Motor Planning

NSjumpropeMotor planning or praxis, is the ability to plan and coordinate your body in order to complete a new movement/motor task.  It depends on other processes and skills such as body awareness, sequencing, initiation, visual perception, gross and fine motor skills, sensory integration among others.  If a child has difficulty with motor planning they may have difficulty remembering what they need to do and how they do it. A child needs to be able to learn from feedback they get from doing a movement in order to reproduce the action again. Children with motor planning difficulties will benefit from having new movements broken down into smaller steps as well as given a visual demonstration of the movement.

At Home Activities:

  1. Simon Says
  2. 4 square
  3. Jump Rope
  4. Upside Down Bowling
  5. Hop-Scotch
  6. Creating a life-sized maze out of yarn/crepe paper and have child navigate their way through the maze
  7. Stomp and catch
  8. Play with balls
  9. Follow the Leader
  10. Obstacle courses
  11. Dancing
  12. Completing activities with the non-dominant side of the bodyDSC_0103
  13. Riding a bike
  14. Tapping your head while rubbing your belly in a circle
  15. Charades
  16. Hand clapping games
  17. Games such as Hullabaloo or Sturdy Birdie
  18. “Lazy 8’s” – Figure 8’s drawn horizontally rather than vertical.
  19. Balloon volleyball while in a “crab walk” position
  20. Climbing/playing on  jungle gym

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