Grayson is crawling. EVERYWHERE. He is into EVERYTHING. There’s really not a whole lot I can do to slow him down except put up a couple of gates! HA! But, since my Big Butterfly seeks a lot of sensory input, I’m always trying to think of new ways to engage BOTH kids. (Which really isn’t a bad thing!) They have both really enjoyed using our bean bag, blankets, chair and couch cushions, and pillows to create a crawling obstacle course! (And the bean bag really slows Grayson down! He has to work hard to get off of it!)
It’s also a great activity for feeling different textures (thus my boy is shirtless). I noticed when Becca went across the “osticle” course the first couple of times, she was continually rubbing her hands on the different textures. She absolutely LOVES our couch and chair – they do have a really cool texture – I agree! So this is a fabulous activity for ANY child with proprioceptive sensory needs!
But it also presents my Baby Bee with a challenge to climb down and up – all in a relatively safe environment where he isn’t going to fall directly onto the hardwood floor. It took him a good five minutes to get up and down across the whole course. And then he was off to his next task – he found his Sister’s purse and started chewing on it! HA!
Setting up an obstacle course like this is a fabulous way to work on those gross motor climbing and crawling skills that are so important to develop in your Baby Bee. Ironically, I had already planned this post when Jamie from over at Hands On As We Grow shared one of her posts from a while back when she made a couch cushion obstacle course for her Baby Bee. You’ll want to check out her post – it gives some great ideas for once your crawler has conquered the “basic” obstacle course like I made. I love her idea of stacking the cushions up to make “stairs” and also adding some balls into the course to chase around and encourage movement and participation! We’ll be using those ideas in the future as Grayson gets better at climbing, for sure!
Butterbees and Bumbleflies 