Physical development programme ideas please for older baby and toddler

[Kerileanne99]

When Alex was first learning to walk we installed a simple wooden rail, similar to a ballet-bar style at standing height, with a shatter-proof door mirror rotated horizontally above it, then ABC finger puppets, brightly colored above that. Of course, babies love to see themselves, and would spend ages pulling up, walking along, and eventually running along the mirror to watch her reflection.  It was also great because she could watch herself try to sign and watch her mouth (and mine!) saying letter sounds, words, etc...
All simple materials from a local DIY store...

[Korrale4kq]

That is exactly what I planned to do with James, Keri. The bar and mirror. But he learnt to walk before I implemented it.

And I just wanted to share how much you have inspired me to get an indoor gym set up for James. It will be a slow work in progress as funds and time are limited. I have a rudimentary beam already set up outside. And last week I ordered a trapeze bar for James to hang from. We will be hanging it in a doorway inside this weekend.

[Kerileanne99]

Thanks so much Korrale4kq for the kind words! Glad to help.

And I can't wait to hear how your 'playground' works out! The trapeze bar is SO much fun.

Here is an idea that you can try out with minimal space, low cost, and things around the house...we have had some recent hysterical moments in our house We use our climbing wall/playground, but you could do it anywhere. Especially if you invest in some plastic cones.

We have been setting 'obstacle courses' that daddy runs (with mommy laughing hysterically and cheering him on when she can breathe through the laughter!), and Alex runs through it behind him imitating: you can be as crazy and creative, more play-based, or as challenging as you like.  We give Alex tasks, like she climbs the wall HALFWAY, TRAVERSES to the Right, walks along the beam, does a forward roll, over to the trapeze to hang for 30 seconds, then across the monkey bars...
You get the idea!  But it is awesome for getting her moving and challenging her, and she has to listen very carefully for precise directions, then remember a sequence (although obviously needs cheers and reminders!)
It has become such a fun family activity that she begs for it every evening after dinner.  If daddy will let me I am going to have to record it, as it really is hilarious!

[Kerileanne99]

So!
Another so-called physical/age/coordination myth out the window!

Simple things to do, with a bit of planning: everything I read insisted that toddlers are simply not ready to jump rope until about age 5-6... Indeed, we used our own rope as the available ones are not appropriate/sized for toddlers!

I am thrilled to say that yes, it is fairly simple to teach jump-roping skills to toddlers, and this is a fantastic activity for them that is mobile, inexpensive, challenging for them.  Jere is how we started, although we were making it up so you might not find all the steps necessary with your own little ones
First off, we used a piece of climbing rope, nothing plastic!
In the beginning, about two weeks ago, hubby and I would hold the ends and gently/slowly swing it back and forth, so that she could practice jumping and timing. After about a week of this, we very slowly started actually turning the rope. We then gave her 1/2 of a Hula Hoop to try on her own, and only today gave her a shortened piece of rope with handles to try herself.
Success! Sort of, at least   very, slow, clumsy rope manipulations, with timing slightly off!
Still, quite good for the amount of time we have put in at her age.  This actually incorporates all kinds of skills, balance, and coordination, so if you have the chance, give it a try!

[Korrale4kq]

Jumping rope so young! I would never have thought of that. Great idea! Used to love doing it when I was a child. It is amazing exercise.

[Mandabplus3]

Just thinking on this...if it didn't turn out to be too heavy you could thread the jump rope with some plasic tube ( thin clear hose) to thicken, stabilize and slow the rope. It should make it easier. The hoola hoop can then stay whole to learn that skill too! Yep kids can use a hoola hoop before they get to school age too
Interestingly the kids I know who can jump rope in the first year of school are the very same ones who got given these awesome wooden handled, quality, kid tough skipping ropes for their 3rd birthday by there ( absolutely awesome) "aunty" Manda    so I guess even owning one early is a good step to being able to use one before age 6!

[nee1]

Korrale, Kei, and Mandab, thank you so much for your recommendations. I've begun to implement them and I'm grateful for the tips. Please if you come up with new ideas, please feel free to share them anytime. I'll be stalking this thread for a long time. Mandab, I'm still expecting your list of other things you did. Feel free to post when you remember them. Thank you once again, everyone. I am so grateful to you all.

[arnaudova]

Let your child walks as much as possible, and - on different surfaces - barefoot on the floor and the linoleum, shoes on the ground, grass, sand, asphalt, rot, leaves and snow. This will help him to successfully develop the necessary skills.

It is worth to mention one very important point:

As a rule, adults do not trust (sometimes due to lack of time) to their children on their own to cope with different physical difficulties. When a child is found in the way of an obstacle, the father simply picks him up and carries. A typical scene - a father walking down the street with the baby, holding his hand. Here they go across the street and are ready to embark on the curb. But in that moment when a child raises a leg to do it yourself, the father lifts him up and gently lowered to the ground, so that the obstacle is behind. So the child lost the opportunity to overcome their first ascent.

They go on, and the child looks back with regret at never overcame their border. "Maybe tomorrow ..." - he thinks.

Allow me the baby to cope with these difficulties!Going up and down stairs

Now it's time to learn to use the stairs. Look carefully for them, when the child goes up, and when it goes down. Be ready to catch him in case of a fallIdeal - if you spend at least 15 minutes a day on this exercise. When using a ladder children must be supervised by parents.

Walking on three types of terrainEven, smooth, free of obstruction
This can be a track to crawl or parking place - that is such a place, when walking on which your child will not face with any obstacles. The surface must be flat, so that when walking he did not have to lift your feet. This point is very important because the higher the child raises his leg, the easier it is to lose your balance. This type of area allows the child to practice in a continuous walking increasingly longer distances. In addition, this area he is learning to walk faster and faster.
Smooth rise
Smooth paved road leading up the hill, or shop ramps between floors. When raising a child bends forward slightly, the descent - back. To successfully move on any terrain, the child must learn to move your center of gravity, depending on the angle of inclination of a surface.
Also, when it comes down, inevitably learns to walk faster. As the vestibular apparatus, the walking speed of the child will be significantly increased.

Lift height should be increased gradually. With the development of vestibular and respiratory system, the child will climb higher and higher slopes.

Cross-country
It can be a forest, cropland, pasture with high grass, sand dunes. Here, the child will have obstacles abound.
Start from the area, which will cause the child to stop at first, and then gently overcome the difficulty. If he is going to fall every few steps, then this area is clearly too difficult for him. Do not start with an irresistible situation for the child. Number of obstacles must be increased gradually, with the improvement of skills and dexterity of your child.
In this case, do not encourage the child to run. Better to make more long walks to more challenging terrain. Own way through the obstacles, your child learns to balance by moving the center of gravity from side to side or front to back. In addition, he will learn to look, where to put the leg.

All this will contribute to the development of the vestibular apparatus and, accordingly, the ability to maintain balance.

Trapeze. Install trapeze so that your child can easily grab the wooden beam and start rocking back and forth. May she always be on hand. It can be installed in the doorway, close to the stairs to intercept, or in the yard, fixed the tree branch. Horizontal bar in the doorway. we can again use the horizontal bar, in which the child first learned to hang. Now let him study it wobble.
Stairs to catch the bed. If you put the bed against the wall and fasten the ladder directly above it, you will get a very good location and that and the other. Moreover, it will love your child. Now kids can get up on the bed on tiptoe to reach out to the bars and start to sway. Drop it's OK, because under them soft bed. And even better - make the bed on the floor. Then the child will not be able to hit the edge of the bed or fall on her floor.
Pool. Some families are lucky - they can put a ladder just above the shallow end pool. Reduce the height of the stairs, they were able to facilitate the movement of their children as the water is supported them afloat. Later, with the development of skills of the child, you can increase the height of the stairs as long as the child can not bear its full weight and starts to move but the stairs above the water. However, when engaging in the pool, continuous monitoring of the parents!

[bella]

i took doman program in philadelphia years ago and physical excellence is one of my priorities together with early learning . now that my kids are three and six i found out about a beautiful physical education  program specially designed for homeschoolers http://www.familytimefitness.com/fitness4homeschool/FitnessPlatinumPackageUpgrade.php   i bought the core level and really like it , it is so easy to do with different age kids , get you out and moving . my kids run swim brachiate jump trampoline , cycle ,... so my husband first wondered if we really need such program , now he loves it . i encourage you go to their site and read through , you can also download first week for free , all the lessons have you tube videos to explain how to do the exercises , and my kids enjoy watching other kids and get very motivated. Also a great idea to organize sort of sport club so your kids friends can join in , you can organize a small group of few kids to do it together . I didn't do it yet but i  am really considering it .
viv

[lzp11]

Thank you all for some really great ideas.
Nee1 - that is a great idea about placing furniture to help encourage my son to start walking. He is now crawling very enthusiastically and keen to pull to stand although not really cruising or making many steps but I'm sure that will come soon.

Bella - that's a really interesting thought to purchase a PE curriculum. I would never have thought of it. I'd love the inspiration if my finance could stretch that far. In the meantime I may need to write my own and get a bit more structured. Can you tell me how it works and why you have found it so good?

For my older daughter it has been the start of term again in some of her classes (swimming, gymnastics and ballet). Unfortunately she is not copng well with the transition to classes where mummy is not allowed to join in. I feel a bit disappointed as I know that physically she's more than capable of progressing in all these areas but she gets highly emotional and not in any state to learn. In swimming, I have managed to find someone to come with us and the teacher is happy for me to be in the pool as long as necessary. This is great so my son can swim too. But the other classes are more rigid with the rules and won't allow me in to support her (or only for 1-2 weeks which won't be enough). I guess it's not a disaster - as a parent I can still be her best teacher, right?! Although I dont know much about ballet  ).  I don't have a lot of home equipment but I'm hoping I can fill in the gaps myself.

I have just found a link to some useful curriculum ideas that could easily be adapted for younger children. This is the gymnastics page but you can also click through to dance, athletics and sone other areas.
http://www.firstschoolyears.com/pe/gymnastics/gymnastics.htm

[bella]

Oh i could not afford it myself , we have heavy on going  medical expenses , but also because of my daughter specialneeds (quadriplegic ) I am kinda of really focusing on my kids physical development . having them at home i didn't want them to miss out on PE , and when i discussed with a very dear friend of mine teacher she herself complained that in our schools unfortunately there is no proper PE education . We were already meeting weekly for craft , painting , pottery . I make lots of effort to host such events so i don't have to leave my specialneed daughter behind so I am more than happy to have our art group in our house , all the mums would help out with snacks and material , i will prepare some I love baking , and we invite a local artist to join us . We also did dancing the same way once a week , i am blessed with big outdoor and am more than happy to not have to go out of the house . I discussed with the parents and all got together to buy the program and we do it as a group , really fun , so in a way i was lucky i didn't have to pay anything , i provided the ground
i really like it . it is so different than running around in the garden , very flexible can be adapted to different age groups , of course my three years old is still to the young side won't follow direction but happy to just be around and join as much as he can . it is so much fun when we parents join in .
viv

[lzp11]

I also found this site - it has a whole list of great PE / gymnastics and other sports ideas.  I have already made a list of 5 or 6 lessons that we can try over the next few weeks.
http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/searchresults.asp?category=51

[Mandabplus3]

I just remembered it was only a few weeks after my kids walked that I taught them how to roll. To start we used the mattress on the floor. They stood legs apart ( mostly so they were lower to the ground, they were tall) tuck head in and gently support a forward roll. They will be really keen to do it again and again if they are ready for it. If not wait a week or two and try again. The key is to get their chin tucked into their chest and their mouth closed so they don't bite their toungue. My kids were keen to roll and tackle each other,    so I figured I May as well teach it.
I also actively taught them to climb stairs one foot on each step soon after that. The stair climbing proper technique builds trunk strength which is the same muscles used to sit still and tall in a chair, ultimately useful for EL.

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