Body Awareness for Kids
What is it?
In my day to day work with children ages 5-7 years in an afterschool program, we facilitate creative play in a safe and kind space. This in itself is a lot of work because there are some children that struggle with body awareness. Body Awareness is how conscious and connected you are to your own body. It is knowing where you are in space and how your space relates to the other person near you.
Body Bubbles – Children love to make friends, spend time with their friends, and play games together, but sometimes they can get too close and invade personal space. The children that I supervise love to play rough games, with their hands on each other. We constantly need to remind a few to respect each other’s body bubbles. A Body Bubble is a space that surrounds a child about 18 inches outside of their body. However, for the children I observe, this is more like 2-3 inches. Or no inches!
Proprioception - Children that struggle with understanding where they are in relation to another also have difficulty understanding boundaries and playing gently with other children. This is proprioception. Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense itself in space. I have witnessed many excited young kids go too far with another person because they are so happy that they have a special friend to play with that day. They give their friends hugs that can go overboard and cause others to get hurt.
Why is it important?
Big Emotions - Body awareness and proprioception are also a factor when a child is experiencing big emotions, like anger. When children are playing their games, one will sometimes go too far and the other will react with violence. Hitting, kicking, pushing are just a few of the things we see everyday that create unkind feelings between friends. After they talk it out, express their feelings to each other, the children discover that they were going too far.
Respect - When we teach children about body awareness, they learn that their body is their own. This awareness about the body leads to more self awareness, self-confidence and self-esteem. Body awareness teaches children respect for themselves, respect for others, and respect for the world around them.
Insight - Children that have increased their body awareness will be able to see things as they really are, instead of through a haze of how they think they should be. With this clarity, they will be able to make better choices for themselves, listen to their inner voice, and choose the path of least resistance. A clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens is called Vipassana, or insight meditation.
What can we do?
Yoga Practice - Teaching children about where their body is in space in a calm and safe space is the first step in learning body awareness. The practice of yoga in itself accomplishes this goal. Bonding their attention to their bodies through movement is one way to increase body awareness.
Meditation - Bonding the attention to the body through the breath is another way to increase body awareness. Having a daily yoga practice that includes a guided meditation on body awareness could be a first step. A Body Scan meditation or relaxation is a traditional yoga practice for body based awareness. It uses the body as the anchor to the present moment.
10 Body Awareness Activities for Kids - Other ways of teaching body awareness are through different activities geared to bond the attention to the body through movement. Check out the list of fun games and activities for children in the FREE Kids Yoga Resources page. Enjoy!
Ms. Brandon, RCYT, RYT500, holds a Master's degree in Special Education from Western Carolina University, is a highly qualified educator, and has 20 years' experience working with children and children with special needs.
