~ Peanut Ball ~

 4 Ways to Foster Development of Strength, Coordination, and Balance! 

Prone Walk Outs: Have your child get on their belly over the ball with their hands on the floor in front. Using their hands to ‘walk’ forward, encourage them to grab a toy or other object. You can have them alternate hands, reach to place the toy across midline, or walk the toy backwards! This challenges motor planning, core strengthening, and arm weight bearing/strength!

 

Sitting: Simply having your child sit on a peanut ball can work on strengthening and balance! You can have your child sit with their feet in front or have them sit with one leg over each side of the ball (like riding a pony). The ball will naturally roll under your child challenging their balance and encouraging activation of their core muscles! You can practice reaching for toys forward, behind, to sides, on the floor, or across midline! You can try playing catch or another dynamic activity to increase the challenge or can simply sit on the ball while reading or playing a simple game with you helping to steady it to decrease the challenge!

Hands and Knees: If your child has difficulty holding up on their hands and knees by themselves or for longer periods, you can place the ball under their belly to build tolerance for bearing weight through their hands and knees! As this becomes easier, you can work on reaching with one arm up at a time and even lifting one leg up at a time too!

 

Exercises: Add a fun spin on some exercises including sit ups and bridges! With your child in the center of the peanut ball, keeping both feet planted like they are in a chair, have them lean back then return to sitting. You can hold their legs to stabilize them. Place toys or bean bags behind them on the floor to have them reach back or to their sides to encourage trunk rotation! This exercise will aid in trunk stability and core strengthening! Bridges are another great exercise to try by having your child lay on their back and place their feet up on the peanut ball. They can press through the ball to raise their bottom off the floor to strengthen their glutes and promote full weightbearing through their feet (great for toe walkers!).

Peanut balls come in different shapes and sizes to fit kids of all ages! Try them out and let us know how you use your peanut ball for play, strengthening, and learning!

 

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