Check out these fun kids movement activities using tape! Tape is the perfect addition to your therapy bag or classroom because it’s easy to store and quick to use!
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Tape.
It’s one of the most underrated tools in a therapist’s bag. It’s cheap. It’s colorful. It’s compact and light and easy to carry. And, it’s so much fun!
Check out these fun ways to encourage gross motor movement with a simple roll of this sticky stuff!
If you’re looking for great tape options for your therapy bag, classroom, or home – don’t miss BAM! Tape
Cross Crawls
Place a piece of tape on a child’s right hand and a piece of tape on a child’s left knee. Encourage her to touch the taped hand to the taped knee and then repeat on the opposite, “no tape” side. Bonus: if you have two different colors of tape, mark the opposite hand and leg with another color!
Floor Ladder
No need to buy an expensive agility ladder that the frou-frou trainers use! Grab a roll of tape and stack those squares together for a quick movement challenge that kids will love!
Jumping Practice
How far can you jump? Challenge kids to start behind one line of tape and then jump as far as they can to put their own mark on the floor. Or, put an “X” on the floor as a starting point and have kids jump to targets all around them to practice agility, body awareness, motor planning, and balance.
Balance Practice
Use tape to create a balance beam or get creative and make a shape like we did in this Christmas Tree Balance Activity.
Toss and Catch
Hand-eye coordination gets a workout in a simple game of toss and catch with a roll of tape! Plus, it’s so much more entertaining than a ball!
Target Practice
Place bits of tape at varying heights along a wall and have kids jump, squat or reach on their tiptoes to touch it.
Stair Climbing
Use two different colors of tape and mark stairs to indicate which foot comes next when teaching an alternating pattern on the stairs (one piece of blue on a step then on the next step, one piece of red). Put coordinating tape on shoes (blue tape on one shoe, red on the other).
Body Awareness
Kids love this game! Call out body parts and have kids use their strong fingers to rip off a tiny piece of tape to mark their (or a friend’s) nose, ear, knee, etc.
How else would you use tape to facilitate gross motor skills in the kids you work with? Drop us a comment and tell us.
For Virtual Sessions:
Simply ask the parent/caregiver to have a roll of masking tape or painters tape on hand for the session. Then, during the virtual session, demonstrate and provide instructions for any of the activities above.
More Tape Activities for Kids
Want to add a fine motor component? Check out our tape collage fine motor skills worksheets!
And you’ll definitely want to check out WooTape too – so great for working on handwriting skills like sizing and letter formation!
This tape maze cutting activity is a fun way to use tape to practice cutting skills.
Try this idea for creating collage art with tape.
And here’s one more awesome roundup of fun tape ideas for kids!
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