Ten Games to Play With Wheelbarrow Walking
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Wheelbarrow walking is a great upper body and trunk strengthening tool, and it is easy to incorporate it into a game. When wheelbarrow walking, you are strengthening your arms and your trunk since you have to activate a co-contraction through your whole body to maintain the wheelbarrow position. It is a great heavy work activity, and is also a great activity to work on motor planning for the kids who struggle with this.
When I have kids wheelbarrow walk, we use it to take objects from one place to another. The have to get the object and place it on their back or in their pocket. The closer to the child’s body that you hold the child’s legs, the easier, so if you want it to be easy, you hold on the upper thighs or hips and then move out towards the knees and ankles to make it harder. Here is a list of some of the games that I play with wheelbarrow walking.
- Puzzle
- Put the pieces at one end of the room and the puzzle at the other.
- Shape sorter
- Put the shapes at one end and the sorter at the other end.
- Roll a sentence game
- wheelbarrow walk to the dice, roll a word, and then wheelbarrow walk back to the paper to write the words and sentences.
- Letter matching
- clothespin matching game, or clothesline matching with clothespins
- Get cars to park in the garage
- Gather food for a stuffed animal
- Go fishing and bring the fish back
- Get food for munchy ball (who is at the other side of the room)
- balls or marbles to put down the ball/marble run
There are so many different types of activities that you can incorporate with wheelbarrow walking, and the child’s interests can easily become a part of it to make it motivating.
Also check out the ten activities to do on a scooterboard.
