Sensory

What if you know you need to get your kids moving more but aren’t sure how to make that happen? Maybe it’s raining outside, or maybe they are angry at their bikes or afraid of bees or something. Perhaps your child is just resistant to movement completely. Whether you need a complete change of pace or a fun way to get everyone warmed up, Exercise Bingo is the perfect choice. 

If you’re looking for other interactive sensory Bingo experiences, our Yoga Bingo is a great option. While the suggestions in this Exercise Bingo are more alerting in terms of sensory input, the Yoga Bingo suggestions are perfect for calming.

The Benefits of Exercise Bingo

Wake up the brain. Have you seen what happens to the brain when you exercise? The heat map of the brain after exercise is incredible. All of those neural pathways light up and get ready to receive information. I like to tell my kids exercise is like magic for the brain. If your child is stuck on math, have them take a break. No matter how hard it is to put the pencil down, have the kids step away from math and gather for Exercise Bingo. Ten or fifteen minutes playing this game and you can reset your entire day and wrap your brain around math again. 

Resolve big emotions. Exercise releases endorphins, and endorphins can help calm those big emotions. So if Mom is having a grumpy day after the math struggle, she should join in Exercise Bingo too. 

Sensory Feedback. If a child has lost their place in space (proprioception), exercise is a grounding activity that will help your child get that sense of normalcy and security they crave. Pressure on muscles and joints through exercise is an invaluable sensory experience your kids will come to crave. 

The proof is in the pudding. I know for me, my kids did not believe the power of exercise until they experienced it for themselves. I showed them the pictures of the brain after exercise, and then had them try school work after cardio. Now when they are struggling, they voluntarily find a physical activity. This is something that happens over time, not overnight so don’t give up modeling Exercise Bingo with your kids. 

How to Play Exercise Bingo

Supplies

• Printout of the sheet for each child.
• Laminating the printouts will allow you to use them over and over with dry erase markers.
• If you don’t want to laminate them, you could use stickers in the boxes, which is also fun.

Instructions

1. Complete an exercise. 
2. Mark off the box for that activity. 
3. Complete a row to win.

Variations for Exercise Bingo

While at it’s core, the steps I described above are how to play, I love the fact that bingo gives you so much flexibility. Try any of these variations! 

Work in teams or as individuals.

Reward completion of rows, four corners, or the entire board with different levels of prizes.

You could also give a bingo award for learning four new skills, trying for arm exercises, etc. Get creative with the groupings!

Fun fact: Exercise Bingo is a great way to run off some energy at stops on long car trips! 

What Kids Practice During Exercise Bingo

Balance. Many of the exercises require balance and coordination to be completed correctly. Of course, they don’t have to be correct every time you play, but over time with consistency these skills will improve.

Following Directions. If they are uncertain what a specific exercise is, they will have to listen and follow instructions to get credit for the activity. 

Large Muscle Movement. Coordinating large muscle movement (gross motor skills) is an essential first step in developing small muscle movement (fine motor skills). If your child is struggling with fine motor skills, start with exercise.

Proprioception. Kids who struggle understanding where there body is in relation to the world (sensory perception) benefit so much from grounding activities that provide direct feedback about body position. That’s what exercise is – it’s proprioception practice. Yoga Bingo is another fantastic way to work on this type of feedback.

Names of Exercises. Knowing what a squat is or what tug of war is — these are actual concepts that kids should learn and recognize. It’s a whole new vocabulary. A shocking number of kids don’t know what it means to frog jump or crab walk and all of these exercises are so good for body development, but are also a part of the common shared experience — helping us relate to each other. 

Tips for Exercise Bingo Success

Keep it low key and low pressure. Turning exercise into something stressful is not a good idea, so take it easy at first, set minimal expectations, and keep everything as light and fun as possible.

Participate with your kids. Kids are amazing imitators and if they see you having fun with an activity, they are far more likely to join in. Conversely if they hear you grousing about an activity, they are far less likely to have a good attitude. Set the bar high by having a happy heart and enjoying the game.

Make sure you have plenty of useable space.  Whether inside or outside, everyone needs room to move around without bumping into each other so spread out, and clean up that toy room if necessary. 

Encourage positive participation. You don’t have to offer physical rewards like toys or candy or treats. Encouragement is so powerful! Use life-giving words to encourage your kids when you see them participating in something that stretches them, demonstrating a good attitude, or setting a good example for siblings.

Grab your free printable Exercise Bingo game here:

When self-regulation is a struggle, simple yoga activities can help. These centering activities for the whole body are a great way to calm down in stressful situations. When your child needs to regain control, suggesting yoga poses can stop the spiral fast. First, your child needs to know how to do the yoga poses. Practice yoga poses using our free printable Yoga Bingo for kids. Spend ten or fifteen minutes on this activity daily for long-term rewards as they help your child regulate his or her sensory, vestibular, proprioception, and tactile sensory systems.

Yoga poses are just one tool in your “calm-down” arsenal. At The Chaos and The Clutter, we are all about arming kids with the tools they need to gain control and self-regulate on their own. Your goal is to help your child become an independent adult who can navigate tricky emotions and stressful situations successfully on their own. You’ll find ideas for sensory bins, strewing, and games to help your child learn self-regulation throughout this website.

The Benefits of Yoga for Children

Vestibular System Function. The vestibular system is one of the sensory systems that helps create a sense of balance and spatial orientation to coordinate movement with balance. Yoga provides direct feedback and practice for this system.

Proprioception. Understanding one’s place in space is not as easy for some children as you might expect. Neurons in the muscles, joints, and tendons help a body feel grounded and aware in any environment, able to experience and understand self-movement, force, and body position. Yoga provides practice for all of three of the components of proprioception.

Tactile Sensory Play. The sense of touch may seem normal to you, but what is normal? Not everyone experiences touch the same way. Tactile play can help children who struggle with touch to interpret those brain signals more effectively. Sensory bins or bags are another great way to incorporate tactile play into your day. Yoga, especially when moving through different environments, provides direct tactile feedback for the body.

Physical Strength. Yoga is well known for building core strength and developing the muscles of the limbs as well. Children with sensory disorders often lack muscle strength because of avoidance of certain types of feedback. So any time you can participate in strengthening activities that don’t feel threatening, it’s a good thing. As an example, basketball practice builds physical strength, but because I am no good at it and it’s all about competition, it’s a very threatening experience for me. Yoga, on the other hand, is a competition with yourself. Can you do that pose better today than you did last week? That’s progress. That’s a win. As long as you keep yoga fun and low-key, it won’t be a threatening experience at all. 

Grounding. There are two types of grounding. Grounding for mental health is the process of providing your brain with a distraction. Anything that uses the left brain will help take your brain away from the emotional right sphere and regulate your response. Yoga can be a left-brained activity. Counting, deep breathing, marching to a beat, and naming items in a list are other ways to engage the left brain. The other type of grounding is the process of connecting with gravity or the earth’s electrical energy. There are many theories on this, but yoga outside in the grass would qualify as grounding in this way.

How to Use Yoga Bingo for Kids

As soon as you download this printable, I recommend that you print at least one copy and laminate it so that it will survive the mom purse. Carry it with you as you are out and about with kids, and keep a copy handy at home, too. Make Yoga Bingo a habit with your kids, and they will learn all of the poses quickly and be able to take the pose when asked. Try to fit in ten to fifteen minutes of yoga per day in non-stress situations. Practice when everything is low-stress so that it is an easy ask during high-stress situations. Deep breathing in mountain pose can be done almost anywhere as long as you have practiced.

Finding Time to Fit Yoga into Your Day

Once you have a laminated copy to keep on hand, you can start working yoga training into your day. As you start making yoga bingo a habit, you will find ways to get more and more creative while out and about. Here are some ideas to get you started. 

• Standing in line at the grocery store? There are actually several yoga poses you can practice while waiting in line. Start with the mountain pose, and then try the tree pose. Once your children complete a pose, have them mark it off on the chart with a dry-erase marker or removable sticker. Then, look for another pose you can do without disturbing others in line. Once you learn them all, it gets easier! 
• Waiting between appointments? Find a grassy area in the parking lot where your kids can get a little more elaborate. Here, they can practice and learn the cat-cow pose, the downward-facing dog pose, and the camel pose. Bonus: These poses all have animal names, so you can also practice animal sounds and sing Old McDonald Had a Farm, depending on the ages of your kids.
• Does your wait have to be in a carpeted room? Try some of the seated or floor-friendly poses like the frog pose, boat pose, or the seated forward bend pose. Some of these can even be done in a chair! 

Make Yoga Bingo a Game

Keep it fun and low-key so that yoga is never a chore. If competition is a positive thing, you can give each child a card and have them work towards an individual bingo for the win. But, if competition is threatening or unpleasant for any of your children, work towards a family bingo instead — everybody wins, and as long as everyone participates, you can enjoy a group reward. It doesn’t have to be something you announce, and it doesn’t have to cost money. Just some form of encouragement. Here are some ideas for encouragement when everyone participates in family yoga bingo.

• group cheer
• high fives or fist bumps all around 
• group hug
• a stop at a local park
• pizza night (for bigger wins, like a week or month of consistent participation)

So, to recap. Print your copy of yoga bingo for kids right away so you don’t forget about it. If you have a laminating machine, get it laminated for protection, and consider making a copy for each of your kids. Practice yoga for ten to fifteen minutes per day to make sure everyone in the family learns the poses in a short period of time. Make it a game, but don’t make it a competition unless that is good for everyone. Reward positive behavior. When you are ready, encourage yoga poses in stressful situations when appropriate. 

Download and print your Yoga Bingo for kids: