Last summer I built this lateral climbing wall in our basement/homeschool and home therapy space. And YES! I built the whole thing entirely by myself…like a BEAST!
This wall is a-hundred-times-a-day activity for Liam. In the past year, he went from barely being able to hold himself up there in one spot to being able to climb across while reaching and grabbing things.
Goals:
For Birthday week, I just taped a few balloons to the wall at alternating heights. Just getting up on the wall and going across is great for bilateral coordination. My goal with this exercise was to incorporate midline crossing. Liam has dyspraxia so he struggles with fine motor and gross motor tasks. I wanted him to reach the balloon on his right side with his left hand and then do it again in reverse. I also have him climb the wall by grabbing pegs that require him to cross his midline. Although on this specific run he wasn’t able to complete the midline crossing, I think giving him things to reach for and grab was a bit more fun and motivating for him.
Then of course when he reached the end of the wall he leaped backward into the ball pit, most recently known as the “bowl of giant cake sprinkles.”