“As a paediatric physiotherapist I absolutely LOVE obstacle courses!

They provide an exciting opportunity to cater to your child’s sensory and motor needs while having fun. In addition to the sensory and physical benefits from doing the obstacle course your child may get a chance to practice valuable skills such as following simple to complex instructions, sequencing, short term memory, motor planning and imaginative play.

I hope you have fun thinking and planning WITH your little ones to see what you can add to your #lockdownobstaclecourse. Please feel free to tag @wateringwhole and @juliaphysio if you upload your videos on Facebook 🙂

Tips for setting up:
Try to include a variety of age appropriate activities that include some or all of the following:

• weight bearing on arms through to the shoulder girdle
• jumping or crashing/bashing
• something that will get their heart rate up for some cardiovascular work
• ball skills
• balance
• bilateral coordination, which is using the two sides of your body together in a controlled way (skipping, galloping, riding a bike).
• be aware of your child’s unique sensory profile. Do they need deep pressure? Pulling, pushing something heavy? Do they need vestibular (movement) input? running, spinning, jumping, rolling? Are they nervous of fast movement and /or heights? Then lets rather ease into it slowly and start with something they are comfortable with.
• be aware of your child’s play style and incorporate it to motivate them. Do they enjoy deeply imaginative play? Let’s save your friends from the lava monster! Or do they rather enjoy competing with themselves and want to make it a time trial..
• something I often include in our obstacle courses at the Watering Whole is a fine motor component. Keep an eye out for next week’s post where I will explore some @home-friendly fine motor games to include in your obstacle course or to just do when you need a quiet activity to keep your littles ones stimulated.”