Heavy Lifting

 Have you every heard of heavy work? Heavy work is something we typically build into a child's day that provides a purposeful way to engage with something heavy that the child either has to push, pull, lift, etc. The heavy work strategy is just one of the many sensory solutions we use for kids to help regulate and process different sensory needs. Our Pine kids definitely benefit from all kinds of sensory activities, but the pulley system we have started incorporating has really captured their attention! 

Today, we brought some of those buckets with ropes out to the playscape to incorporate some heavy work and work on our words of the week: up & down. 

At first one of the buckets was empty and the other was full of bean bags. N found this to be incredibly easy to lift as he pulled the ropes back to make the buckets go up. 

 After a bit of brainstorming, N decided that maybe filling the other one with rocks would help make it a little harder to anyone else wanting to try. T noticed what we were doing and wandered over. 

T first started lifting the bucket that was filled with bean bags. He seemed to do it with ease! He walked backwards holding onto the rope tightly and was able to lift the bucket up off the ground! He walked forward to lower it and then cheered and clapped over his success. 

Next, T wandered over to the other bucket that had a lot of heavy rocks in it. T wasn't ready to turn down a challenge, so he got right to it. He gripped the rope with both hands and began to slowly walk backwards. Once the slack of the rope was taught, he took one more step back. 

The bucket did not budge. Not an inch! He let go of the rope and peered into the bucket. 

"Rocks! Rocks out!"

T was not pleased to see so many rocks in the bucket. He took a minute to take some out, put them back in, and finally rearranged them before attempting to lift it again. 

"Heavy!" T yelled as he tugged on the rope. Still no budge. This caught the attention of J! 

J thought he would surely be able to lift it. He gripped onto the rope with both hands and tried the same strategy as T by walking backwards with the rope in hand. However, J ran into the same problem! He was not able to lift it off the ground either. 

Surely we could find a friend that would be able to lift the bucket! N, who was working on the other bucket, stopped what he was doing and picked up the rope attached to the bucket with rocks. He took a deep breath and gave it a good yank. Nothing. 

Then, with all of N's might, he started walking backwards slowly with the rope. Slowly the bucket started to rise off the ground! He continued to walk backwards and was finally able to get the bucket to the branch! He did it! 

Incorporating purposeful heavy work can be incredibly beneficial for any child who may be a sensory seeker. It provides the push/pull feedback that many kids are often looking for, but don't know how to appropriately do themselves. This was a bonus activity because it also pertains to our words of the week! Have a great afternoon and we will see all y'all tomorrow!