Supporting your toddler's sense of proprioception

Do you look at your feet as you walk upstairs or at your arm as you push it into your sleeves? You might if the steps are uneven or if there is a bit of twisting involved in getting your arms in the right position. The reason you don’t need to look every time is that you have developed a good proprioception – the sense that enables you to be aware of your body’s position and movement. Your toddler is still mastering these skills and they are particularly tricky for them as they are growing all the time, which means their body awareness constantly needs to change.  

Proprioception is the sense that enables us to be aware of our body’s position and movement.  

Developing proprioception involves your toddler processing signals from their muscles, joints and tendons and linking this with information from their other senses and their experiences to know where parts of their body are – and how they are moving.^[1] 

A well-developed sense of proprioception will help your toddler control their movements and the force they use in tasks such as throwing a ball, writing or using tools. It can also help protect against injury as it will help your toddler to plan their movements.^[1] 

As adults, we look a couple of steps ahead as we walk; this helps us to plan our movements in response to what we know about the surface we are walking on. Your toddler is still learning how to use visual information to plan their movements – but they can make some decisions about how to move safely based on what they see and feel.^[2] 

Your toddler’s senses are important in their physical development, as they need to combine information from sight, balance and proprioception with their previous experience to decide how to move – and all this happens almost instantly.^[3] 

When you realise the information your toddler combines to decide how to move, you can see why they might fall or bump into things more often than an older child or an adult.  

What can you do to help your toddler develop their body awareness? 

Give them time and space to move 

Lots of movement is a brilliant way for your toddler to practise processing information from their senses and adjust their movements accordingly. 

Give them time to climb, lift, push and pull objects 

Lifting, climbing, pushing and pulling all stimulate sensors in our muscles, tendons and joints – these are sometimes described as ‘heavy work’ activities and are great for developing your toddler’s body awareness.  

Try to find a variety of surfaces to walk and run on 

Moving on a variety of surfaces and in different ways (including crawling) helps your toddler bring together information from their senses to think about how to move. Moving on an uneven surface feels different to a smooth path and needs adjustments in movements.  

The other great thing about activities that stimulate the proprioceptive system is that some children find these calming.  

For them, carrying something heavy or doing some pushing and pulling just before a quiet time might help them to settle.  

So, getting your toddler involved in some tidying before bedtime might just help them to be calm and ready to sleep.   

References: 

[1] Vaishnavi, G. (2021) ‘Nomophobia kids and proprioception’. In Vega, J.A. & Cabo, J. (Eds) Proprioception.  

[2] MOWBRAY, RACHEL (2021) ‘The Development of Visual and Proprioceptive Control: A Whole- Body Perspective’. Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13930/