Tightrope walking

Here is another great indoor or outdoor activity to get your preschool child developing important movement skills: walking a tightrope.

1. Find a thin piece of rope or a long piece of ribbon.
2. Stretch the rope or ribbon out on the floor of your living room. (If you don’t have carpeting, you might want to secure the rope or ribbon with some tape so it doesn’t move too much.)
3. With your child, imagine you are acrobats walking the tightrope at the circus.
4. Show your child how to walk heel-to-toe along the tightrope. Raise your arms straight out to the sides for balance.
5. If you step both feet side by side, you’ve fallen off the tightrope.
6. Try these variations: walking sideways, walking backwards, crawling with hands and knees aligned on the tightrope.

This activity is especially good for developing balance, one of the fundamental movement skills for toddlers and preschoolers to develop. The ABCs of movement include agility, balance, coordination and speed.

Tightrope Competition

Create a tightrope obstacle course. Find four or five lengths of rope or ribbon and create a series of tightropes between safe “islands” made with blankets or towels. For each length of tightrope, you have to use a different technique (walking forwards, walking sideways, walking backwards, crawling). Challenge your child to see if they can complete the entire course without falling off.