Coordination Exercises for Kids

Did you know that coordination exercises for kids provide so many benefits for children especially at school?

Coordination exercises include physical activity where children practice visual motor skills and/or bilateral skills where they use both sides of the body together.

These types of skills are very important when it comes to completing everyday skills such as getting dressed, eating, running, playtime and participating in sports.

Types of Coordination Exercises for Kids

Hand Eye Coordination

There are several different types of coordination exercises for kids.  Eye-hand coordination exercises include practicing skills such as throwing and catching a ball. Eye hand coordination activities progress along a continuum in young children starting with:

  • throwing a ball forward
  • throwing a ball at a target
  • tossing a ball at a target it and catching it on a bounce.

Catching a ball starts with catching a large ball, then a smaller ball, and then finally further away. Children also enjoy playing ball toss by themselves, and throwing the ball up in the air and catching it. Read more ideas here.

Visual-motor exercises otherwise known as visual motor integration is the ability to interpret visual information and respond with a motor action. such as completing a maze or tracing a path on paper. These are also a type of coordination exercise.

If you want to try some other hand eye coordination exercises for kids consider:

  • Juggling starting with one ball or bean bag and then progressing to two balls.
  • Hula Hooping
  • Dribbling a Ball. Start with a large ball and then progress to a smaller ball.

Fine Motor Coordination

If you want to improve fine motor coordination in kids consider activities that involve students using their fingers and hands to carry out a purpose.

    • Using Scissors. Start with large scissors and then progress to smaller scissors.
    • Cutting Paper. Begin with construction paper then move on to thinner paper such as tissue paper or gift wrap.
    • Stringing Beads. As in all of these activities, use larger beads or buttons first before progressing to smaller and smaller ones.

Eye Foot Coordination

Eye-foot coordination exercises also develop along a continuum such as:

Then you can combine all of those skills when you practice a skill like throwing a ball up into the air and kicking the ball before it hits the ground (drop kick).

Bilateral Coordination Exercises for Kids

There are also bilateral coordination exercises.  These are skills that require children to use both sides of the body meaning left and right or top and bottom. Another way of describing this, is moving various parts of the body in different directions.

For example, children can complete bilateral coordination exercises on the same side of the body (symmetrical) or on different sides of the body at the same time (asymmetrical).

Examples of moving the body in different directions on the left and right sides of the body would be marching in place. You could also move the top of your body in one direction (lunge to the left) while you twist your trunk to the right.

Asymmetrical exercises are when you move your body parts in different directions at different times. One asymmetrical exercise is a cross crawl. Cross crawl exercises refer to movements in which we use opposition such as crawling, walking, running, and swimming. Opposition means that opposite sides of the body work together to coordinate the right arm and left leg, then the left arm and right leg.

Did you know that coordination exercises for kids provide so many benefits for children especially at school?

What Does the Research Say About the Benefits of Coordination Exercises for Kids?

There is a substantial amount of research supporting coordination exercises for kids.  Read below to find out more:

  • There is a significant association between academic performance and body coordination (da Silva Pacheco et al, 2016).
  • Visual-motor coordination and visual selective attention, but not agility, may influence academic achievement and cognitive function (Fernandes et al, 2016).
  • Delayed attention span benefits from acute physical activity are important for the overall learning process because increased attention is a necessary component to achieve academic success (Schmidt et al., 2015).
  • Overall motor skills of males with intellectual disabilities are below the competence expected of children and adolescents without disabilities (Pitetti et al, 2017).
  • Interceptive-timing ability can predict mathematical performance in primary school children. Sensorimotor systems and cognitive abilities are intrinsically linked (Giles et al, 2018).

How Can You Help Children Improve Their Coordination Skills?

The answer to this question is quite simple – practice, practice, practice and playtime!  Children will oftentimes naturally develop these skills during playtime with balls of various sizes, hula hoops, and jump ropes.  Having free playtime with these types of equipment available helps to develop coordination skills.

Some children may need additional support to develop age-appropriate eye-hand, eye-foot, and bilateral coordination skills.  Pediatric Occupational and Physical Therapists can evaluate children to help determine exactly which skills need improvement and can recommend specific coordination exercises for children.

Resources that Provide Coordination Exercises for Kids

Exercises for the Classroom and Home is a set of 5 posters to encourage simple fitness activities for students.

25+ Bilateral Coordination Exercises – Download of 28 bilateral coordination exercise sheets including QR codes with links to video demonstration of exercises. Also includes hand out explaining bilateral coordination.

Teaching Catching, Throwing and Kicking Skills

Teaching Catching, Throwing, and Kicking Skills –  Help children learn how to catch, throw and kick with this digital packet full of information of age progression of skills, visual picture cards, tips, letter to parents and more!

Examples of Coordination Exercises to Practice with Kids

Need more ideas? Try warming up with some proprioception activities before you start. These are activities like wall push ups and jumping to help with body awareness and to remind the body of where the joints are in space.

After the proprioception warm up activities, try some of the ideas below.

Easy Coordination Exercise Ideas

  • balloon volleyball – great for young children to bat the balloon back and forth around the room.
  • ball toss with a beach ball
  • kicking a beach ball
  • throwing and catching bean bags
  • tossing bean bags at a target
  • playing catch with a large, softer ball
  • tai chi is an excellent, slow, graded motor activity that practice coordination skills

Harder Coordination Activities for Kids

  • galloping
  • skipping
  • hopscotch
  • jumping jacks
  • jumping rope
  • cross crawl exercises
  • left elbow to right knee and then right elbow to left knee
  • dribbling a ball
  • dribbling a ball around an obstacle course
  • kick a ball with the right leg and hit a balloon on the opposite side with your left arm
  • tennis ball tricks – bounce and catch a tennis ball, throw it off the wall and catch it, try bouncing it with patterns (bounce twice, hit off the wall once, bounce twice, hit all the wall once, etc)
  • juggling

References:

da Silva Pacheco, S. C., Gabbard, C., Ries, L. G. K., & Bobbio, T. G. (2016). Interlimb coordination and academic performance in elementary school children. Pediatrics international58(10), 967-973.

Fernandes, V. R., Ribeiro, M. L. S., Melo, T., de Tarso Maciel-Pinheiro, P., Guimarães, T. T., Araújo, N. B., … & Deslandes, A. C. (2016). Motor coordination correlates with academic achievement and cognitive function in children. Frontiers in psychology, 7.

Giles, O. T., Shire, K. A., Hill, L. J., Mushtaq, F., Waterman, A., Holt, R., … & Mon-Williams, M. (2018). Hitting the target: Mathematical attainment in children is related to interceptive timing ability. Psychological Science.

Pitetti, K., Miller, R. A., & Loovis, M. (2017). Balance and Coordination Capacities of Male Children and Adolescents With Intellectual Disability. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 34(1), 1-18.

Schmidt, M., Egger, F., & Conzelmann, A. (2015). Delayed positive effects of an acute bout of coordinative exercise on children’s attention. Perceptual and motor skills121(2), 431-446.

Did you know that coordination exercises for kids provide so many benefits for children especially at school?