Going to Town: An Activity to Improve Balance!

This is a fun activity to work on sitting and standing balance! The town map is made from a trifold presentation board and is covered in construction paper. The individual buildings are made from card stock and construction paper, and the pond and trees are made from felt. There is Velcro on the back of each building, tree, and pond. This allows a child the creative freedom to arrange and rearrange the board.
 

For a fun treatment activity, have the child sit on a rocker board and decide which pieces to place in different spots on the board. Then have the child “drive” a toy car from one place to the other. Have the child work on following directions by asking him to drive from home to the school, etc. To grade this activity, have the child start by sitting on a rocker board then progress to standing. There is also the option of “driving” the car on the road in the center of the board, then as he becomes more comfortable with the movement of the rocker board, and then “drive” on the road to the outer edges of the board. The board can also be placed various distances from the child. For example, to begin, he could be very close to the board and as he becomes more comfortable with the rocker board and his balance improves, the distance could be increased to change how far he has to reach in order to “drive” from place to place.  

This project was completed by a Master of Occupational Therapy student at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and posted with permission.