The sun is finally shining and there are so many great ways to work on gross and fine motor skills when outdoors! Here are a few to fill these beautiful sunny days:
Get your hands in the sand!
If you are lucky enough to be near a beach/lake, make sure to bring your bucket and spade! Sand play is a great way to get some tactile input, and you can also work on fine motor skills when scooping and dumping sand into a bucket! Go old-school, and find a stick to draw letters/shapes in wet sand! Have your child trace the letter/shape with their fingers/feet for a multi-sensory learning experience. Or line up rocks/shells in the letter/shape.
Catch, Kick and Throw
A ball is a wonderful tool to use for gross motor skill development. You can grade the task up or down to meet your child at their developmental level. Practice rolling the ball back and forth, throw the ball with 1 or 2 hands, work on visual attention as your child visually tracks the ball, and prepares their body to catch, or work on kicking! You can also play fun games such as sitting back to back with your child, and rotating their body to pass the ball around their body and over to you. This works in bilateral integration skills and will be sure to have you both giggling! Our new Whipper Skipper is a great toy for outdoor play!
Skip the Screen time
Time to dig out the skipping rope! Work on traditional skipping, or if that is too challenging, or you want to change it up, lay the rope out in a wavy pattern, and practice 2-foot jumping over the rope, or side to side. You can also hold the rope horizontally and have your child limbo under, bear-crawl under, or crab-walk to work on core stability.
Always remember…your imagination is the limit!