blog does not replace formal therapeutic professional advice given by a health professional or medical practitioner. Reviews and endorsements of products will only be made based on my expertise and personal opinion; and deemed worthy of such endorsement. The opinions shared in sponsored content will always be my own and not that of the advertising company or brand. Content, advertising space or posts will be clearly identified if paid, affiliated or sponsored. Affiliate links may be found throughout this website in advertising. This means that if you follow through with a purchase from these links, Your Kids OT will receive a percentage of the sale. Your Kids OT undertakes to meet the requirements of the "Social Media Policy" as published by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Further information about this policy can be found here.
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AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here. 
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