Causes of Weak Core Muscles in Toddlers: Core Strength Activities for Toddlers

It’s difficult to balance, perform coordinated movements on both sides of the body, sit up straight in a chair, hold a pencil, control scissors, or jump if you don’t have a strong core. We know that decreased core strength commonly contributes to other issues like W-Sitting and delayed motor skill development. The causes of weak core muscles in toddlers are due many different reasons, discussed below.

Causes of Weak Core Muscles in Toddlers:

We also find that more and more kids are having difficulty with maintaining functional posture at home and in the classroom and with overall body strength. This could be due to a number of reasons including:

• An increase in the number of children with developmental delays.
• The rising trend of children being less physically active during the school day as academic demands in the classroom become more intense
• Kids becoming more interested in video games and television than a game of tag in the backyard.

Fun Core Strength Activities for Toddlers

The core muscles are the muscles in the abdomen, back and pelvis and the key to strengthening these muscles is making it fun — like a game!  Issue a challenge, give the activity a playful purpose!

Have your child lay on his back with his knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  Have them push hard through their heels to raise their bottom up off the floor. Be sure that they are keeping their head and shoulders on the ground.  Can they hold it? Have your little one fly like the superhero and strengthen his back! Have him lay on his stomach on the floor and try to lift his arms up off of the floor so that his upper chest comes up too.   Again, have your child lay on his stomach on the floor. While you hold his knees (easier) or ankles (bit more of a challenge), have him walk his hands forward 10 steps and backward 10 steps. Can he walk forward to a ball and and put it in a basket with one hand?  How long can he hold this position without pulling their legs away?

Keep it Simple and Have Fun

Trunk strengthening exercise for toddlers and kids are simple: They can even be as easy as going outside and playing on the playground! While the core strengthening exercises described above are perfect for targeting core strengthening specifically, sometimes good old fashioned play activities can have just as much benefit. Remember to have fun and your kids will love it!

Solace Pediatric Home Health Care will send an occupational therapist/physical therapist to your house to work with your children on core strengthening exercises.