A friend and I were talking the other day about the challenges of social distancing. She mentioned that her preschooler was having moments where he was suddenly wildly out of control: suddenly he started
crashing into things, yelling and running around. This conversation got me thinking about the concept of heavy work. Heavy work is not something many parents are familiar with, but is essentially activities that stimulate a child’s sense of proprioception through pushing, pulling and lifting. Proprioception in its simplest form is body awareness, i.e. knowing where your body is in space. Without heavy work, children can struggle with this awareness and end up feeling out of control.
This sense of where their body is in space is something that most preschool age children are still developing; however, heavy work is normally built into a preschool child’s daily life. At the Barn children are given the opportunity to work on these skills, children run, jump, climb, roll and dig on the playground, they play a variety of active games with friends. We make sure that heavy work opportunities are available each day, but particularly on rainy or too cold days when we can’t get outside. Being at home social distancing and not being able to visit playgrounds many children may not be getting enough of these heavy work experiences, thus leading them to have more of these out of control moments. I thought it would be helpful to share a few heavy work activities that you can do at home to help your child stay regulated especially if this is something you are experiencing. You can also get creative and share your own ideas! The best part is most household chores have some level of heavy work built right in!
Chores:
Helping Carry Laundry
Make the Bed
Give the Dog or a Toy a Bath
Clean Windows
Push Chairs into the Table
Empty the Garbage
Help Carry or Unload Groceries
Sweeping
Inside Games:
Build a Fort
Remove the Couch Cushions and Put Them Back On
Fill a Bag or Pillow Case with Stuffed Animals and Carry It around
Use Real Tools (with supervision)
Have a Pillow Fight
Fill a Box or Laundry Basket with toys and push and pull it around (you can even do races!)
Stack or Unstack cans or boxes of food (or other items)
Army Crawl
Hold Up the Wall: Lean into the wall with both palms, arms straight
Push a shopping cart or stroller
Outside:
Make an Obstacle Course
Climb Up a Slide
Push Someone on a Swing
Stacking and Moving Rocks or Pieces of Wood
Digging in the Garden
Load a truck or skateboard with toys and push it around
Tug of War
Run Laps around the House or Apartment Building
Use a wheelbarrow, or push a stroller