This Education in Motion resource is also available as a printable PDF.
This quick guide will provide early developmental activity ideas to help promote physical, social, perceptual, and cognitive development in a variety of positions.
These activities are ideal to be completed with the Leckey Early Activity System. However, if you do not have this equipment, you can improvise with rolled up towels and firm pillows to provide the support required.
Use foam roll or a towel roll under the knees and a supportive cushion or firm pillow for the head.
Move object side-to-side to encourage visual tracking.
Encourage the arms and legs to come to midline for trunk strength and body symmetry.
Hold onto your child's feet and bicycle their legs to strengthen trunk and leg muscles. Great for communication with you!
Manipulate the long foam roll or a towel roll to the desired shape to support the back.
Move objects side-to-side to encourage visual tracking and head movements. Make sure to alternate sides.
Place items within reach to encourage upper limb and purposeful movements.
Use a foam roll or towel roll under the chest and one at the base of the feet.
Move objects around the child's field of vision to develop head control. Try to prop the child on their forearms. Smells & sounds work, too!
Work towards removing the chest support and extending the arms to bear weight.
Introduce purposeful reaching on both sides to encourage weight shifting. This is an important foundation for crawling.
Build up the "horseshoe" roll to support the child in sitting. As the child becomes more stable, you can move the small roll to just in front of his/her bum to act as a shelf or prevent forward sliding. A smaller roll can also be used to keep the legs apart.
Simply sitting gives the legs a good stretch and allows the arms and hands to become free and able to work on fine motor skills.
Encourage purposeful reaching to each side, as this encourages weight shifting which is an important precursor for transitioning from sitting to lying/kneeling.
As sitting tolerance increases, work towards removing supports over time so the child is continually developing their core strength.
Horseshoes or foam rolls can be placed under the child's trunk when support is needed, and rolls should be used at feet to maintain the child in a fixed kneeling position.
Supporting a 4-point kneeling position will help strengthen the necessary muscles in the shoulders and hips.
Introduce weight shifts on either side to help the child develop spatial awareness and balance.
As tolerance progresses, work towards removing supports where you can. Always encourage the child to keep their head upright. Brothers & sisters may want to join in!
DISCLAIMER: FOR PROFESSIONAL USE ONLY. THIS WEBSITE (AND THE DOCUMENTS REFERENCED HEREIN) DO NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Sunrise Medical (US) LLC (“Sunrise”) does not provide clinician services. The information contained on this website (and the documents referenced herein), including, but not limited to, the text, graphics, images, and descriptions, are for informational purposes only and should be utilized as a general resource for clinicians and suppliers to then use clinical reasoning skills to determine optimal seating and mobility solutions for individual patients. No material on this website (or any document referenced herein) is intended to be used as (or a substitute for) professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never disregard your professional medical training when providing medical advice or treatment because of something you have read on this website (or any document referenced herein). Clinicians should review this (and any other materials) carefully and confirm information contained herein with other sources. Reliance on this website (and the information contained herein) is solely at your own risk.
How we use your personal information when subscribing to emails You are agreeing that Sunrise Medical processes and uses your personal data to send you email newsletters. We do this by using your data to create a profile about you. This includes your name, email and any information that you've provided to us whilst using our website (such as the pages you visit, products you've enquired about and the services you use). We keep your profile secure and never share it with third-parties. We will contact you every 2 years to ensure you are happy to continue receiving email newsletters from us.
How to withdraw your consent You can un-subscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any email newsletters that we send you or by emailing data.enquiries@sunrisemedical.eu. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our privacy policy.
These cookies allow the website to be adapted and personalised to certain general pre-established characteristics, such as the language, the browser used or the region from which it is accessed.
These enable information to be obtained for the statistical analysis of the use that users make of the page. Thus, they make it possible to know the preferences of users in order to improve the services offered and limit the impact of advertising. For example, by analysing the search terms used by users to reach the page, studying the geographical area to which most users belong or limiting the appearance of repeated advertisements on the Website.
These enable the management of existing advertising spaces on the page so that each User is offered advertising content in accordance with their browsing habits and preferences, as well as other information provided during browsing.
Sunrise Medical asks you to accept cookies to personalise website content and analyse traffic. We also use third-party social media and advertising cookies to offer you social media functionalities and personalised ads on other sites. Do you accept these cookies and any processing of personal data involved?