5 main reasons why bilateral coordination is important

1. Enhanced Motor Skills and Efficiency:

Bilateral coordination is the foundation of fluid, synchronized movements across both sides of the body. Think about walking, running, or playing sports.

Many tasks require us to use both hands or feet in a coordinated fashion. Typing, playing an instrument, and using tools all become smoother with strong bilateral coordination. 

2. Improved Balance and Stability:

When both sides of our body work in harmony, we maintain better balance, reducing the risk of falls or injuries. This is especially important as we age.

Activities like changing directions, playing sports, or dodging obstacles rely on quick, coordinated adjustments that bilateral coordination supports.

3. Development of Cognitive Skills:

Executing bilateral coordination patterns helps develop connections between the two hemispheres of the brain, enhancing problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and overall cognitive funct...

Game 1: Two-in-One Card Box

1. Split up children into pairs or 2 teams.
2. The more cardboxes you have the better, the more children are active simultaneously.
3. Define a starting and finish line and now have the children in each pair put one foot inside the card box each.
4. On command, each team now crosses your playing field and comes back together, being locked together inside the card box with one foot each.
5. none of the children is allowed to step outside the card box when changing direction at the end of the gym.

Tips

1. We put packing tape around the outside of the card boxes and at the bottom to keep them from breaking.
2. The smoother the floor the better but it works on carpet as well as you can see here.
3. Make sure children switch sides after each round to once have their left leg inside the card box and their right leg.
4. Also, try it with a variety of different-sized boxes. A very large one is a lot of fun.
    

Goals

Main focus:  Rhythm and collaboration. Children ideal...

Jump over the Rolling Log

Fishing with Running

Stop Disc Cones from Falling Down a Post

The Safe House

The Cone Tree

Hide Your Hat

Poisonous Mushroom Hunt

Easy Drink Coaster Spin

Soccer Twin Relay

Hoop Dance

The Streets of Mumbai with Turning

Challenge 1: Stop Disc Cones from Falling down a Post

1. Put one disc cone upside down through a pole and hold it at the top of the poles.
2. One child each stands on the opposite side of these poles, ready with their arms behind their backs.
3. The coach randomly drops the disc cones at different intervals and children try to catch them before they drop on the floor.

Tips

1. You can use ropes and attach them somewhere above your head to try the same challenge if you don’t have posts available.
2. Make sure that the posts are solid or watch out for posts tipping over when kids try to grab them.
3. The longer the posts, the better; the more time you can give your students to catch the disc cones.
4. Keep kids waiting for a little while before you drop the disc cones which adds to the excitement and is great to improve focus.

Goals

Main focus: Reaction
In addition: Orientation is needed to accurately track the disc cone

Progressions

1. The lower you let the disc cones fall from, the m...

Challenge 1: Poisonous Mushroom Hunt

1. Each child gets a small bucket to collect mushrooms.
2. Before getting started, have children spread out single pieces of toilet papers all over the gym, which are the poisonous white mushrooms.
3. Because the mushrooms are so poisonous, children can only pick them up with their feet to keep them far away from their faces.
4. They are then however allowed to use the help of their hands to put them into the bucket.
5. Do one round picking up the mushrooms with your left feet only, then one round with your right foot only.

Tips

1. You can try the same challenge with a variety of different items, like bottle lids, cloth pegs, little stones, buttons.
2. Ideally, have children pick up an equal amount with both left and right leg, even though this is hard to monitor.
    

Goals

Main focus: Balance
In addition: Physicality, strength in particular as children will spend a lot of time on one leg.

Story

1. These mushrooms are very poisonous and children nee...

Challenge 1: Hoop dance

1. Put up a rectangle made up of hoops on the floor.
2. The coach gives the rhythm, you can just keep counting to two or use some sound or music to give the rhythm.
3. Children jump from hoop to hoop from right to left and then to the next row ahead until the end of the rectangle, then get back in line.
4. the next child in line starts as the child ahead of him/her jumps to the next row.

To make it easier or to increase the challenge

1. The faster the rhythm the more you increase the challenge and vice versa to make it easier.

Game 1:  Catch spinning drink coasters

1. Flip the drink coasters (or use pieces of card box) backward to make them fly slower and let them fall down from a balcony or elevated area for children to catch with a small bucket.

Game 2: Catch with running

1. Have children start from further away, ideally behind a line so that they have to run as soon as the drink coaster has been tossed and catch it on the fly.

Game 3: Catching drink coasters facing away

1. Children face away from the person tossing the drink coasters and on command calling a number or their name, they have to turn around and try to catch the falling drink coaster.

Game 4: How far away can you go?

1. After each time you catch the drink coaster, line up a step further back for the next drink coaster to catch and see how far you can distance yourself from the thrower and still catch the drink coaster.

Tips

1. The higher up you are, the further away from children should start running.
2. The key when tossing i...

Game 1: The safe house

1. You need some play huts as shown.
2. Children line up on one end of the gym and the play huts, the safe houses, on the opposite end.
3. The noodle monster tries to tag children who try to get into the safe house without getting tagged.
4. Obviously, you want to give children some openings to be able to run to the safe house without getting tagged too often.
5. Keep in mind that only about max 3 children fit into one hut.
6. Alternate groups if you have many children in your class.

Tips

1. We use pop-up soccer goals as extra huts for more children or have children run into different rooms if available.
2. Quickly switch to each child being the noodle monster for more fun.
   

Goals

Main focus: A great game to get children physically very active.
In addition: Orientation is greatly improved and very complex for young children, they have to keep track of a free target hut to run into, and avoid the monster and other children as well to not collide.

Story

1. Run back...

Game 1: Cone Tree

1. Put up a ladder, the Christmas tree, at a wall to keep it from falling down if it is light or use chairs, tables, or boxes instead and stack them up to be able to place cones, the Christmas presents, on each level. 
2. Stairs work really well too.
3. Children now try to shoot all the cones off the ladder from behind a predefined shooting line
4. Lay out some hoops to shoot from.
5. Each cone represents one Christmas present, let's see who gets the most presents?

Tips

1. Use small boxes instead of cones that resemble presents more closely.
2. If you don’t have a ladder handy, put up the cones on stairs, one cone per step.
   
3. The key is to use small enough cones or have the shooting line far enough away to force a full throwing motion and challenge children for quite a while to get all cones down.
4. It tends to be very motivating for children to shoot all the cones down so it should not be too easy.
5. Try at least 1 round with your non-preferred hand as well.

Goals

Ma...