

You can do this at nighttime either outside or in a dark room or gym. Have each child use their own flashlight, holding on to it with both hands. Use large (adult size) paint brushes and/or rollers and let your child paint the sides of the house with water. Encourage your child to just use one hand to drive the car. 10 Crossing Midline Exercises for Kidsĭraw a line on a large piece of paper or make a large path on the floor with blocks for your child to drive their toy cars.

If your child is demonstrating poor crossing midline skills, or even if they aren't, here are 10 activities that you can do to encourage crossing midline skills in your children. Poor mid-line crossing will affect how your child reads (tracking with the eye from left to right) and writes (using their dominant hand across the writing page). They may compensate by moving their whole trunk to reach toward the opposite side.Your child may actually “get stuck” in mid-reach and have to switch hands to continue.What does difficulty with crossing midline look like? Typically between 8 and 9 years old is when you would expect a child to completely master crossing the midline for a variety of skills such as handwriting, reading, and many gross motor activities. You'll notice they start reaching for things across their body.Ĭrossing midline is a skill that takes a while to perfect, however. What Age Should a Child Cross Midline?Ĭrossing midline begins to emerge when a baby is 6-12 months old. Crossing midline is a skill that children can learn from infancy. Every time you cross that line with either side of your body, that is crossing the midline. What is midline? If you were to draw a line down the middle of your body, starting at the head, that is your midline. They need it for reading, writing, and many other important school activities as well as play activities. Crossing the midline is an important part of development in a child.
