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Today's scooter board activity for kids is a fun one; an obstacle course relay. This idea came from Christi, a Physical Therapy Assistant I co-treat with on Wednesdays. It actually wasn't our plan for the day, but we lost our room to a classroom needing to use it, so we ended up in a resource room and hallway for the day.
So Christi came up with this idea that she use to use a lot in one of her other buildings. We added a fine motor component to it so that the kids could benefit from both therapies at once.
Items for this activity:
Directions for Activity:
- This activity can be done with multiple children and done as many times as you like. We had each child go through it 2 to 3 times.
- Set up your course as pictured above – foam balance beam, floor color dots, scooter board, and then leave a large space in between the scooter board and white board on the floor. (Pictured below)
- Give the first child the dry erase marker to hold and start them on the balance beam. They should use a reciprocal gate on the beam (one foot in font of the other). This size board allowed for 4 steps.
- Next, jump onto each color floor dot using two feet and bending at the knees.
- Lay on tummy on the scooter board and use arms and feet to push to the white board on the floor. They should be using bilateral movements (both sides of the body and lower and upper board together – will look like an army crawl).
- While laying on the scooter board, have them write their name on the top of the white board. Make sure they use proper grasp (2 or 3 finger grasp). Be sure they form the letters correctly (top to bottom formations), letters spaced appropriately and on the writing line. Have them erase and start over if they do not do this correctly.
- Have them turn around on the scooter board and go back to where the floor dots start.
- Stand up and jump on each colored floor dot with two feet together, bending at the knees (no straight knees while jumping!)
- Walk on the balance beam with reciprocal gate (one foot in front of the other) about 4 steps.
- Hand off the dry erase marker to the next child and continue. (If working with multiple children, you will need more than one white board).
If you are working with just one child, have them continue the course until they have written two sentences under their name. For example, one of my children we did this with wrote “I like Hannah Montana.” Make sure they use correct spacing (index finger for a visual if needed), line orientation, and a period at the end. Have them start over and re-do if anything is not done correctly.
I found these white boards in the dollar isle at Target. So check your local Target to see if they have them. I bought four.
Grading Activity Up:
- Add more components to the course. For example, after writing, they could continue on the scooter board to a throwing station and practice ball skills throwing at a target.
- Increase the amount of turns each child takes to one or two.
- Increase the amount they need to write.
Grading Activity Down:
- Decrease the components to maybe one or two items, such as balance beam, to scooter board, to writing.
- Decrease the amount of turns each child takes to 1 or 2.
- When working with preschoolers, only ask them to write their name and then work on pre-writing lines such a vertical, horizontal lines, circles and cross shapes. Do not ask them to write sentences, this is not age appropriate.
Skills worked on:
- Fine Motor Skills/Handwriting
- Bilateral Coordination (using both sides and top/bottom of body together – scooter board)
- Balance (Balance beam)
- Jumping Skills
- Visual Motor Skills
You can also check out my Winter Themed Scooter Board Activity.
For more activity ideas like this one, check out my bilateral coordination Pinterest board below.