5 Practical ideas for physically active play - BHF National Centre ...

Wheeled toys activitiesBody balancingBalancing using beanbags or small soft toysOther equipment to encourage balance– Give children equal opportunities to have a goon a variety of wheeled vehicles, eg, scooters,trikes, balance bikes, wheelbarrows.– Set up a parking area and routes for childrento follow, aiming to keep within the lines,eg, chalked lines, ropes.Balance activitiesBalancing on two feet– Ask the children to stand on tiptoes andbalance (stand still). Can they do it for fiveseconds? Get them to try walking forwardsand backwards on tiptoes.– Incorporate rests into activities where theymove on and off their toes, so their calf musclesdon’t get too tired.– Explain that we can balance on large parts ofour body. Ask children to show a balance ontheir backs, their tummies, on their sides.– Can they balance using two feet and one handor two hands and one foot?– Play musical statues. On ‘freeze’, children musthold very still for a count of five. Encouragethem to experiment with different positions,on different levels (high, medium and low).– A child puts their feet on top of your feet andyou both hold hands. You walk backwards,forwards and sideways while they balance onyour feet.– Use large exercise balls for body balancing,body rolling and pushing.– Get children to explore different balancing trickswith a beanbag or soft toy. Can they balance iton their hand, head, leg, arms, shoulders, elbow,top of the foot, thigh, knee etc? They can trythese activities with two feet on the ground andthen progress to standing on one foot.– Can they move around an area with thebeanbag/toy in different positions and notdrop it? Encourage them to move in differentdirections (forwards, backwards and sideways)and in different pathways (straight, curving,zig-zag).– If they place their beanbag or toy on the floor,can they make any shapes with their body overit, eg, a star, bridge, crab, tunnel? Can they makea shape over the beanbag or toy with a friend?– A child balances a beanbag somewhere on theirbody. If it falls, they must stand still (freeze) untila friend has put the beanbag or toy back whereit fell from and shouted out the body part.Friends then swap roles.– Ask children to lie on their backs with their feettogether up in the air. Balance a beanbag or softtoy on their feet. Can they keep the object offthe ground? Safety: Take care that items are light and soft sothey can’t hurt the child when they drop them.– Stilts– Stepping stones– Balance boards– Single seesaws– Beams/planks– Climbing frames– Rockers– Balance bikes– Dinosaur feet– Saturn balls– Traversing walls– TyresBalancing on one foot– Ask the children to balance on one foot fora count of five. Then, change legs and repeat.Repeat again and try to balance for longer. Letthem rest when they’ve managed a count of 15.Ask them to try this with one eye closed, thentwo. Ask what happens when they do this.– Play musical statues, and when the music stopsask the children to balance on one leg. Keep themusic breaks short.– Get them to place one foot on a large ball andbalance on the other leg, then hold for a countof five. Change legs and repeat. Repeat againand try to hold for longer. Let them rest whenthey’ve managed a count of 15.– Ask them to place a tennis ball under one foot,and, while they’re balancing on the other leg,roll the ball from heel to toe with the sole oftheir foot. Repeat five times and swap legs.70 Early movers – Helping under-5s live active & healthy livesSection 5 – Practical ideas for physically active play 71