Children’s Occupational Therapy
Postural Control Activities for the Younger Child
Balancing whilst lifting right arm and left leg or left arm and right leg out
straight, hold for 10 seconds.
Crawling activities- this position can be incorporated into obstacle courses,
relays and other games.
Activities in High Kneeling/ ½ Kneeling positions
a.
b.
1. Ring toss.
2. Bean bag throwing into targets such as hoops/boxes
3. Skittles.
4. Balloons batting with two children, you can use a cardboard tube as a bat for
this game.
5. Paper fish game-cut a fish shape from newspaper and use the rest of the
newspaper, folded, to flap to make the fish move along the floor.
6. Drawing on large sheets of paper on a vertical surface/blackboard/easel
encourage balance reactions to develop.
7. Walking forward and backwards in upright kneeling across a room.
8. Statues- child freezes, and you push the child from hips/shoulders. The
child must try to stay still.
9. Child goes from upright kneel to side sit alternate sides, and can progress to
standing without use of hand to push off.
Pushing/pulling heavy objects such as PE mats.
Have the child move heavy objects around at home or in school.
Wall push-ups. Stand a little way away from the wall, keep your feet still and
‘fall’ forward then push off with your arms. Progress to positioning the feet
further away from the wall.
Balancing on all fours whilst lifting right arm and left leg/left arm and right leg
out straight. Hold for 10 seconds or more.