With all these rainy day, we have been in huge need of an activity to get out some of our extra energy. Clara’s body has been on high alert, which is challenging for her, as well as for the rest of us!
The Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt game we created was perfect for getting her body moving and for providing her with some heavy work at the same time. If you aren’t familiar with heavy work, heavy work activities involve moving your body against resistance. It is beneficial to kids and adults alike because it is organizing and calming to the nervous system, helping to improve emotional regulation, attention, and self-control. It is also great because it helps to strengthen the core muscles, which are needed for postural control, gross motor coordination, and fine motor development. This made the activity more perfect for us because we have been working on strengthening Clara’s core in order to improve her grasping skills.
In our scavenger hunt heavy work, we used the resistance of Clara’s own body weight through the use of animal walks.
All you need is some paper and a pen and a few plastic Easter eggs. I drew different animals on each piece of paper and stuck one inside each egg. Then I hide the eggs for Clara to find. After she found each egg, she opened it up to see which animal she had to imitate while searching for the next egg and placing it in her basket. For the last egg, she imitated that animal as she went to her basket to place the last egg inside.
Since Clara is younger, I drew the animals on the paper. For older kids learning to read, you may choose to simply write the name of the animal. And for even older kids, you could provide clues to have your child guess which animal they are to imitate. For example, this animal is a reptile, slithers, and may be poisonous.
This was a simple activity but was well-loved. Clara asked to play it over and over again! Success!
