Children's Self-Regulatory Activities to do at Home

Self-Regulatory Activities for Children to do at Home

With Singapore’s Circuit breaker which ran for almost 2 months, the government still calls and encourages everyone to stay home. Your “bedroom” as your office, “delivery services are the normal meal, and all social gatherings & interaction are limited to zoom and online chats. For the first few weeks, yes, it’s nice to stay home and be with your family but as it goes longer, the story changes. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to juggle your job in your company and your responsibilities at home – all at the same time! Imagine having a very important meeting with your boss while your child is beside you, having tantrums and pulling your shirt. What a disastrous scene in a movie right?

Even when Singapore entered Phase 2 of the circuit breaker which allows us and our children to go back to school & to our jobs, and somehow have the “normal” routine, still some of the parents are scared and refused to let their children go out. We can’t blame you if you are one of them because our children’s health and safety are the top-most priority.

If the whole circuit breaker experience is difficult for you, you have to acknowledge that this is extra challenging for your children as well. Why? This is because the moment they stayed home, it means their daily routine is broken. As for kids with special needs, they would always seek consistency. Therefore, if there are sudden changes with their routine, this will have great effect on their behaviour. This will make them seek for more sensory stimulation. However, having said that some still prefer to stay home means there is less source of stimulation which makes them feel distressed, uneasy and may even throw tantrums. This will just add more stress not only to the children but to everyone at home as well.

We want our children to be able to manage their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours when they’re feeling overwhelmed or when they are sensory seeking.

What self-regulation activities can we do at home?

Deep Pressure: Sausage Roll

Deep pressure is an activity that accesses the proprioceptive sensory system. This system helps to organize the brain. This helps our children understand where their bodies are in space, and helping them function calmly in a day. This will enable them to listen and interact better.

How to do it?

Roll your child up in a blanket, pretending that they are the sausage and the blanket is the bread.
Provide deep pressure massage down their body as you pretend to apply the sauces.

To see how sausage roll is done, click the link provided: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPO-Q-9pcSE&feature=youtu.be

Heavy Work: Wheelbarrow

Children with sensory issues often seek sensory input – they usually seeks proprioceptive input. This is because this can help calm their bodies down and make them feel more oriented in space. Heavy work provides safer input and more consistent. Through heavy work, our children would feel more organized throughout the day.

How to do it?

Ask your child to kneel with their hands and feet on the ground.
Lift up your child’s feet and see how many steps they can take with their hands.

To see how wheelbarrow is done, click the link provided: https://youtu.be/C7NVlp5ooIQ

Brushing

Another activity you can do with your child is brushing. This is best for children who are sensory seeking. Through this, it can help improve focus, self-organization and self-control. This can also aides in enabling our children to handle new situations. This is because brushing can increase our children’s ability to optimize different stimuli and can help decrease sensory defensiveness.

To see how brushing is done, click the link provided:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwKi1HGV2rQ