Stacking cups can be a great activity for many skills including motivation for gross motor skills!
- Visual motor skills – you can vary the size of the cups, the color of the cups or even the weight of the cups to provide different input and make it easier or more challenging
- Grading of movements – if the child puts the cup down too hard the whole tower may fall over so they get to practice regulating their force
- Accuracy of movement and body awareness – when reaching to place the cup the child can work on accuracy. They get immediate feedback if they aren’t accurate because they can knock the whole tower down or the single cup they are placing could fall off! In addition, if they walk right into the tower they will receive immediate feedback as well.
- Squatting – you can have the cups on the floor so the child has to squat down to pick up the next one and then stand to place it on the tower.
Once the tower is built you can practice rolling balls, throwing balls, riding on a scooter to crash into the tower and then start all over again! If you stand and try to kick one cup down at a time you are also working on single leg stance!
Crashing can be used as an activity to increase arousal or to work on self regulation.
What other ideas do you have?