Team Walker

Product Description

Physical 2

Skills

• The Team Walker promotes the development of coordination by utilizing the feet and hands in tandem with other Team Walkers to move forward or backward as a unit.
• The Team Walker promotes the development of core strength and torso stability as the Team Walker learns to stand upright to balance and control the “ski” step.
• The Team Walker promotes the development of gross motor skills and physical range of motion as the entire body is engaged in walking: feet lift and lower, core engages to assist in the lifting, hands grasp the rope handles and the arms lift them, and the neck and head are upright to watch surrounding and other Team Walkers.

Play Ideas

• To develop and improve core strength, facilitator instructs Team members to simultaneously lift their right or left foot off of the ground and hold it in place for an increasing amount of time each turn until team can no longer hold their either of their feet above the ground.
• To develop and improve arm reach and strength, facilitator instructs Team members to lift their feet only their hands and arms.
• To develop and improve leg strength and flexibility, facilitator instructs the Team members to squat in between each step forward or backward.

Communicative 3

Skills

• The Team Walker promotes and strengthens receptive language skills as the Team member must listen and process information provided by other Team members as they work to walk in unison.
• The Team Walker promotes and strengthens expressive language skills as the Team member works to describe circumstances and ability to keep pace with other Team members.
• The Team Walker provides opportunity for Team members to practice giving and receiving feedback as they discuss more and less successful strategies in achieving the shared goal.

Play Ideas

• To strengthen visual processing skills, a facilitator creates flashcards indicating movement direction (forward or back) and body side (left or right). The facilitator shows Team members a directional flashcard and a body side flashcard for the team to move together by following the flashcard cues. 
• To develop auditory reception and processing skills, pair two sets of two pedals together to create two teams of two members. One person on each team takes turns at wearing a blindfolded while the other team member directs their footsteps in unison to race against the competing team.  

Adaptation Ideas

• For Team members still learning laterality, label the pedals with a “L or “R” as a way to distinguish the two sides.

Social/Emotional 4

Skills

• The Team Walker Promotes the cooperation with peers as the Team Walkers must work together to determine how best to move their feet in unison and march forward.
• The Team Walker develops patience as Team Walkers learn how to work cooperatively to reach the shared goal of moving in unison, and learn from their mistakes.
• The Team Walker develops social communication skills as the Team Walkers negotiate and strategize amongst themselves as to how to achieve the shared goal.

Play Ideas

• To develop self-confidence for individual Walkers, instruct each to strap on their own “skis” to walk independently from one another.
• To develop cooperation and team work, facilitator will hide an object in the play space and lead the Team through a game of “Hot and Cold” as they search for the object by walking closer or farther away from it.
• Arrange matching colored “skis” on each side of the team rather than paired by team member (i.e. right feet wear blue and red “skis”, left feet wear green and yellow. Team members take turns calling out a color and a direction (i.e. “Red, FORWARD!”), and the group work together to move forward or backward in sync.