10 Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises & Activities

Pediatric physical therapy exercises can be critical to improving mobility, reducing pain, and speeding the healing process after injury or surgery. Yet, physical therapy is boring, right? For many children, that’s the way it may seem. The key to success with pediatric physical therapy is to find ways to engage in healthy and helpful strategies that are also fun.

Not only is it important for pediatric physical therapists to engage in these types of activities, but parents can do so as well. Often, the best recovery for young patients happens over time, with consistency. Any level of practice you can do at home helps.

These are some of the best activities to encourage physical therapy in children while also working to keep them interested and even laughing during the process.

Animal Walk

What You Need: Tape

What this Works On: Balance, core muscles, limb and ab strengthening

How to Play:

This game is one that will work their brain as much as their physical abilities. Take a bit of masking tape and tape it to the floor on one side of the room. Then, about 10 to 20 feet away, place another piece of tape.

The child’s goal is to walk from one piece of tape to the other. The catch is they have to walk like the type of animal you call out. Make it fun by choosing a range of animals to pretend to be.

Stickers On Your Foot

What You Need: Balance ball, stickers

What this Works On: Core muscles and balance

How to Play:

In this activity, the child will put stickers on the bottom of their feet. They then sit on the ball, facing a wall, and must take the stickers off their feet just one piece at a time. After removing the sticker, they have to place it on a piece of paper that you’ve positioned on the wall. The hard part is balancing!

Tightrope Walk

What You Need: Tape

What this Works On: Balance, core, and leg muscles

How to Play:

Use the piece of tape to create a line from one side of the room to the other. The child pretends this is a tightrope and muscle balance on it to move across the room.

Simon Says

What You Need: Just another person

What this Works On: Any area of the body

How to Play:

This is a tried-and-true game in which the child mimics the actions of the other party. They can only do so when the leader says, “Simon says.” Try using a variety of activities to engage various muscles.

Stuffed Animal Elevator Rides

What You Need: Stuffed animals and an empty tote

What this Works On: Core strengthening

How to Play:

The goal for this activity is to move the stuffed animals in a pile on the floor into a plastic tote next to them. However, it’s done using only their feet. The child must maneuver one stuffed animal at a time on top of their foot, raise their foot, and then drop it into the container.

Floor Ice Skating

What You Need: Two paper plates

What this Works On: Core muscles, leg strength, and balance

How to Play:

This one is as easy as can be. With care to minimize falls, place two paper plates on the floor and have the child stand on the plates, one foot on each one. Then, have them slide from one area of the room to the next. This method works best where there’s no carpeting.

Adapted Yoga

What You Need: Nothing, though you can use blocks, chairs, and walls to help you.

What this Works On: The whole body

How to Play:

Adapted yoga is something that most people can do because it means performing various yoga poses in a manner that’s easier for them to do. You can develop your own strategies here, but use things like blocks, chairs, or even the wall for support.

Wheelbarrow Race

What You Need: Another person

What this Works On: Core and upper arm strength, shoulder strengthening

How to Play:

To play this game, someone else needs to stand behind your child while they lay on their belly (aim for a soft area of the floor for this one). The other person picks up the person’s legs, holding them at a slight angle off the ground.

The child then has to move throughout the household, using their arms to walk. Though challenging, see who can move through the home fastest.

Hungry Hippos

What You Need: Two peanut balls and 10 throwing bean bags

What this Works On: This therapy helps to build upper limb strength, weight-bearing in the upper limb, motor planning, and core strength.

How to Play:

Hungry Hippos is certainly a fun board game that any child gets into, but this version is a more real-life way of playing. In it, the goal is to “eat” the most bean bags.

To play the game, the child lays on their stomach over the top of a peanut ball that’s properly sized for them. Their hands should be able to reach the ground while they lay over the top of the ball. To get the physical fitness benefit, the shoulder needs to be over the elbow and wrist. It takes a bit of balance using their hips, but the goal is to position yourself on the ball and then use your hands to “walk” the ball in various directions. The goal is to pick up as many bean bags as possible.

Scooter Board / Board Races

What You Need: Two scooter boards

What this Works On: This exercise helps to work on upper limb strength along with lower ab strength. It can help strengthen the lower limbs as well as the back extensor muscles.

How to Play:

To play this game, you will engage in a race between two people, each with one scooter board. The trick to this game is that the players can only use their arms to move, and then, in a second round, they can only use their legs.

To play this game, the child lays on their stomach with their toes pointed downward. To move the scooter, the child has to use both of their arms at the same time. It’s a bit harder to do, but you can also tell the child they can only use one arm at a time. The front portion of the hips must remain flat on the scooter board with the head looking upwards. See who can make it around the track first.

At Rock Valley Physical Therapy, we know the importance of providing the most enjoyable pediatric physical therapy exercises for children. When you take the time to find your clinic and then request an appointment, you’ll be engaging in a way to support your child’s recovery that they won’t mind participating in.