Bilateral coordination activities for kids are important for fine motor skills and for brain development. The help with communication of the right side and left side of the brain. Children’s bodies need to move in a coordinated way to complete everyday tasks.
Bilateral coordination skills are needed for fine motor skills and communication between the right side and left side of the brain.
These skills start when kids are young but continue to develop and become more refined as they grow and participate in play and school activities.
As adults, we participate in bilateral coordination activities every day. We complete simple tasks to complex tasks using both sides of the body.
For example, we chop veggies during dinner prep, climb a ladder while holding a paint container in one hand and brush in the other, or we assemble IKEA furniture.
Bilateral coordination is required in life! It’s important to start developing these skills when kids are young.
What is Bilateral Coordination?
Bilateral coordination (bilateral integration) is the ability to use both sides of the body to complete daily tasks.
Babies move their entire arms at the same time. They reach and grasp items that are closest to each hand. Their hands are used equally.
As they progress into toddlerhood, hand preferences start to develop (between ages 2 and 4.) Kids may show a hand preference that they use more consistently. But they still switch hands for various fine motor tasks at this age.
Hand dominance typically is evident between ages 4 and 6. You will see children consistently use one hand for a task. The other hand is the stabilizer or helper.
Bilateral coordination happens as the arms work together for symmetrical movements such as catching a medium sized ball or pulling up a sock.
Or, they work in opposition during reciprocal movements such as crawling or swinging on monkey bars.
Kids use more refined coordination skills when the hands perform different actions. For example, when fastening nuts and bolts, during cutting, or when tying shoes.
One hand stabilizes an object and the other does the work. One is the “helper” and the other is the “worker.”
Bilateral integration happens when the brain automatically and efficiently completes two-handed tasks.
When Do Kids Use Bilateral Coordination Skills?
Bilateral coordination skills are evident in many daily fine motor tasks. Pediatric occupational therapists (like myself) know that this is a really important skill for children to work on.
The following are examples of bilateral coordination activities that kids complete:
- Coloring, drawing, writing
- Cutting activities
- Dressing
- Tying shoes
- Manipulating clothing fasteners
- Fastening belts and buckles
- Managing a back pack or lunch box
- Opening containers
- Eating and cutting food
- Unlocking a door with a key
- Playing with building sets and tools
- Dressing dolls
- Making jewelry
- Playing with playdoh (using cutting tools or a rolling pin)
Why are Bilateral Coordination Activities & Games Important for Kids?
Bilateral coordination activities require both sides (hemispheres) of the brain to work together.
Bilateral coordination activities are important for brain development, learning, and fine motor skills.
The vestibular system that processes movement and balance, as well as body awareness (that develops through the proprioceptive system) lay the foundation for motor skills. This sensory input helps a child’s development by allowing the brain and body to make sense of movements and position in space.
A child needs a strong core and good posture in order to effectively cross the midline of the body (the imaginary line in the center of the body) with various body parts during tasks.
Crossing midline is important for the development of bilateral coordination. When children cross midline, neurons flow across a structure in the center of the brain (the corpus callosum.) Increasing communication of both sides of the brain is extremely important for learning!
Bilateral coordination activities require both sides (hemispheres) of the brain to work together. This allows each side of the body to work efficiently.
When kids demonstrate good bilateral coordination skills, the brain communicates effectively to integrate movements of both legs and/or arms. This leads to bilateral integration where movements become more automatic during functional tasks.
Additionally, bilateral movements are important for fine motor development. Kids need to use the sides of their body smoothly for daily learning and play tasks.
5 Bilateral Coordination Activities, Tricks, & Games for Kids
The following fine motor activities are simple ways to help children improve coordination of both sides of the body.
#1 Place Toys, Supplies and Manipulatives in Bags or Containers
This is such an easy trick to encourage bilateral coordination during everyday activities!
Place toys or supplies in bags or containers to help organize materials and to help build fine motor skills.
Use Ziploc bags, zippered bags, strings on bags, etc. to store supplies, manipulatives, small toys, snacks, or puzzle pieces. Kids have to coordinate both hands more often to open the bags, and then again to put them away and close the bag.
Containers with peel lids help with fine motor strength, problem solving, and perceptual skills.
Lids that screw on and off are great for bilateral coordination. Use containers and lids of different sizes to improve hand strength and grasp development.
#2 Cutting Tasks with Paper – A Great Activity for Bilateral Coordination
Visual motor tasks such as cutting are great for kids of all ages to enhance fine motor reciprocal movements for the brain. Cutting activities get both sides of the body and brain working together and they work on visual motor integration skills.
For younger kids, tearing construction paper for fine motor skills crafts is a great pre-cutting activity. Especially if they’re not ready for scissors. (Older kids love this creative craft as well, it’s a nice relaxing brain break.)
Cutting activities can range from snipping on straight lines to cutting complex shapes and pictures for a project.
For more cutting activities, check out this post with tips and tricks to help kids build scissor skills.
It contains a fun bundle of worksheets for cutting practice or individual skill set pages if you don’t want all 39 pages!
WORKSHEETS FOR CUTTING PRACTICE: Click the photo or this link for more information on the cutting bundle! It’s only $11.50 on my site for the entire bundle. Smaller page sets are $2.00-2.75.
Or you can purchase them on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store (but they’re a little more pricey there.)
#3 Tracing Activities – Encourage Bilateral Coordination, Force Modulation, and Crossing Midline
Higher level coordination is required when kids trace an object for cutting or trace geometric stencils for math.
Tracing is a great way for the non-dominant hand to stabilize a stencil or template.
Just the right amount of pressure from the helper hand is needed, as less pressure and precise movements are required from the dominant hand. (Force modulation is important for writing skills.)
Depending on the size of the template and its position in front of the child’s body during the task, tracing can also encourage crossing midline.
# 4 Stringing and Lacing Coordination Activities
Stringing beads and lacing cards are great bilateral activities.
Using beads of various sizes challenges kids depending on the shape and the length of the bead. Beads with long openings require more fingertip precision to thread the string. Smaller beads work on grasping skills.
I like using number beads or letter beads to add a learning component.
Lacing cards with string or pipe cleaner require coordination of the hands and fingers.
For younger kids, pushing pipe cleaner or cotton balls through colored openings in cardboard or the lids of spice containers is an easy way to work on matching. The pipe cleaner also works on pincer grasp strength and finger dexterity.
# 5 Gross Motor / Large Movement Bilateral Coordination Activities
Gross motor activities activate the larger muscle groups, which in turn activate more neurons in the brain.
Coordinating the BIG muscles helps with coordination of smaller muscles in the hands. Kids need strong cores in order to use large movements in the body. (Check out these 40 core exercises.)
Gross motor activities such as marching, skipping, riding a bike, and crawling are great gross motor bilateral coordination activities.
On a playground, you can encourage climbing walls, climbing ladders, or navigating jungle gyms.
In addition, monkey bars give great proprioceptive input (this link also contains a free printable with 25 proprioceptive brain break activities.) Proprioceptive input is calming and organizing for your high energy kids!
Considerations Regarding Bilateral Coordination Activities
As adults, we naturally want to help kids. However, helping too much can actually interfere with skill development.
And sometimes, we don’t even realize that we’re helping them with the task!
For example, something as simple as holding the paper still while a child cuts, or keeping a container still so they can remove the lid actually interferes with the development of bilateral coordination.
Moreover, providing assistance with a task that seems tricky for a kiddo, actually prevents the child from problem solving, adjusting motor movements needed for the task, and learning from each step of the task.
The more children can use their bodies and problem solve independently, the better it is for brain development!
So, try to help, by not helping!
Related Posts with More Skill Building Occupational Therapy Activities for Kids
43 Occupational Therapy Motor Coordination Activities for Kids – check out these fun gross motor activities to improve motor skills and give sensory input.
How to Promote Pencil Grasp Development – easy ways to improve fine motor skills for grasping without using a drawing tool!
An Easy Visual Motor Activity Using Magnets – this post shares a kid-favorite, fun way to incorporate bilateral integration into learning tasks.
Art Projects & Crafts for Kids – A Great Way to Support Learning & Development – find fine motor, visual motor, and bilateral coordination activities in this post.
Simple DIY Math Manipulatives for Tactile and Kinesthetic Learning – use household items for math manipulatives to help develop fine motor skills.
