What Are The Benefits Of Obstacle Courses?
Obstacle courses allow us to tackle many different goal areas in just one activity! Find out the different ways below!
Social/Cognitive/Emotional Development:
Sequencing and Planning of Movements
Turn Taking
Following Multi-step Directions
Problem Solving
Initiation of Activity
Task Completion
Waiting for Turn
Gross Motor Skills:
Balance
Strength
Coordination
Motor Planning
Building Protective Responses
Timing and Accuracy
Sensory:
Proprioceptive input (climbing, pushing objects, animal walks, tunnels, crashing onto cushion, carrying heavy objects etc.)
Vestibular input (stepping stones, hippity hop, swings, hop scotch, balance beam, bosu, trampoline, slide)
Tactile input (change texture of obstacle course with use of tactile dots, shaving cream, bubble wrap etc. & put tactile bin at end of obstacle course to find item, foam/ball pit etc.)
Visual input (scanning obstacle course to collect items, tossing hoops onto cones, navigating in/around/under/on top of obstacles etc.)
Awareness:
Body Awareness: Navigating through obstacles helps improve a child's ability to understand where their body is in space to help develop coordination and strength and increase overall safety when navigating in different environments
Spatial Awareness: Obstacle courses help child develop proper spatial awareness by keeping their bodies a proper distance away from objects and navigating within obstacles with appropriate spatial relations
Safety Awareness: Obstacle courses help to build safety awareness in children by navigating through different surfaces and obstacles using appropriate and safe body movements to prevent getting hurt
Fine Motor Skills:
Therapists can sneak fine motor skills into an obstacle course in order to work on refined fine motor skills in a fun, interactive way!
For example, a child can crawl through a tunnel to retrieve a bead then sit on the bosu to string together the bead and bear walk to return to beginning. A child may see this as more engaging than sitting down to string beads.
DISCLAIMER: The content in this blog should not be used in place of medical advice/treatment and is solely for informational purposes. All activities/exercises posted in this blog should be performed with adult supervision, caution, and at your own risk. Big Leaps, LLC is not responsible for any injury while performing an activity/exercise that has been posted on this blog. If you have any information on the content of our blog, feel free to contact us at info@bigleapsct.com.
