School Age

In the first years of life kids are growing and learning fast.  Pediatric physical therapists tend to work on physical development activities that focus on large motor skills.  Large motor skills are activities like walking, jumping, running, or skipping.  

We love combining all things movement and learning at our house.  This includes literacy and letter recognition activities.  My boys are both preschool aged kids with one being 5 and one being 3.  My three year old is working on letter recognition in his preschool, and my five year old is working on letter sounds. 

Working in pediatrics can be a lot of fun.  What makes it fun is the fact that you get to “play” while working on important motor skills.  Today I’m going to share some of my favorite pediatric core strengthening exercises that are so much fun that your kiddo may not even realize how hard they

Winter will be here shortly.  Being from Minnesota, I always find it hard to believe winter starts in late December as the winter weather has already been here for a while!  I’m excited to share a fun winter themed game that is perfect for the entire winter season and a fun winter movement game that

Are you looking for a fun way to add movement and physical activity with a holiday theme? Need Christmas gross motor ideas?  How about dancing like elves?  The Jingle Jive is a fun game to create dancing routines during the holidays.  The Jingle Jive is a great way to move and work on motor planning

I love all of the different motor and sensory paths I am seeing out there.  If you are a regular reader or have been looking through this website you will notice that I LOVE themes.  That’s why I created the Santa Boots gross motor game that is perfect for Christmas!  It’s easy to set up

One of my favorite ways to do therapy with kids was using a vertical surface.  There are a ton of benefits to working on a vertical surface including wrist extension, spatial awareness, visual attentions, shoulder and elbow stability, core strength etc.  That being said, I also LOVED to use vertical surface activities to incorporate gross

Summer is upon us and it’s the perfect time to get outside and move.  Relay races for kids is a fun way to do this!  Whether you are looking for activities for your own kids, a family get together, camp, or summer school you need to check out these kids relay games!  The relay games

Are you ever in a bind where you need something simple and fast to work on gross motor skills?  For this activity all you will need is some paper plates to work on balance and coordination.  There are simple variations that you can do to the activity to make this simple gross motor game more

Are you looking for something a little different to add to your gross motor stations?  Maybe you need some fresh ideas on how to challenge balance?  Maybe you want a fun party game?  You need to try these fun ways to challenge balance with cardboard blocks.  This activity is simple to set up and can

Christmas is quickly approaching!   Gross motor games with a Christmas theme are so much fun!  They work great for the entire month of December! It’s the perfect game for getting out all that energy out! After you read about the Christmas Relay You need to check out Christmas Yoga, Christmas Brain Break Ideas, and the

Are you a teacher, parent, caregiver, or therapist looking for a fun Christmas Gross Motor Idea?  The Holiday Hop is the perfect Christmas gross motor idea.  This game can be fun from preschool through elementary years.  Check out how we play the Holiday Hop!

Are you looking for a fun game that also promotes balance?  You need to try the bean bag balance game.  It’s super simple and you probably have most things that you need around your home!  The bean bag balance game would also work great in physical education or for gross motor stations.

One obstacle I often run into working in the schools is a space to work in.   In these cases one of my favorite therapy tools happens to be a hill or incline.  It’s amazing how many great strength and balance exercises you can do with a simple hill or incline.  I especially love to get

Are you looking for a fun way to work on single leg balance?   I call this next activity a single leg balance exercise, but in reality it’s more fun and play!  This activity can be done most anywhere and you only need bubbles to practice these single leg balance exercises.  So here is how