More Gross Motor Activities

As I mentioned in this post, we are often looking for ways to use energy inside the house. Here are more of our solutions.

Standing on the balance board and reaching to color.

This is a great game that specifically works out the shoulders and upper back. The toy is made for playing in the pool, but it's fun even without the water. See the video below for exactly how it works.

Clearly they aren't having any fun at all...

Of course, then we had to increase the difficulty. In these photos you can see Sweet Son sitting on the IKEA ladybug. Because it is rounded, it uses core muscles to stay balanced while sitting on. Sweet Daughter is standing on the balance board. This makes the entire activity much more difficult and requires them working together.

We also found this awesome swing at IKEA. You are supposed to attach it to the ceiling, however we found a cheap stand on craigslist so went with that instead. Spinning is great for developing the vestibular system. Also since the seat is curved, it requires more control just to get in and out than a typical swing.