Moving and touching are how children first learn about the world. Feeling a blanket with their skin, touching a flower petal, stretching their arms up to the ceiling, climbing a jungle gym, and running in great circles are examples of ways that children gain the important information they require to function well.

Nature’s educational plan is for young children to absorb sensory knowledge through their skin, muscles and joints, before they “graduate” to a developmental level where they can gather information through their eyes and ears.

Many children seem to seek more movement and touch than others. We think of them as Bumpers-and-Crashers, and as Touchers-and-Feelers. These children are telling us with their actions what their brains and bodies are telling them: the must act. They are telling us that if they can play “bumpety-bump” on the tire swing, or jump off a table onto a gym mat with an exaggerated crash, or wallow in muddy puddles- for as long as they wish- they will “get it all together”.

They are right!

Below are some ideas for large and small motor activities that teachers at school and parents at home can provide for their children. Every little body can benefit from these suggestions- not only the children who seek such activities, but also the children who are more tentative about exploring their environment.

Jumping from a Table
Place a gym mat beside a low table and encourage the child to jump. After each landing, stick a piece of masking tape on the mat to mark the spot. Encourage the child to jump farther each time.

Jumping to Rhythms
Recite a nursery rhyme, clap your hands, or beat a drum in a steady rhythmic pattern. Ask the child to jump or hop to the rhythm.

Jogging
Run around the playground together!

Riding Vehicles
Trikes, bikes, and scooters help children learn how to coordinate their movements and develop their sense of balance.

Walking on Unstable Surfaces
A sandy beach, a playground clatter bridge, a grassy meadow, or a waterbed are examples of shaky ground that require children to adjust their bodies as they move. Urban children especially profit from these experiences.

Moving through Obstacle Courses
Build an obstacle course that requires a child to change her body positions and forms of locomotion. The course might include tunnels, rising and descending ramps, balance beams and steps, placed in a wide circle, indoors or out. For different sensory challenges, suggest that the child try the course in stocking feet and with bare feet.

Hanging from Monkey Bars
Suspending one’s weight from one’s hands sends sensory information about the muscles and joints to the brain. When a child shifts from hand to hand as he moves his body underneath the bars, he is developing upper body strength.

Tumbling with Friends
This activity feels good all over.

Walking like Animals
How many animals can a child think of that walk in different ways? Encourage her to walk like a crab, a frog, a duck, a gorilla, a horse, etc.

Leap Frog
Or Horsie, or Fox-and-Gingerbread Man!

Hermit Crab
Place a large bag of rice or beans on the child’s back and let her move around with a heavy “shell” on her back.

Wheelbarrow Walking
Lay a string on the floor in a serpentine path. Hold the child’s ankles and see how far he can go, walking on his hands.

Pouring
Put different amounts of sand, beans, or water into a cup or pitcher. Let the child pour from one container to another. At meal or snack time, let the child pour juice into a cup. A child who frequently spills juice needs lots of practice.

Handling Meal or Snack-time Objects
Along with pouring milk or juice from a pitcher, opening cracker packages, spreading peanut butter with a knife, and eating applesauce with a spoon are good for the proprioceptive system.

Drawing to Music
Put on some favorite music. Give the child large sheets of paper (newspaper is fine) and a box of crayons- not markers. Encourage her to draw circles and squiggles, as the music suggests, while she lies on her stomach on the floor.

Insy-Outsy
Getting in and out of seat belts, the car, a coat, hat and mittens, shoes and socks, are valuable self-help skills. The best way to encourage them is to let the child perform these tasks alone, even if it takes a l-o-o-n-n-g time!

The Tacticle System provides two kinds of information: one pertaining to protection and the other to discrimination.

The protective tactile system warns a person to defend himself from potentially dangerous touch sensations. Swatting away a mosquito or blinking to avoid dust in the eyes are functions of the protective tactile system.

The discriminative tactile system informs the person about what part of his body is being touched, and about the shape, size, and texture of the object doing the touching. It is the discriminative tactile system that tells you, for example, that a soft, furry puppy is rubbing against your leg.

All children benefit from a variety of tactile experiences, such as those listed below:

Swaddling
Roll the child up tightly in a blanket or carpet. Being wrapped up provides deep pressure and is usually very pleasurable. Children with tactile dysfunction will frequently roll themselves in a blanket as a form of self-therapy, but it is a special treat to have a trusted grown-up do the rolling.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Encourage the child to rub a variety of textures against his or her skin. Offer different kinds of soap (oatmeal soap, shaving cream, lotion soap) and differently textured scrubbers (loofa sponges, thick washcloths, foam pot-scrubbers, plastic brushes).

Feely Box
Cut a hold in the top of a shoebox. Place different objects in the box, such as spools, marbles, plastic animals, and little airplanes. The game is for the child to insert a hand through the hole and guess what toy he or she is touching- without looking. The ability to discriminate the form of an object without the use of vision is challenging for a child with tactile perception problems.

Dress-Up
Prepare a special carton just for dress-up. Include hats, shoes, gloves, furry or feathery boas, and silk scarves.

Manipulating Small Toys and Objects
Working with Legos and Duplos, building with blocks, and doing jigsaw puzzles develop a child’s tactile and proprioceptive systems.

Using “Tools”
Cutting with scissors, drawing with markers, chalk, crayons and pencils, and painting with brushes, feathers, and sticks strengthen sensory integration in many ways.