Inuit Owl Hop
Skills:
Physical: upper and lower limb coordination, gross motor skill, balance
Cognitive: sustained attention, selective attention, visual processing, working memory
Social: awareness of personal space
Number of participants:
1 or more
Equipment:
none
Description:
- children adopt the following starting position: balance on one foot with the other foot behind the knee of the standing leg
- bend the knee of the standing leg to approximately a 45 degree angle
- put arms out to the sides with hands clenched into fists and thumbs pointing upward
- children can hold the balance position for as long as they can or they can hop in this position across the room
Wheelchair friendly?
This activity might not be suitable for people who use wheelchairs. “Wheelchair Friendly Activities” has a list of activities that are easy to adapt for wheelchair users. This list isn’t exhaustive, so we invite you to come up with your own creative ideas to make any activity work for you. If you have an idea on how to make this or any other activity more accessible for wheelchair users, We’d love to hear your ideas on how to make this or any other activity accessible for wheelchair users. Thank you for helping make play more inclusive!
Modifications to make the activity easier:
Change the environment: have the child hold onto a parent or adult during the activity to decrease physical demand
Change the task: allow the child to put their hand or foot down to help them get into the starting position to decrease physical demand
Modifications to make the activity harder:
Change the environment: have the child complete the activity on soft ground (i.e., grass field) to increase physical demand
Change the task: have the child balance for a few seconds, then hop twice, then balance for a few seconds to increase physical demand
Goal examples:
- child is able to balance for 10 seconds independently or 20 seconds with support by holding a friend’s hand
- I can balance all by myself
