Use this exercise between activities as a quick sensory regulation and postural control activity.
Instructions
Lie on your back with your knees bent, elbows wide and head resting on your hands
Squeeze your tummy muscles to lift one shoulder and your opposite knee towards each other (like an echidna curling into a ball)
Lower back to the floor and repeat on the other side
Watch Points
Elbows wide apart
Neck relaxed and eyes looking up at the roof
Using tummy muscles to curl up, NOT pulling your head up with your hands
Shoulder blade lifting off the floor when you curl up
Curling your knees way up towards to your head
Modifications
More Challenging
Multi-Sensory
Ball Skills
Fine Motor
Lying:
Do the Echidna Curl with your feet staying on the floor and only lifting your head/shoulders off the floor.
Seated:
Squeeze your tummy muscles. Curl your body down towards your legs and then back up again.
Twist your shoulder down towards your opposite knee to make it more challenging.
Lift both shoulders and both feet off the floor together, to curl your whole body into a ball
Do the Echidna Curl with a cushion or pillow on your belly. Squish it with your knee each time you curl up.
Curl into a ball like a spiky echidna keeping itself safe, warm and cosy.
