Does your child have problems with his/her balance? Then maybe it’s time to set up a sensory diet of vestibular activities.
When training the vestibular sense, you need to tilt the head in every direction. Think of a ball with a little bit of water inside – you need to make sure that the water has touched every part of the inside of the ball. So think – swing, roll, spin, somersault.
Many think of balance improvement as “how dizzy you get after a fast spin” – but one thing we learned is, that is is just as important to spin slowly. Our boys have always loved fast spinning, and this is great training, but slow spinning could get quite uncomfortable for them. So you also need to think – Fast and Slow.
We both have full time jobs, and this means a busy week schedule. This means for us, that it is important to have a playroom, where it is easy for the boys to train their senses, and where they choose to train all on their own because it is super fun for them – giving us time to make dinner, clean up etc.
These are our boys’ favorite things to do:
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Fast spinning and core training in one fun exercise
This swivel chair from Gonge is the absolute favorite toy in our house. The boys sit on it, and by rocking their upper body slightly back and forward, they gain speed and spin in pure joy. It takes a little practice, but once they master it, this is super fun! This is by far the best buy we have made for our playroom, and they still use it many times a week even though we have had it for 3 years now.
Since they control the speed by rocking their body, this exercise also trains upper body strength and coordination – and this makes this exercise both alerting and organizing. Sometimes we make a contest on who can spin the slowest – making it for a calming activity as well.
If your child is too small for the swivel, you should take a look at the Gonge Mini Top instead. This was a great spinning toy for us, when the boys were younger.
Swinging, spinning and hanging upside down all in one
Having a trapeze swing bar gives your kids so many opportunities to train the vestibular sense. You can sit on the bar and swing, swing while hanging in your arms, hang upside down with the legs on the bar, do somersaults while hanging in you arms.
We call it the monkey swing, because they feel like little monkeys having fun swinging from tree to tree – and seeing how far they can jump when swinging (boys will be boys ;-))
Just remember to have a soft mattress underneath it, so your kiddos won’t hurt themselves falling from it! We have a queen size tri-folding mattres, that we use as a cozy sofa, when the swing is not up – this is perfect for us and provides lots of safety.
Making a balance track and playing floor is made of lava
Balancing on any kind of balancebeam is a super organizing exercise for the vestibular sense. Our boys love to make a balance track in our basement, and they use all kinds of thing to make it – and then our Gonge Build n Balance Advanced set is always a part of it. This set provides different balance beams (some flat, some round, 1 is a slackline, 1 has a tilt function), platforms to go higher/lower, and a pole you can go over or under to make it extra hard. This set makes it so easy for the boys to set up their own track, and the possibilities are so many that it feels like a new track for them every time – we absolute love this! It is also very durable, which is why we love Gonge. Our kiddos are a bit (very) rough on their toys, and this set is in perfect condition even after 3 years of continuous play.
Making the kiddos into a Burrito
Rolling is the one Vestibular training that has been the hardest for us to get the boys to do on their own. So here we help them! Our favorite exercise is “Burrito”. Alle you need is a large blanket or duvet. You roll the kids tightly in the blanket – this gives them a good proprioceptive input as well. Be aware that their heads should stick out so that they can breath! When they are tightly rolled, you pull the end of the blanket (Fast or Slow) to roll them out again – They love this!
Again – remember to have a soft mattress underneath!
If you find that you don’t see enough improvements in your kids balance, then maybe take a look at my page about Primitive Reflexes – maybe a retained reflex is making it harder and you need to start a different place.
