Honey Hills

Product Description

Physical 4

Skills

• Balance and coordination is encouraged as kids walk across the Honey Hills path to engage core strength.
• Weight shifting and foot placement is heightened as kids step from honeycomb to honeycomb to walk across the Honey Hills.
• Walking across the Honey Hills can help children work on improving posture while trying to navigate the honeycomb path. Shoulders back! 

Play Ideas

• The textured surfaces of the Honey Hills create a fun twist to the classic game of Red Light/Green Light as children balance on the honeycombs when the light turns red.
• Play a game of follow the leader! Let the leader name the pace as children jump, or crawl over and across the Honey Hills.
• Create a path with the Honey Hills and add some painters tape to change the type of foot placement and balance kids need to go in between flat and raised surfaces. Kids can pretend to be gymnasts on the balance beam (Honey Hills) or tight rope walkers at the circus (painters tape). 

Adaptation Ideas

• Get kids familiar with the idea of balancing from honeycomb to honeycomb by just using the empty cloth bags on the ground to begin. Set up the Honey Hills when kids are ready to advance! 

Sensory 4

Skills

• Children can feel the proprioceptive input (pressure) on their joints as they walk across the Honey Hills and steady their arms for balance. This can help children gain control, organize thoughts and help them focus on cognitive tasks presented after.
• With the raised surfaces on the concave and convex honeycombs as well as the ability to fill them with sensory items like beans, rice and sand, children receive unique sensory stimulation on each of the Honey Hills.
• Tactile discrimination can take place as children experience the various textures through the bags on their feet or while digging in the honeycombs with their hands.

Play Ideas

• Fill the bowls of the Honey Hills with dried rice, beans or other materials. Let kids try and guess what they are feeling.
• Place the Honey Hills out like a stone path with spaces in between (Honey Hills should not touch). Have kids jump up on the honeycombs and down onto the floor to get from the beginning to the end of the path. 

Social/Emotional 4

Skills

• Self-esteem and confidence can be promoted as kids successfully walk across the Honey Hills path.
• Cooperative play can be encouraged as children interact with peers while playing with the Honey Hills—follow the leader, digging in the bowls, etc.
• Creativity can be incorporated into gameplay as children arrange the Honey Hills in new patterns, as well as when children determine the best way to navigate across the Hills.
• The physical activity required to play with the Honey Hills allows children to expend energy to calm their emotions and increase focus.

Play Ideas

• Play a guessing game. Fill the bowls up with bouncy balls, pretend play cars and other toys. How many items can fit in each bowl?
• Use the Honey Hills as pieces of an obstacle course or part of a fort.
• Arrange the Honey Hills in a straight path, and hide a surprise under the last one. Let that special treat be the reward for navigating to the end.