Indoor Activities to Help Kids Regulate
Brought to you by Oasis Pediatric Home Healthcare Occupational Therapist, Carrie.
In this video, Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Carrie, welcomes you into her home to show you her favorite 5 indoor movement activities for kids that are stuck inside for a long time. These are activities that she does with her own kiddos, as well as the Oasis Pediatric Therapy kiddos she serves in Northern Colorado. These activities help to get kids bodies moving and to use their senses. When we think of senses we typically think of vision, smelling, tasting, hearing and touch, but our bodies have a few other systems within themselves. These three systems are the proprioceptive, vestibular and interoception systems. It’s important that kids use these three systems on a regular basis because they help them regulating their bodies, knowing where they are in space, and balance.
The proprioceptive system is activated when kids get a lot of heavy work activities and a lot of deep pressure to their muscles and joints. This really helps them get a good sense of where they are with their bodies.
The vestibular system is the fluid within the inner ears. Its activated when the head moves from an upright position into different positions. This systems helps kids gain a good sense of where they are within space and balance. Activities that support this system include things such as spinning and summersaults.
The interoception system helps kids know what’s going on inside of their bodies, such as: hunger, thirst, needing to use the restroom, and temperature.
ACTIVITY ONE:
Rock Climbing Wall
INSTRUCTIONS and BENEFITS: To build a rock climbing wall in your home, you can purchase rock climbing holds (can be purchased at this link CLICK HERE ) and attach them to plywood. This can then be drilled into the studs of the wall. If you are currently renting, you can also try simply leaning the plywood up against the wall. At the bottom of the rock wall, you can place a crib mattress or you can also pillows or blankets. Really anything that can help create a soft and safe landing. You can also try placing little toys or treats at the very top of the rock climbing wall to help make this activity a little more motivating, and to help her kids go up and down a little more often. This activity is great for kiddos that LOVE to climb, but aren’t necessarily safe with it all the time. It really helps children with delays or disabilities to get their bodies moving.
ACTIVITY TWO:
Lycra Swing
INSTRUCTIONS and BENEFITS: You can purchase lycra swings already made and drill them into the stud on the ceiling or try some other options such as the one that can be found at these two links CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE. Linear swinging and movement is a great tool to use when a kiddo is really having an “off” day, and needs a reset. This type of movement is very beneficial for organizing the nervous system. You can also try a bit of spinning to help activate the vestibular system as well. This activity gives kids a ton of sensory input. Doing this a few times a day every day, makes a huge difference when it comes to helping your kid regulate when they are stuck at home for a long period of time.
ACTIVITY THERE:
Spinning Board
INSTRUCTIONS and BENEFITS: You can follow the instructions found at this link CLICK HERE to learn how to create your own spinning board from scratch. You can then have your child sit or lay down on the board and spin it in both directions. Other indoor activities that you can do to help kids that have been stuck inside and to further support the vestibular system are to try spinning using an office chair, a sit and spin, or encouraging summersaults, wheel barrow walks, and/or rolling. This activity is wonderful for helping kids with their sense of balance and space.
ACTIVITY FOUR:
Mini Trampoline
INSTRUCTIONS and BENEFITS: If your child is safe to use this on their own, you can place this somewhere inside your home so that your child can have easy access to it on their own. Again, this activity is great to help kids get energy out, and to again, help support their proprioceptive and vestibular systems.
ACTIVITY FIVE:
Tactile Bins
INSTRUCTIONS and BENEFITS: Grab a small fitted crib shit, a small plastic tub, 4 cups or paperweights to weigh down the sides of the sheet so that any messes can easily be contained and cleaned up. For inside the bins you can really put any sort of medium that you’d like. This includes: rice, pudding, soap, cereal, shaving cream, yogurt, oats, dried beans, paint, pasta noodles, bubble foam, or slim. This is also potentially great for kiddos that have certain sensitivities to textures. Additionally, a really fun thing to do, is also to put little beads or surprises for your kiddo to find. This activity is wonderful to help keep your child stimulated, especially on days where they might not be getting very much input to their sensory system.
Oasis Pediatric therapy offers pediatric home health care services, including occupational therapy for kids in northern Colorado. Additionally we offer physical therapy for kids, as well as speech therapy. At this time tele health and in home services are available.
