Balance Ninjas: Moving on just one foot

Occupational therapy

﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families. So if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. So now that we're really good at balancing on just one foot at a time, we're going to work on balancing on one foot while we're moving. Okay, this is exciting. Why do we need to practise balancing while we move on just one foot? Well, if you think about it, when we walk, run, dance or skip, we spend short moments on just one foot. And if we have better balance moving on one foot, then we can do all of those things with much more confidence. And that makes us feel safer because we're not so worried about falling over suddenly. Some of the games can be challenging, so it's a really good way to improve your overall balance. Right, I want you to go and get the following items. Take some targets that you can hop to, have space so that you can move around, about two to three metres, and a good long line to hop over. I like using masking tape, but you can use a long ribbon, you can tie some school ties together, anything like that, okay? Restart once you're done. So now we're going to practise hopping forwards. So I want you to set out a series of floor targets to hop to, place them about the same distance apart. We're going to start on the first one and stand on one leg, ready to go. I want you to hop along each one of these. Aim for the target and then hop to the next without stopping. See if you can keep yourself steady throughout, without falling or missing your target. Try to stay still on the very last target without losing your balance for a second or two. And remember, practise with both feet. If you need to stop in between, that's absolutely fine. Okay, now we're going to hop on one foot. Okay, so remember we worked on our balance. We worked on getting your balance. And foot up, okay? And it's the same thing, you want to do little hops. So if you need to take several little hops, that's absolutely fine. So we're going to go all the way to the dragon. Okay, you ready? Let's watch. One foot, get your balance first. Little hop. If you need to put your foot down, fine, okay? And practise. Stop. Whoa. Whoa. And stop. Okay? What you can then do is swap legs. So my left leg is really not that strong, so I need to be doing more of these exercises. Okay, so I might be a little bit wobbly but I've made sure the floor is clear and there's someone around to help me, a responsible adult carer to help me if I fall. Okay, you ready? So get your balance and here we go. You must stop each time. Whoa. You can see my left leg is really, really weak. Whoa. Okay. And you can do this, Aniesa. Whoa. Did it! Oh, well done, me. Okay, now we're going to hop without stopping. From one all the way to the end. Once you've had enough practise hopping with stopping, oh, that rhymed, then you can do this. Okay, and here we go. Okay? And I'm going to be brave, guys, I'm going to do it on my left, excuse me, dragon, going to do it on my left foot, which you saw earlier was very wobbly. So the important thing here is that when I get to the end, I stop nicely instead of crashing into the wall in front of me. Okay, so get your balance ready. And I can do this, I can do this. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Yay! Okay. Okay, pause the video now and have a go at hopping forward. Restart once you're ready. Okay, now that you've done so well with that, we're going to work on hopping over something. So this time trying not to stop between the hops and try and have a really consistent pace. If it helps you to count, say, one, two, three, one, two, three, that's going to be a good idea to keep the rhythm going. Okay, see how far you can go before you lose your balance or step off the line. Practise with both feet. And please tell an adult if this makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, okay? How do you feel about that? Shall we try hopping over something, okay? And you can just have something flat like a line on the floor and you're just going to try hopping over, okay? Hopping over. Let's try with the left foot. Hopping over. Hopping over. Okay. I'm going to add some more beanbags. And more beanbags. So we've hopped over something flat. Let's try hopping over something that's slightly raised like the beanbag. Are you ready? Here we go. Hop, whoa, a little bit wobbly there. Whoa, get your body ready. Whoa. Oh, did it, well done. Okay, guys, we are now going to, I'm now going to do it on my left leg. Oh, wish me luck, guys. Here we go. So I'll be practising these a lot more along with you guys. I'm getting myself ready first. Come on, Aniesa. Boop, a little readjustment. Whoa. Yay! All right. And do you know what we're going to do to make it harder? We're going to hop all the way on one foot. I'm going to do my strong foot 'cause I'm not so confident on my left leg, which is my weaker leg. So now we're going to go jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, okay? Get myself ready. Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, woo, okay. But I want to be brave. I want to really try my best and I'm going to try and hop on my left foot, which you've seen I'm very wobbly on, but here we go. If I can make it to the purple one, the blue-y one, I'll feel like a hero. Here we go, guys. Ready? You can see my leg is... Let me come forward. You can see my leg is up. Now I'm going to try for the yellow one. And I'm going to go one, two, three, four, woo-hoo! Pause the video and have a go at hopping. Restart once you're finished. So these activities can be changed in a number of ways. So we can increase or decrease the distance between the hops to change the challenge. You can add targets, you can take targets away. You give yourself time to get your balance fully before you need to jump, okay? And that's absolutely fine. It's much better to be steady rather than just be quick. Try putting cushions on either side of you if you might fall a lot and have an adult stand close by if you're worried about falling over. Remember, do the best for you. Practise, practise, practise. Thank you for listening. As always, if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your wonderful hopping on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. See you next time.

Balance Ninjas: Moving on just one foot

Balance Ninjas: Moving on just one foot

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