﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families. So if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. Hi, in today's lesson, we're going to learn all about standing, and how we can improve our core strength through different positions as we get to standing. Why do we need good core strength when we're standing? Well, we need to be able to hold our bodies up, we need to be able to keep a good posture. in lots of different position such as when we're running or playing sports or games with our friends, or even just getting dressed and by having good core while we're standing, it will mean that we won't get so tired so quickly. There are times when we're going to have to be standing for a long time or walking somewhere, and we won't be able to have a rest. I want you to pause the video now and clear somewhere to stand, get a chair and some small toys such as bean bags or teddy bears and enough space to move around. Restart once you're ready. Our first activity is going to be in high kneeling. So this is where you kneel with both your knees on the floor. You try and keep a really straight position with your body and you can do a game in this position. Okay, let's watch the video.

Let's get some paper and stick it onto a wall. Ask your responsible adult to help you with that. So, yeah, really nice, you can play noughts and crosses, and surprise, surprise, I won! Okay, something that you can also do in vertical is doing an activity where now what we're going to do is try and move out of our base, to the sides. Okay. So you can do a simple sorting activity where you go from one side and say my all the spiky balls is going in there, or the wriggly ones are going on the other side, okay? Then you can keep doing that. So now you're actually working on, on your core strength but because you're moving you're getting a little bit of balance in there as well, because you're lifting, very slightly, lifting your legs up, so and we can see what we have there. Okay, so I've got one more of those going in there. Uhm, where should I put this one, Buster? I'll put it in there. Yeah. So you can do activities like that. Something that you should also do, is doing your construction work, your Lego, your peg-holding, while you're holding this position. Okay? You hold in one hand and you can put your pegs in. Now, do you want to help yourself, mister, see what you want there. Okay. What you could even do is if you want to keep the position, it's okay, I am going to do that with the pegs. So keeping the position, you're not sitting down the whole time, and you can flip it and say, okay, now I'm going to move them up to the top. Yeah, and you can do that. So you stay in the same position and you can see there you'll stay in that position. Now, if you need to sort out your dog, that's also fine. Okay. So you stay in that position. You are, for example, moving them up. You could be building a tower with blocks up there to give yourself stability. Okay. When you get stronger, what you can do is to work up at that level, without needing to press onto a wall. So now I'm just doing that and getting all the pegs out and again, you can do that. Okay. So this position really, really important.

Okay. Pause the video to have a go. When we're talking about doing half kneeling, this means that we're on the floor and there's only one knee, on the floor and the other foot is on the floor in front of us. So we're going to try the same activities again, and what you're going to have is that you're going to be improving different muscle strengths.

We're going to look at half-kneeling. So half-kneeling is a step that you would take to get yourself up to standing. Okay? So we're going to work in this position. Again, we're going to start quite alone, where we are and you might just decide to move the balls back over there, keeping in this position. Yeah, and some can go in the bucket, others can go over there. Okay? Really important. Swap legs, and even just having to move your leg can be a bit tricky. I've practised lots. So you're going to do that, you're going to get them, and you could even have a few in your hand. If reaching, reaching is making you feel a little bit unsteady, that's fine. Keep them in your hand. Remember: tummy in, strong muscles, and then from there, you can then . Okay? As you feel more confident, you can start reaching a bit further and going over. You can start threading things under. You can start reaching behind you, okay? So you can swap the whole time. Again, I love playing with some noughts and crosses, and, being in this position is really good. You can play noughts and crosses, you can do anything. You can just practise your handwriting in this position is really, really good. It's going to really help strengthen you. As you get more confident, as you get stronger, think about now I'm going to switch my leg quickly. Whoa, that made me feel a little unsteady, and then swap again. Have a break, swap. Okay? So this is called half-kneeling and we're going to be working in half-kneeling. Right. Excellent.

Okay. Pause the video now to try half-kneeling, you can try all the activities that I did. Restart when you're finished. Our next activity is simply going to be leg raises. Let's watch the video.

Really good positions to work on our core. So, before we get to being able to balance on one leg, we need to built up to it. Some activity you can do, making sure you have enough space. If you're feeling a bit worried and you want to be to be there and just help you feel a bit safer. Hold onto a chair . Okay? Remember we have our core muscles working well. We're going to lift a leg, making it stronger. Okay? So you can see that, up. Okay. Strong legs. Lift it up, and put it down. If you can only lift it up that much to start with, amazing, okay? There we go. You can also lift it up, you can straighten your leg, okay? We need to do it on both sides. That's going to help us and improve our core muscles there.

Okay, pause the video to practise. For our next activity, we're simply going to be doing arm raises. Let's watch the video.

Standing up, and just keeping your arms out at shoulder height. So you can see that they're just there, they're relaxed. Try and see how long you can keep that position for. Okay. Make sure that your legs are bending too much, and your bottom's not stuck out, and you're just going to stand there in a nice, relaxed position. Our hand is going to be doing an activity in vertical. So you can have an easel, and you can be doing some painting. You can be standing at a white board and you can be doing some writing. Okay? So where you're working in vertical. Yeah? If you need to take a break, lift your legs up, nice deep breaths, and again. See how long you can hold that position there. Excellent.

Okay. Pause the video to have a go. Restart once you're finished. We can easily make these activities harder or easier, by increasing or decreasing the number of leg raises or making the shoulder raise as a game where you walk around like a mummy, or a zombie. Okay. Remember, do the best for you. Practise, practise, practise. Thank you for listening. As always, if you'd like to, please ask your parents or your carer, to share the work that you've been doing in kneeling, half-kneeling, and standing, on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. See you soon.

In this lesson, we will be strengthening our core muscles and working in a standing position.

In this lesson, we will be strengthening our core muscles and working in a standing position. Resources provided by University of Gloucestershire (CC BY-NC-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0)

Lesson overview:Standing tall

Core Content

Equipment Required

Gross motor skills: