06/11/2025
🏃 Tip for Parents: Have your child do puzzles, coloring, or look at books while lying on their tummy. This helps strengthen postural muscles and supports visual-motor development.
📚 Why It Works: Tummy time is an essential activity that isn’t just for babies—it can benefit children well into preschool and beyond. Here’s why:
💛 Strengthening Postural Muscles: When children lie on their tummies, they need to use their arms, shoulders, and core muscles to lift and support their head and upper body. This strengthens the shoulder girdle, back muscles, and abdominal muscles, all of which are crucial for maintaining an upright position. Strong postural muscles help children sit upright in a chair for long periods of time, which is essential for classroom activities and handwriting.
💛Trunk Control: Trunk control refers to the ability to stabilize and control the torso and spine, which is crucial for everyday activities. Whether your child is sitting in class, walking, or running, good trunk control supports coordinated movement. By practicing tummy time, children develop the strength and awareness needed to sit, stand, and move efficiently.
💛 Visual-Motor Development: When children engage in tummy time activities like coloring, reading, or doing puzzles, they are not only strengthening their muscles but also supporting visual-motor integration. This refers to the ability to coordinate visual input (what they see) with motor output (how they move their hands). Lying on their stomach, children naturally develop the ability to focus on an object and use their hands to manipulate it—whether it's drawing, writing, or playing with small pieces in a puzzle. This skill is foundational for tasks like handwriting and even later activities like using a computer mouse.
💛 Encouraging Upper Body Strength: As children push up on their forearms and lift their heads while lying on their stomachs, they develop the strength needed for more complex movements. The upper body needs to be strong to perform fine motor tasks, like holding a pencil or using scissors. A weak upper body can lead to difficulties in tasks that require stability and dexterity.
📝 Source: Case-Smith, J., & O’Brien, J. (2015). Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents. This book outlines the importance of tummy time in strengthening the physical and sensory skills that children need for a variety of developmental tasks, including fine motor skills and postural control.
