Exercises

This is an edited extract from Smart Start: How exercise can transform your child’s life, by Margaret Sassé. Published by Exisle Publishing

BIRTH TO SIX MONTHS:

INHIBITION OF THE PRIMITIVE REFLEXES:

• Infants must learn about their body so they can move.
• Movement creates brain development and is the result of inborn primitive reflexes (unconscious movements), which develop in early pregnancy and are present at birth.
• Many reflexes are involved in a child’s development.
• Voluntary control of the primitive reflexes occurs through massage of the skin and nerve endings under the skin in joints, muscles, ligaments and in the inner ear.

WORM SQUIRM:

This primitive reflex is present before and after birth to 3-4 months of age. It is vital to future development. All parents have seen their infant (when on his/her front) ‘squirm’ forwards. By the age of two, a toddler can be asked to be a worm wriggling along to improve awareness of each side of his body.

SIX MONTHS TO 12 MONTHS:

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT…

Encourage the infant to hold a little bar or hold your hand over hers while gently pulling her back and forth to a song such as ‘Row, row, row your boat’. Encourage bending of her elbows to strengthen the muscle tone. Note the hand to help lower the head if necessary.

Why? Helps develop upper body strength and increase muscle tone.

12 – 18 MONTHS:

HITTING A BALLOON WITH A FLY SWAT

Show your child how to hit a hanging balloon back and forth by hand – first one hand, then the other. Then show him how to hit the balloon with a fly swat, with your help. Try chasing a balloon.

Why? Helps with hand-eye coordination and motor development.

18 – 24 MONTHS:

WALK BOARD

Find a board approximately 19 cm wide by 1.8 m long for your child to walk on. Ask her to hold out her arms, placing your hands lightly underneath her elbows for support, ready to grasp if she becomes unbalanced. Ask her to look at an object at eye level at the end of the board, not at her feet, as she walks along the board.

Why? Balance and posture are necessary for co-ordination and later motor development.

2 – 2 ½ YEARS:

ANGELS IN THE SAND

The child lies on his back on the floor like a pencil and moves his arms and legs slowly in, out, up, down, individually or together, to the beat of music, as you instruct him. Now tell him to move his arm and leg on one side slowly up into the bent position – sideways. Watch the thumb of the bent arm as it moves up slowly to eye level and back again. Then do the same on the other side. Repeat this five times. Finally, try cross-pattern actions – for example, ask him to move his right arm slowly along the ground and above his head, while he moves his left leg out sideways.

Why? This is an old exercise, wonderful for body awareness, left and right awareness and later cross-patterning.

2 ½ – 3 ½ YEARS:

FINGER PAINTING

Buy non-toxic finger paint. Provide a large piece of wet butcher’s paper, a flat table, a smock and a blob of finger paint for your preschooler to swish across her midline as she draws or makes swirls.

Why? Finger painting allows for full development from the shoulders to the fingers. It might be a mess, but it’s great for finger development – and it’s fun!

3 ½ – 4 ½ YEARS:

REBOUNDER SEQUENCING

Repeat all number sequences six times.

a. 5 jumps, stop, 7 jumps, stop, 4 jumps, stop.

b. 4 jumps, stop, 8 jumps, stop, 5 jumps, stop.

Make up others for your child’s level.

Midline body cross-overs:

a. Left hand touch right ear and back, stop.

b. Right hand touch left ear, and back, stop.

Make up other similar sequences with body parts.

Why? These activities aid both vestibular development and balance, and provide sequencing and memory stimulation.

4 ½ – 5 ½ YEARS:

RABBIT

Child squats and bounds like a rabbit bounding for its burrow. First, hands ‘bound’ forward, then up jump the feet. This is called bounding on all fours.

Why? Imitating animals is great sensory stimulation, as these actions are multisensory in nature. Bounding is two arms forward together then two legs together, thus identifying and stimulating the bottom half and then the top half of the body.