Develop Balance Skills

Activities that can promote the development of balance skills

• Move around like different animals on the floor, and on a signal 'freeze' in position and hold the balance completely still for a few seconds.
• Put on quiet music and move very slowly around the floor – walking, creeping, crawling, on knees, etc.
• Create a balance course indoors or outdoors using items that can be stepped on (round stones, newspapers, cushions, wooden blocks, planks, etc.).
• Tape yarn or colored tape to the floor in curves and straight lines, and let the children balance along the 'paths'.
• Crawl under or step over a rope held taut by adults at various heights.
• Balance on the edge of the sandbox all the way around, or draw balance lines in the sand.
• Walk a few meters with closed eyes: forwards, backwards, and sideways.
• Play 'Simon Says' with various balance challenges.
• Stand on one leg, preferably for increasing periods of time or with small disturbances.
• Hop and play hopscotch.
• Play with a large ball; try to sit on the ball and lie over it without falling.

Activities that strengthen balance are fundamental for developing good coordination, spatial and directional awareness, and generally good motor skills.