Exercise 23: 3 years - 7 years: Up and Down

Up and Down

By playful stretching, the extensor muscles in the knees and hips are trained. The exercise is aimed at children from around 3 to 7 years of age, but can also be used by younger and older individuals where the extensor muscles in the knees and hips need to be trained. For the exercise, something is needed to sit on, for example, a stool, chair, the edge of a bed or a knee as well as a ball.

Description

Let the child sit at a height that the child can get up from without pulling herself/himself up with her/his arms. If the child sits on a higher stool, the exercise is easier. The lower down the child sits, the greater the degree of difficulty. If the child is not able to stand up independently, choose the Up and Stand exercise instead. Use a ball that is rolled to the child while sitting which gets her/him to stand up and throw it back to make the exercise more fun. Alternatively, get her/him to stand up to put up or take down magnets from a fridge. Bear in mind that, the weaker child may initially need to sit so high that the hip and knees are only slightly bent, in order to complete the exercise without having to push away with her/his arms. Carefully increase the degree of difficulty so that motivation and the feeling of success are maintained.