Hello Families! Hope everyone is staying well. The next activity I am going to discuss is creating sensory sidewalks. The only equipment you will need is some chalk and an area to designate for the pathway. A sensory sidewalk is a great way to encourage bilateral coordination and gross motor skills, plus, it is a lot of fun! Sensory sidewalks can be designed with as many steps as you would like, and as far as you would like the sidewalk to go! In my neighborhood, I was able to extend the sidewalk across three houses and was a fun sidewalk for the neighborhood kiddos could use throughout the week! The below are ideas to include in your sidewalks, feel free to use these, or make your own! 🙂
- Crab Walk: Draw hands and feet on the sidewalk, continue to draw these through the duration of this movement (5-10 feet) Have the child try to place hands and feet on the chalk hands and feet!
- Bear Crawl: Draw hands and feet on the sidewalk, continue to draw these through the duration of this movement (5-10 feet)
- Lazy 8: Start by drawing a line, add a large loop, followed by a line, add a large loop, etc. Have the child walk directly on the line-this is great for balance!
- Balance Beam: Draw a straight line, or zig zag, have the child walk directly on the line without falling off…they can also walk on the line placing each foot directly in front of the other (heel to toe)
- Frog Hops: Draw lily pads and have the child use both feet to jump to the next lily pad!
- Run!: Draw two lines, have the child stay within the two lines and run as fast as possible!
- Let the child pick one to create/design! Have fun with the activity! 🙂