25 Heavy Work Ideas for Small Spaces

These heavy work ideas for small spaces can help kids demonstrate calmer behavior and more coordinated, organized movement.

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Do you know a child who:

Constantly bumps into other people or objects

Is uncoordinated and clumsy

Constantly chews on her shirt or pencil

Seems to always be breaking things

Has difficulty attending and sitting still

All of these are signs that this child may be in need of additional proprioceptive input to help calm and organize the body.

What Are Heavy Work Activities?

Proprioceptive activities are often referred to as “heavy work”.  Heavy work is accomplished by working against weight or resistance through activities like shoveling snow, playing tug of war, riding a bike, swimming, pushing a heavy strollers, or pulling a loaded wagon.

But heavy work activities don’t always have to involve a lot of space.  Whether you’re a teacher with limited classroom space, a therapist who works in the corner of a crowded hallway, or you’re stuck in the waiting room at a doctor’s office and wanting to calm your anxious child – try these heavy work activities to provide that calming proprioceptive input!

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25 Heavy Work Ideas for Small Spaces

This list is full of great heavy work ideas that will give kids the proprioceptive input they need to focus, attend, and engage. These ideas can be used in the classroom, in a hallway as a movement break, or at home. We love these proprioception activities because you don’t need to have a big therapy gym to do any of them! You’ll only need the simplest materials and a little bit of space.

Read through all of them and then grab the free printable to keep on hand whenever you’re in need of a heavy work idea!

1. Massages
2. Bear hugs
3. Play with a Body Sock
4. Yoga Poses
5. Pulling resistance bands with hands
6. Playing passing games with weighted stuffed animals
7. Weighted sensory bottles
8. Animal walks
9. Wall pushes
10. Chair dips
11. Tossing and catching heavy bean bags
12. Boxing with boxing gloves against a mat or bolster
13. Roll a therapy ball up and down the wall
14. Squeezing putty or play dough
15. Playing tug of war with Pop Toobs
16. Tearing paper (especially heavier card stock)
17. Crumpling paper and shooting into a garbage can
18. Pushing and pulling Squigz
19. Cooking activities (e.g. kneading, stirring thick dough)
20. Stepping up onto a chair or bench and jumping down (with close supervision!)
21. Squeezing sensory balloons (filled with dry beans, dry rice, or play dough)
22. Digging in a tactile bin of wet sand or Kinetic Sand
23. Writing on and then wiping off or erasing dry erase boards or dry erase pouches
24. Pushing feet against resistance band tied to the legs of a desk
25. Wall sits