Published By: Puja Sinha

Steps to Encourage Body Awareness in Kids

Teaching body awareness to kids helps them recognise and relate their bodies to space and tangible objects

Body awareness is invariably connected to spatial awareness and is of crucial importance to performing a myriad range of tasks from the simplest to the ones that require high cognition. Here are a few strategies to perfect the art of teaching body awareness beyond the ordinary, everyday gestures.

Try Body Awareness Activities

A host of activities such as hopscotch grid, Simon Says, parade, dance and hockey-pockey are tailor-made to mimic movements, pay attention to different musical crescendos, navigate through, balance and chase without bumping into each other or injuring anyone.

Heavy-work activities that include pushing, dragging around and carrying heavy objects also work wonders. Simple sketching of body parts and naming those are also essential parts of routine activities.

Teach Kids Verbally by Allotting Everyday Tasks

Verbal reinforcement is no less important. As you assert and instruct, they learn to be more connected and conscious of their body. In a similar grain, they become cognizant of their body in space and understand how it moves in regards to muscles and joints. The lessons should be interspersed with fun activities and eventually, the learners would improve at coordination and motor planning.

Switch to Visual Aids

Shadow mimic play is an invigorating and enthusiastic way to encourage the child mimic your movement and perform simple actions. To name a few, marching, cross crawling and raising arms above the head are pertinent. Painter's tape is equally resourceful to master the art of balancing and overcoming clumsiness.

Allow Autonomy to the Kids

Teaching body autonomy is centred around the idea of being able to exert complete control over one’s body, from a young age. Besides instilling body awareness, this teaches interpersonal skills and principles of boundaries. As kids gain autonomy, they polish their skills and utilise those when required.

The concept of autonomy when taught also equips them with the authority to say no to physical touch and contact and setting around themselves boundaries for self-preservation and protection. Stillness is another verified way to heighten this experience and awareness and even impart the fundamentals of mindfulness to kids.

Body awareness promotes learning of motor skills, coordination of movements and understanding of personal space. This knowledge that would benefit in exploring the environment and forging a relationship with the inanimate and animate objects at home could be achieved marvellously through verbal, visual and physical resources.