In it's simplest form, vestibular input is the sensation of any change in position, direction, or movement of the head. The receptors are located in the inner ear and are activated by the fluid in the ear canals moving around as you change position. Vestibular activities can have a calming, focusing, and organizing effect on children, teens, and adults. Here are some of our favorites you can easily do at home and incorporate into your daily routines!
The Vestibular Sense is crucial for a child’s development – helping them work rest and play. A typically responsive vestibular system enables a child to feel secure and confident in their body, so they can move, attend to learn, and rest.
balance, visual tracking and fine motor skills, integrates auditory and visual systems, is galloping like a horse, jumping rope, bouncing on a mini trampoline, swings, slides, teeter totters, rolling, skipping, galloping, running, obstacle courses
Household Chores - Chores that involve bending over . invertins one's head such as emptying the dishwasher, taking laundry out of the front-loading washer/dryer, picking up toys
Use the Floor - Place commonly used items such as books or the remote on the floor so the child has to bend over to pick them up
Practice fun, kid-friendly exercises such as "head, shoulders, knees, and toes," windmills, situps, neck rolls, or barrel rolls
Make an obstacle course on the floor using masking tape or painter's tape, and have your child crawl on all fours and blow a cotton ball or ping pong ball through the course
Animal walks - Bear walk, frog hop, seal slide, duck waddle, crab walk, etc.). Have your kiddos crab walk to breakfast, bunny hop to the bathroom for potty breaks., and crawl like a snake to turn the TV on and off.
Play Simon Says - Provide directions such as spin in a circle, bend down and touch your toes, or pass a ball up over your head and down under your legs
Rock in a rocking chair
Swing on a swingset
Sit or bounce on a Ball Chair, or lay on your stomach over a therapy ball while playing a game or watching TV
- Laying on the Floor to play a board game, color, do homework, or draw
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