Making body tunnels is a really fun way of teaching your children about body space awareness, in other words, teaching them how much space their bodies take up.
I had almost forgotten how children have to learn this skill when I caught my youngest trying to crawl under a chair in our dining room. She came up too soon and bumped her head which! She has since learnt that her body is bigger than she thought and she has to both bend over and move forward a lot more to complete the action without a resulting head injury.
It reminded me that while children do learn a lot on their own with regards to their bodies it is still important to help them develop these very important skills. While doing activities like cardboard body tunnels certainly does just this, if you want a quick and easy version (because honestly, after minimal sleep we sometimes want to lake the path of least resistance and effort) you can make body tunnels.
Walking under dad’s hand.
Crawling through dad’s legs. I admit I had thought she would go under his torso but this works too!
Traffic Jam.
The spaces are getting smaller and smaller.
Both older and younger children can have fun with this game. Start off by making a large space with your body (stand with your arm out for example) and get your little ones to walk under it. Then, a slightly smaller space (between your legs) where an older child might have to bend or crawl. Keep on making smaller and smaller spaces with your body up to a point where your little ones have to crawl on their bellies to get through.
Some ideas are:
• Stand with one arm out and get them to walk under it
• Stand with your legs apart and get them to walk/crawl through them
• Kneel down with your legs apart and get your children to go through them again
• Go down on your hands and knees and get your children to crawl under you
• Sit with your knees bent and get them to crawl through them
• Lie with your hand resting on your head and elbow on the floor and get them to crawl through the space
You can also get your children to help you think of different ways to make shapes and tunnels for them to crawl through.
We had so much fun making body tunnels and it ended up with us all in a heap laughing and giggling (there may have been some tickling involved too).