What better time to be a kid than in the summer? No school, more sunshine, warm weather for playing outside – there’s nothing better!
But sometimes as parents, we struggle to keep kids moving and active all summer long. So, we asked the experts what they do! We chatted with Meghan Johnson and Kiersten Sabolik, Pediatric Physical Therapists at Pediatric Partners, to get advice on how to keep kids active during summer months.
Try these fun play ideas with your kids to improve their coordination and gross motor skills! These are tried and true activities that pediatric physical therapists love.
Summer Activities to Improve Coordination in Kids
Sidewalk Chalk Obstacle Course
Let your kids have the freedom and creativity to make their own obstacle course! Here are some ideas to get you started, with the coordination skill each idea will encourage.
- Hopscotch (one-foot hopping)
- Bubble pop (forward jumping)
- Vines and flowers (walking on a line)
- Spirals (spin around to improve body awareness)
- Different shapes on the ground (copy with hands or arms for body awareness)
All of these can assist your child’s ability to understand their body and adapt to the required movements.
Animal Walks
This is a great way to work on moving opposite limbs at the same or different time. Plus, moving in a crawl position also helps to engage core strength. Ideas include:
- Bear crawls
- Crab walks
- Duck walks
- Inchworms
- Frog jumps
Getting our body to move arms and legs together in specific pattern can be tricky. Try modeling your favorite animal to help your child practice!
Freeze Tag/ Red Light Green Light
A large part of coordination is understanding how your body moves and being able to control this movement. When running and playing, kids can have difficulty with stopping their own body. They may take multiple steps to stop, dive or slide to stop, or even fall because they are not able to slow down in time.
Games like Freeze Tag or Red Light Green Light allow you to practice these sudden starts and stops. This activity also assists with quick changes in direction and running speed in a fun way!
Ball Skills
Whether your child is already participating in sports or just playing in gym class, it can seem that a lot of activities involve ball skills. If your child is struggling with throwing or catching, summer allows for the perfect time to work on these skills as you can be outside to practice.
Here are some simple activities to try:
- Make your arms into a circle like a hoop for each other, so your child has to watch the ball go to their arms.
- Use a big laundry basket to catch as many balls, stuffed animals, or small toys as you can.
- Set up a bowling game or play corn hole to assist with underhand throwing.
- Start playing catch close together, and take a step back with each successful catch.
Children need to see someone else model the expected task, so make sure you join in the fun! Whether you are throwing a ball at a target, kicking a ball into a net, or dribbling a basketball, actively doing it with them will increase their excitement, motivation, and skill development.
Jump Rope
Jumping rope is a great way to work on coordination skills and timing at the same time. This activity requires knowing how and where your limbs are moving and understanding how quickly to move each to sequence them together.
Jumping rope is a great way to combine jumping skills, hand eye coordination, and timing of sequencing with multiple repetitions.
Bike Rides
Riding a bike or trike is great to work on balance, reciprocal foot pedaling, and coordination of arms for steering. Your child will also build endurance as the distance of bike rides gets longer.
When biking, a child is also required to scan their environment and look for obstacles that may get in their way. Kids should be able to ride a two-wheeled bike without training wheels by seven years old. Bike rides encourage the whole family to get outside and be active (just don’t forget the helmets!).
Playground
This may be an obvious one, but the playground allows for a huge diversity of activities to promote coordination in kids.
- Improve ankle strength through uneven ground or wiggly bridges/equipment.
- Swinging improves our knowledge of where our body is, as well as increases core strength.
- Walking up a slide will challenge ankle stability in a different foot position, and will challenge coordination of balance and strength as you walk up the incline.
- Other playground activities that improve coordination are crawling through tubes, climbing ladders and walls, and building upper body strength.
Coordination is a huge part of our ability to interact and explore our world. It involves many components, including being able to understand where your body is, the strength to move into expected motions, being able to quickly change directions, and maintaining your position safely.
While the activities listed above may seem simple, they are super important to build a great foundation for higher-level coordination in kids.
Pediatric Partners
If you have any concerns about your child’s coordination, the team at Pediatric Partners is available to help! They offer free screenings and have a team of friendly, qualified professionals that love helping children become the best they can be.
Contact Pediatric Partners of Fargo at 701-232-2340 or 1-888-875-5262, or using this form.
Find out more about their services here.
Services offered at Pediatric Partners
- Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy
- Early Intervention services
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Speech-language and feeding therapy
- Mental health counseling
