60 Heavy Work Activities for Sensory Seekers

What’s inside this article: A look at how and why heavy work activities help children with self-regulation and sensory seeking behaviors, plus a list of 60 heavy work activities for children.

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Today we’re talking about heavy work activities for kids, and don’t worry, I’m not referring to child labor. Heavy work in my world refers to any activity that pushes or pulls on the body.

Heavy work may help calm your child when they’re hyperactive or having trouble keeping their bodies calm.

It also helps with emotional regulation and may serve as a successful coping strategy.

Why Does Heavy Work Help Kids?

Heavy work stimulates the proprioceptive system, which is our sense of body awareness. We have proprioceptors in our muscles and joints that are stimulated during heavy work activities.

Most people receive enough proprioceptive input through their daily activities. However, some do not.

Those who do not are sensory seekers.

They’re often hyperactive and rough, jumping and crashing into things, may even act aggressively, because their bodies are seeking extra proprioceptive input.

Learn more about how the proprioceptive system works here.

For children like this, heavy work can help them stay calm by providing that much needed sensory input.

Heavy Work Helps Adults Too

Heavy work can help anyone calm down or deal with stress. It’s not just for kids.

Do you, or does anyone you know, like to clean when they get mad? What about exercise? Punch a punching bag? Those are all forms of heavy work.

I even know someone who likes to rearrange her furniture when she’s stressed out.

Heavy Work Activities

There are so many different activities that you can do to incorporate heavy work into your child’s day-to-day routine.

This list of heavy work activities will cover everything that I can think of.

Exercise-Based Heavy Work

Wall sits
Wall push-ups
Regular push-ups
Crab walks
Planks
Mountain climbers
Burpees

Yoga

Although yoga is exercised-based heavy work, it deserves its own section.

Yoga is a fantastic heavy work activity. But, it also stimulates the vestibular system and is an ideal calm-down strategy for kids who enjoy it.

My kids and I do yoga every morning. We love the Cosmic Kids Yoga Adventures which are available for anyone with an Amazon Prime membership (You can get a 30-day trial here).

The instructor, Jaime, makes yoga so much fun for kids and adults. There is also a lot of other content on there for kids about learning coping skills and mindfulness.

In Chair Heavy Work Activities

Often, kids are expected to remain seated in their chairs while they’re at school. This is often insanely hard for sensory seekers.

These are a few heavy work activities that kids can do without leaving their seats, which may be helpful during class time.

Chair Pushups: Either hold onto the sides of your chair or put your hands under your bottom and push up, lifting your body about an inch off the chair. Hold for a few seconds, and then repeat.
Chair Resistance Bands: These resistance bands just go around the legs of your child’s chair. Then, your child can push on them with their feet.
Hand Pushes: Your child can do this discreetly, with their hands under their desk, if they’re a bit self-conscious in the classroom, and worried about other kids looking at them. Just place the palms of your hands together and push them as hard as you can.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation: This involves tensing your muscles and joints as tightly as you can, and then relaxing them completely. You start with one part of the body, usually hands or feet, and work your way through your entire body. This is a great script for younger children to get them to engage in this activity.

Heavy Work Activities at the Playground

Since all activities that involve pushing and pulling fall into the heavy work category, there are loads of ways to incorporate this into a trip to the playground.

Climbing the play structure, ladders, etc.
Monkey bars
Climbing up the slide
Pushing someone on the swings
Army crawling through the tunnels
Fill a plastic bucket up with the pebbles and dump it out

Other Outdoor Activities and Chores

Yard Work: Raking leaves, pushing a wheel barrel, spreading out gravel
Stacking wood
Tug-o-war
Riding a bike
Pushing or pulling a wagon
Hanging wet clothes on the clothesline
Rolling a medicine ball or tires across the yard
Build a fort/shelter out of tree branches
Sandbox play
Water table activities
Building a snowman
Gardening: Pulling weeds, digging, watering the plants
Washing the car
Shoveling snow
Cross country skiing

Household Chores

Most household chores involve heavy work, which is why I mentioned that a lot of adults like to clean when they’re stressed or angry.

Sweeping
Vacuuming
Carrying laundry hamper
Transferring wet clothes into the dryer
Carrying bags of groceries
Putting away groceries – especially canned goods in the pantry or frozen items
Reorganizing the pots and pans
Rearranging the furniture
Mopping
Taking out the garbage
Baking – kneading dough or stirring batter

More Heavy Work Activities

Here are just some more activities that didn’t really fit a specific category.

Lay on your stomach on a scooter board and propel yourself across the ground with your arms
Swimming
Wheelbarrel walking (requires two people)
Jumping on a trampoline
Pushing the cart at the grocery store
Pushing a younger sibling in their stroller
Climbing a tree
Squeezing a stress ball
Playing twister
Gymnastic activities – somersaults, cartwheels, rolls, etc.