Help Kids With Autism Focus & Calm Down With These 55 Heavy Work Activities

Heather Burnett
April 28, 2018

Autism, Family, Lifestyle

2K Shares

If you’re looking for heavy work activities kids can do at home or school, you’re in the right place. These indoor and outdoor ideas will help your child with autism or sensory needs calm down, improve aggressive behaviors, help with self regulation, and gross motor skills. Whether you have a toddler or school-aged child, these easy heavy work activities will help!

55 Heavy Work Activities. Help your child with autism calm down, improve aggressive behaviors & attention at school, in the classroom & at home with these heavy work activities. My son has autism & these occupational therapy style activities have helped so much! Whether you have a toddler or school-aged child or student with autism or sensory processing disorder, these easy heavy work activities will help with gross motor skills, meltdowns, sleep & more! #autism #sensoryprocessingdisorder

Giving your child with autism or sensory processing disorder household chores (like these heavy work activities) may be what you’re looking for to help calm, focus and sleep.

My son Nathan has autism and it took me an insane amount of time researching ASD and sensory processing disorder to discover how sensory integration activities like heavy work benefits kids like Nathan, but once I did, I felt both relieved and hopeful.

What Is Heavy Work?

Heavy work activities build muscles, joints, ligaments, and most importantly stimulate the proprioceptive receptors (located in these areas) providing your child with feedback he needs to calm down and focus.

Wait a minute, pro-prio-what?

That’s fair:) Let me break it down for you! Proprioception isn’t exactly a word that’s thrown around a lot.

Proprioception 101

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of proprioception – most parents haven’t!

Often called the seventh sense, proprioception tells us our body’s location in space so we can walk down the street without looking at our feet or eat a meal without staring at each bite of food.

Our sense of proprioception is important for body awareness and how securely we feel in our surroundings. It continues to develop over our lifetime.

For example, think of how a clumsy toddler navigates his surroundings versus a first grader!

Big difference, right?

How Heavy Work Helps

Heavy work activities involve deep muscle contraction- focusing on resistance.

All children need these activities to improve motor coordination, but children with autism need it more because they have more acute sensory needs.

Will Heavy Work Help My Child?

Your child may benefit from heavy work activities if he or she falls into one of two categories: Proprioceptive Seekers and Proprioceptive Avoiding. Seeking is the most common.

Signs You Have A Proprioceptive Seeker

Crashes into things on purpose – Like the couch, the bed, or even a wall

Chews on everything

Loves heavy blankets and rolling up or covering himself with them

Unaware of personal space

Hides in tight spaces (My son used to prefer hiding in the dryer)

Jumps on bed or couch

Has a firm/tight/rigid grasp on pencils, crayons, markers

Signs Your Child Falls Into Proprioceptive Avoiding

Low energy

Clumsy

High pain tolerance

Difficult to wake in the morning

Overly cautious

Highly sensitive to touch

How Heavy Work Activities Benefit Your Child

If you see that your child meets any of the above criteria, I recommend seeking an experienced Occupational Therapist to help you with a Sensory Diet of activities – including heavy work!

I’m telling you there is no substitution for the expertise and knowledge an Occupational Therapist can give. The right heavy work activities can regulate a child’s behavior and help with aggressive actions like hitting or biting, focus, motor skills and sleep.

Unfortunately, visiting an Occupational Therapist is expensive. We are lucky our OT was covered under our insurance plan. But you may not have that luxury and I’m not about to leave you hanging without a few suggestions.

Just know I am not a medical professional and I’m not passing this 411 on as a substitute for medical advice:)) I’m the mom of fabulous little boy with autism and a writer – not a doctor:)

Heavy Work Activities

The Good News: There is no shortage of heavy work activities for proprioceptive disorders, and most of them use no expensive equipment!

You can do them at home and no, you don’t need a sensory room or gym! A lot of these exercises can be used in the classroom as well, so if your child is having trouble focusing or sitting still at school share them with your teacher or with the district at your next IEP meeting!

Heavy Work Activities (At Home)

Carrying

Backpack walk – Weight the backpack with bags of rice or weights (no more than 5% of child’s body weight)
Laundry basket
Bag of groceries

Playing

Load the pantry with cans
Animal Walks: Bear walks, Frog jumps, Crab walks
Marching or jogging in place
Load the shopping cart
Wrestle (With rules for the start, stop, etc.)
Tug of war
Playing with yoga balls or medicine balls
Play dough activities

Jumping

Trampoline
Crash Pad
Bed
Bean Bag
Jump Rope

Pushing | Pulling | Throwing

Pull a wagon
Push a grocery basket
Push a stroller
Push a vacuum, broom, mop, etc
Push a wheelbarrow
Play catch with a medicine ball
Play catch with water balloons
Play catch with a pillow
Throw pillows
Throw bean bags into baskets
Throw stuffed animals into a basket

Running & Riding

Ride a tricycle
Ride a bike
Run a lap around your house
Run a race to your car

At the Playground

Climb on monkey bars
Climb on rock walls
Play on a rope swing
Play in the sandbox

Oral Proprioceptive

Drinking Milkshakes from Straws
Blowing Bubbles
Blowing Pinwheels
Crunchy Snacks
Chewable Jewelry

Deep Pressure

“Rolling Dough” Roll a therapy ball over your child while lying on the floor
“Burrito” Roll your child up in a mat and apply gentle to firm pressure
Weighted Blankets
Weighted Lap Pads
Weighted Worm

Outside

Dig in the garden
Rake leaves
Shovel snow
Wash the car
Climb a tree
Rollerskate

Heavy Work Activities At School

Clean off tables
Wall pushups
Chair pushups
Backpack walk
Squeeze Balls
Carry heavy books
Staple papers
Sharpen pencils (using a manual sharpener)
Play with Theraputty
Sit in beanbag chair (for deep pressure input)

I hope these activities help you help your child! If you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hey – contact me anytime! You’re not in this alone!