Fall Fun: Outdoor Play to Encourage Sensory and Motor Development
In our recent post on sleep, we mentioned that getting in some gross motor play and/or heavy work prior to bedtime can help facilitate falling asleep faster and achieving deeper, more restful sleep. Combining gross motor play and heavy work with outdoor play can contribute to developing a more steady sleep routine. Time spent outside results in greater exposure to sunlight which can naturally help reset our body's internal clock or circadian rhythms. We have mentioned the calming effects of being outdoors in several previous posts. Fall is a great time to get outdoors and play with milder temperatures and so many fun activities available. Here are some common fall fun activities and different ways they support sensory and motor development. If your child has and delays that make these activities seem difficult to participate in, please contact us. We can try to problem solve your particular concerns together!
Apple Picking - There are several options for U-pick apple farms and they often also have a playground or other fun activities. During apple picking your child can hold/carry the basket or bag to put the apples in. This supports motor planning and provides input to the joints and muscles of the hands, arms, legs and core. Reaching up to pick the apples provides a nice calming stretch to the spine and creates room for a nice deep breath which can also be very calming. Picking apples and placing them in the container or bag also works on eye hand coordination as well as providing input to the muscles joints. Walking through the trees and on uneven ground provides opportunities to practice balance reactions and coordinating body movements to information taken in through vision. Squatting down to pick up an apple from the ground and returning to stand works on strength, balance and coordination of multiple body parts.
Scavenger Hunt - Fall scavenger hunts are very popular in my area and there are several examples of them on the internet. Visual motor skills are often overlooked, but are so important for helping us navigate our environment safely and participate in reading and school work as children get older. Scavenger hunts provide opportunities for scanning the environment while looking to find the items. Running, walking and marching can be included in moving toward those objects. Squatting to pick items up and using hand eye coordination to place them in a bucket or container are also great skills addressed in this activity.
Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze - In this area, many pumpkin picking experiences start with a hay ride. This provides opportunities to climb up on to the wagon, balance on the bench or hay bale, sensory experience of feeling the hay and a lot of opportunities to turn and look at items along the path while maintaining balance. If your child is sensitive to new tactile experiences, you might take a blanket or jacket to lay across the hay bale they sit on, You could also offer them a piece of hay to interact with while waiting to load to give some less stressful interaction with hay to start. Picking up, pushing or rolling the pumpkin along the ground provides input to muscles and joints that we often call heavy work. This can be a very calming and organizing type of input for children, Just like with Apple picking, walking on uneven ground and over and around the vines offers opportunities to practice balance reactions and coordination of body movements. Corn mazes are also very popular and provide many of these same opportunities!
Decorating for Fall - Children love to be helpers! Carrying tools and pushing totes are some great ways to get in some of the heavy work and coordination of multiple body parts. They can use those visual scanning skills to help identify places to place decorations in the house. You could even foster some cooperation and further opportunities to practice coordination by allowing child to work with each other or with an adult to carry larger props!
Playing in Leaves - Perhaps my favorite part of fall is when the leaves start falling! Raking up leaves provides excellent opportunity for using the upper half of your body in a different way than the lower part of your body. The lower part of your body provides stability and balance while the core (meaning the midsection of the body) and arms bend and stretch to gather leaves up into a pile. Pulling the rake provides the input to the muscles and joints of the arms. Grasp and maintaining grasp in reaching is a skill needed in order to avoid throwing the rake. This activity can help with both grasp strength and maintaining grasp through movement. It provides movements that can strengthen upper arms and shoulders. Once the leaves are in a pile there is the tactile play in feeling the different textures on your skin in playing in the leaves and the different smells that may be present both in the leave themselves and in the surrounding environment. There are further opportunities to coordinate moving several body parts together when jumping, running, rolling and throwing the leaves in the air.
Fall is a fantastic time to get outside and practice a variety of sensory and motor skills in the greatest way possible. . .play and fun! If you are in Metro East St. Louis and looking for some great places to participate in the activities listed above, there is a fantastic list of fun fall activities put together by Madison County Kids. Check it out! If you enjoyed this article, please like, share and follow us on social media!