Balance is the ability to hold your body upright and steady without falling down!
This could be in sitting or standing, moving or standing still, with eyes open or closed. Balance is a significant component of child development and relies heavily on the vestibular system. Children must learn to balance before they can progress to higher level gross motor skills like stair negotiation, hopping, galloping or skipping.
Looking for activities for kids to promote balance? Here are some of our favorites!
Stand with one foot on the ground while the other foot is resting on a stool in front of the other foot.
This is the primary skill in working towards balancing on one foot. If this is too easy, replace the stool with a ball that your child has to rest his or her foot on. Then, progress to just standing on one leg. To make it more challenging play a game (such as catch, zoom ball or balloon tennis) while balancing.
Put a line of tape on the ground and practice walking on a pretend balance beam.
If your child steps out of bounds, he or she has to start again. By employing a balance beam that is flush with the ground, this will decrease any possible fear of falling. Once this becomes easier, utilize a real balance beam to work on more challenging balance skills.
Sit on an exercise ball while playing a board game at the table. Don’t let your child put his or her feet on the ground while playing unless they need to make sure they don’t fall.
Play hopscotch only while jumping on one foot.
No switching feet is allowed! This makes the game slightly more challenging.
Sit, kneel, or stand on a flat platform swing. Once you child can simply balance, play catch, balloon volleyball while sitting, kneeling, or standing.
Stand on a trampoline with just one leg on the surface. To make this even more challenging, invite someone else to walk on the trampoline (or jump) while trying to keep your balance!
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