Gym Ball Activities for Kids! Gross Motor Skills for home and occupational therapy!

Building the roots!

A family who I work with used this expression today.  As parents we want to build several strong roots for children as they grow and develop.  We want them to be rooted to a loving home environment, secure in their relationship with their family, develop social skills to interact with others, understand who they are in the world, connect with their community, etc.

As an occupational therapist, we want to build strong roots so that children can participate in functional activities of daily life.  Core muscle strength is one of those foundational roots.  When children have weak core muscle strength they may have difficulty with simple activities such as their sitting posture on the floor and at a desk.  You may find them leaning on furniture, falling off their chair, propping their head up with their hands.  

Weak core muscle strength may be seen in children who have difficulty with organized sports that involve kicking, standing on one leg, transferring weight or using a bat.  You may see a child struggle with agility, balance, coordination and generally look "clumsy". 

Some children with weak core muscle strength may have difficulties using tools such as pencils, markers and scissors.  When core muscle strength and stability is evident, then children will use their intrinsic hand muscles to manipulate these tools in a dynamic way.  When there is weakness, we see children compensating by using their whole arm and hand as one unit.  This can reduce fluency and lead to fatigue. 

Read more about core muscle strength:

• Gross Motor Skills needed for Page Stabilization
• Fun Ways to work on Inner thigh Muscles
• Gross Motor Skills for Preschoolers
• Hand strength for scissors, writing and more.

Gym balls come in different sizes (and a couple of shapes like a peanut)!  Try different sizes to depending on the size of your child.  We love using gym balls to help build core muscle strength and stability.  Try these activities to get started. 

• Wall Sit -  Place the ball between your back and the wall.  Bend your knees so that your thighs are parallel to the floor.  Stay in control of the ball and keep your back straight.  Hold the position like you are "sitting".  
• Walk the Wall - Hold the ball against a wall.  Push the ball up and down the wall as you squat and stand.  Keep control of the ball and  "walk the wall" slowly.  Younger children may incorporate a song such as "Your going up, your going up as high as you can go...".
• Prone over ball - Lie with your tummy on the ball.  Use your arms to walk on the floor as the ball moves down to your ankles.  The closer you go to your ankles the hard this activity will be.  Hold your arms straight and legs straight over the ball. Younger children may incorporate a song like "London Bridge is falling down" to this activity. 
• Prone activity - Lie with your tummy on the ball and reach over with your hands to do an activity.  Encourage one hand to prop up with arm straight whilst you try a puzzle, a tangram, alphabet sorting, sequence cards, matching pictures, spot it, a hidden picture book etc.  
• Leg raises - Sit on a chair or bench.  Squeeze the ball between your legs. Lift your legs without dropping the ball. 
• Leg to arm transfer - Lie on your back on the floor.  Squeeze the ball between your ankles. Lift your legs straight up into the air.  Transfer the ball to your straight arms.  Lower your arms with the ball behind your head.  Lift the ball with your arms and transfer to your straight legs.  Lower the ball to the ground. 
• Toe taps - Stand with the ball in front of you.  Lift one leg and tap the top of the ball with your foot.  Try the  other leg.  Keep your back straight. 
• Jumping - Place the ball between your legs.  Jump around without losing the ball.  For those who have difficulty jumping, try walking with a waddle with the ball between your legs. 
• Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes - Sit on the ball.  Sing the song whilst performing actions (ie. touching heads, shoulders, knees and toes).  You could try other action songs and finger rhymes too (eg. Humpty Dumpty, Row Row your boat).
• Sitting Balance - Sit on the ball and raise one leg at a time.  Try raising your leg bent and straight.  For those who want a challenge, try raising both legs without losing balance.  Younger children may like to incorporate a song such as "One grey elephant balancing". 
• Ball Pass - Sit cross legged with your back to a partner.  Pass the ball to your partner and reach around to get the ball as they pass it back.  Try this standing up.   In standing, you could also try passing the ball under your legs and over your head  to your partner. 
• ​Partner Balance - Stand with the ball between your back and your partner's back.  Squat together whilst balancing the ball.  Try walking with the ball between your back's also.

These activities are lots of fun and you will also be working on other skills such as bilateral coordination, shoulder stability, neck muscle strength, wrist strength, team work whilst providing sensory input (proprioception and vestibular).  

Watch our You-tube video to see these activities in action.  This video features "Pig the Pug"(aka Master YKOT) who really hopes you enjoy the video.  Hit the like button or let us know in the comments if you want to see more videos featuring "Pig the Pug". ---> https://youtu.be/vCd8dJ2BWeA​

What are your favourite gym ball activities? Do you have songs that you use with these activities? Let me know! 

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

Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team.  They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK.
HOME

​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. 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. ​​​
​
Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot
YKOT shop:  https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot
You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/

You may also like:

---