Age 5 · Balance and Whole Body Movement · 6 activities
Balance and Whole Body Movement activities for 5 year olds
Six activities for the year balance goes quiet enough that a child can carry something, hold a rope or blow a ball while doing it.
Heel to toe is a five year old's move in most children, and it is the line this shelf turns on. Ask for it at three and you get feet either side of the tape as often as on it, which is a fine walk and a different one. At five the foot goes down in front of the other foot on purpose, and once that is there the balance stops taking all the attention.
That is what makes the second job possible, and the second job is where this age lives. Balance Beam Coin Carry is a taped line, a saucer and five coins, and the coins are the whole instruction: the only way across is slowly, and nobody has to say so. Bucket Stilts Balance Track does the same with two upturned tins and a rope in each hand, outdoors, and it is the one a five year old will practise unasked for a fortnight.
Three metres of tape and a bare floor cover most of it. If the flat has neighbours below, Painters Tape Floor Balance Track is close to silent, and a line left down on the floor gets walked several times a day by a child nobody asked. The wider shelf is Balance and Whole Body Movement, and the two halves of it are Balance and Coordination and Body Awareness and Position Sense.
The six at five
Ordered by the age each one suits best, youngest first. The list is built from each activity's whole age range rather than its single best year, so all six suit a five year old: two came in at three and are run faster and longer here, and the stilts run on to eight.
- Balance Board Coin Steady Your child stands on a board that rocks slightly and tries to keep a coin still on the back of her hand, which means the whole body has to go quiet. no setup · 5 to 10 min · household, or a bought set
- Straw Blow Ping Pong Race Your child blows a ping pong ball across the table through a straw, and races it to a strip of tape at the far end. no setup · under 5 min · household only
- Blindfold Rope Path Walk Your child follows a rope laid along the floor with her eyes closed, finding the turns with her feet while your voice tells her what is coming. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Painters Tape Floor Balance Track Your child walks a line of tape stuck to the floor without stepping off it, then does it again carrying something. 4 min · 10 to 20 min · one substitute needed
- Balance Beam Coin Carry Your child walks a taped line heel to toe carrying a small stack of coins on a saucer, and discovers that the only way across is slowly. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Bucket Stilts Balance Track Your child stands on two upturned tins, holds a rope in each hand to keep them under her feet, and walks a taped line across the garden. 15 min, once · 10 to 20 min · household only
All six work with tape, a board, a rope and things already in the house. Painters tape, the low-tack blue kind, is the one that lifts off wood and laminate cleanly.