Toddler Time: The Power of Pushing
Often, as a Mom, I am looking for something to wear my kids out! Don’t underestimate the power of pushing!
Pushing activities are great for pre-walkers to older children. It is an activity that you can do with all of your kids. Pushing activities strengthen the muscles in the front and the back of the body in balance, this me…ans that the abdominals and pectoral muscles are strengthened in balance with the hip extensors and back muscles. If you choose to push lower objects (see picture in comments) your child is lengthening his hamstrings and activating the muscles on the front of his foot (dorsiflexors). This is great for all those kids who walk on their toes out there!
There are so many ways to modify this activity and to make it fun for your entire family.
. Place objects around the house and have the kids push a laundry basket around to pick the objects up.
. Play choo-choo with your kids and have children push each other in those large Amazon boxes that all the holiday gifts arrive in!
. For more core work, push diaper wipes containers or wrapped diapers around and knock down a stack of blocks or cups.
The trick with this activity is that pushing a box or a laundry basket has more surface area and therefore is harder to push than something with wheels, make it harder for the older kids and a just right challenge for the toddlers.
Enjoy this great activity and tire those kids out indoors!
For more suggestions on promoting gross motor skills for your little one, like babiesfirstfitness.com. and check out Babies First Fitness on Facebook.
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