The Value in Vertical Play

May 2, 2022

True confession.. becoming a new mom and being a serious type A personality has its challenges.

In those early days I felt an intense desire to do everything I could to help my new daughter succeed in life (yep.. very type a!), but I quickly became overwhelmed by all of the early childhood development information out there.

Can you relate mama?

I really wanted to do the best for my daughter, but, it didn’t take long before I hit analysis paralysis and gave up completely. There is so much to know, in fact there are whole careers dedicated to the understanding of these concepts.

It felt it didn’t matter how much time I spent trying to learn what to teach her, it was never enough, there was just too much to know.

Time is a precious commodity for moms, (as I am sure you well know) and I didn’t want to sacrifice my time with her, or my self-care time to become an early childhood development expert!

Now, years later, my children are older and need less for me I am really beginning to see that there were more simple things I could have done.. had I only known what needed to be done.

So, I am starting this new series of ‘good to know’ mom hacks that’ll give moms helpful, bits sized information and ideas for simple everyday things you can do to help improve early learning, physical development and overall wellness for your children.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey to connect and learn together, if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, consider this your official invitation, you can do so here, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook. I look forward to learning together with you.

The first article in the series was inspired by a comment on our new Felt Board post on Instagram stating that our felt board is great for vertical play.. so I did a little research and discovered there are a ton of benefits to vertical play! Here’s what I found:

The Benefits of Vertical Play for Kids

Build Up Kids Strength

Vertical play often conveniently happens when kids are standing which is a great way to support their gross motor skills development, promote good posture and neck positioning, as well as build core strength in their little tummies.

Vertical play benefits for kids build core strength and flexibility

Promotes Kids Flexibility

Playing on vertical surfaces can also promote mobility in kids arms and shoulders, placing objects high enough so kids have to reach to grab is a great way to children to stretch and also give them a chance to practice their balancing, another gross motor skill.

Vertical Play can improve flexibility and arm mobility in children

Coordination Development in Children

Bilateral coordination and midline crossing are technical terms describing activities where an arm or leg crosses over the center line of the body to the opposite side, which in turn connects both sides of the brain. Vertical play encourages children to complete tasks on opposing sides of their body.

We humans use these midline crossing activities to perform everyday tasks like dressing, eating, and reading!

developing bilateral coordination in kids

Pre-writing Skills Practice for Kids

Vertical play puts the wrist in a natural pencil grasp position, thus strengthening the muscles kids will eventually need when learning how to write. Plus it can also improve dexterity as well as fine motor control.

pre writing skills can be developed through vertical play

Here are 10 Easy Vertical Play Ideas you Can Do at Home!

Playing Catch, Simon Says, Dance Party, Tape Rescue, Climbing, Yoga, Tug of War, Balance Board, Obstacle Courses, and playing with the tinyFEATs felt board and Felt Alphabet Letters!

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