What is crossing midline?
Imagine someone draws an imaginary line down the center of your body that divides your body in half. Crossing midline refers to the arms, legs, and eyes ability to cross that imaginary line and complete tasks.
So why is this skill important?
Crossing midline promotes the connection and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. Being able to cross midline and use both sides of the body together is crucial for development and helps us be able to complete everyday tasks like: reading, writing, brushing teeth, dressing, putting on socks and shoes, tying shoes, hitting a ball with bat. The list goes on and on, which is why this skill is so important and why we want to begin and continue to promote this skill.
-around 2-3 months babies start crossing midline with their eyes when they visually track objects from side to side
-around 6-9 months babies begin banging objects together, reaching across body, and transferring objects from hand to hand crossing over that imaginary line.
-crossing midline skills continue to improve and happen with more ease as children get older and by age 4 should be easily crossing midline (if not sooner) and skills continue to mature with age
Some things you may notice if your child is has difficulty crossing midline:
-they may struggle with self-care tasks that are age appropriate… many self care tasks require both hands and crossing midline
-switching back and forth between hands/feet during an activity to avoid one hand/foot crossing over midline… Keep in mind it is normal for younger children to switch between hands/feet in fact we encourage equal use of hands and legs early on.
-a possible delay in rolling
-a possible delay in reciprocal movement patterns such as creeping/crawling, skipping
-a possible delay in hand dominance-if child isn’t spontaneously crossing midline they are not getting in the repeated practice to develop fine motor skills/dexterity
-child may rotate/turn their body/trunk to get an object instead of simply reaching their arm across their body
Ways to prepare and promote crossing midline with babies:
*most are meant to promote the skills needed before child can cross midline
-visual tracking exercises.. baby’s vision is not clear at beginning, their biggest motivators are usually you, high contrast colors, and mirrors…
-side lying play- have your baby lie on their side and play, this helps babies bring hands together at midline
-rolling….our bodies will follow our heads so use tracking to promote rolling. Take baby through the motions of rolling even if they cannot do it on their own… this is how they learn and how the brain makes the connections. Try rolling them in/out of diaper changes/tummy time for practice throughout the day
-stretching/nursery rhyme play.. again taking baby through movement patterns is the best way for their brains/bodies to learn. Show them how to grab a foot with their opposite hand or cross their arms as if they are giving themselves a bear hug, recite “this little piggy” having the baby reach their toes with the opposite hand or both hands..get creative and silly here! Your baby will love the social engagement and learn about how their body has 2 sides.
-encourage clapping, pat-a-cake, and banging 2 objects together. Simultaneously bringing hands to midline is the precursor to using one hand to cross over and helps the baby become aware that they have 2 sides of the body that can work together.
-ball play… when baby can sit, rolling a ball is a perfect way to encourage bringing hands together..if you roll the ball to either side of them it encourages them to reach crossing midline to grab the ball..also place bigger toys to the side so babies have to reach over with both hands.
-music…babies naturally move to music.. give them some instruments/scarves to bang, shake and play again promoting bringing hands to midline and using both hands together
-core strengthening..it is important to note that core strength is a prerequisite for so many skills including this one! So keep up the tummy time, baby sit-ups, bicycling with feet
-don’t forget vertical play! (info on this is in a previous blog post)
Activities to promote crossing midline for toddlers and up..there are so many, but here are a few of our favs:
-infinity loop-a figure 8 turned on its side ♾. There are million ways to use this. Tape on floor and drive cars on it…put on horizontal surface(window/wall) let kids trace with crayons/fingers…place letters/shapes along the outside and call out a shape/letter for kids to find as they trace around the loop.. possibility are endless with the ♾
-Simon says/movement games/twister- great way to get kids to imitate or initiate movements that cross midline, include things like cross-crawls, touch right hand to left leg, etc
-Letters/shapes in air- take turns drawing big shapes/letters in air and guess what they are. Use big movements that cross midline
-Yoga- Cosmic kids yoga is a fun guided option on YouTube. Also yoga pretzels and yogarilla cards are a great guide as well, both found on amazon
-Use bigger objects-playing with bigger items such as large balls and blocks forces a child to have to hold the item with both hands/feet naturally crossing midline when moving the item to different positions
-Prone(tummy)play-child will have to stabilize themselves with one arm while reaching to play with other
-Coloring/painting on big surfaces-kiddos will naturally use big motor movements therefore crossing midline
-Two-hand play-give child something to hold in one hand while the other hand works..think holding a cup while picking up items scattered across floor(use tongs for bonus😉)
-Passing in a circle/down the line-great for groups..pass larger items down a line or in a circle using feet/hands.
-Grapevine or carioca gait pattern- includes side stepping and alternating crossing other leg over in the front and behind encourages the legs to cross midline.
-Stickers-this provides a great visual for kids…place a sticker on the hand/foot you want the kid to use or place 2 matching stickers on opposite sides of body(right hand/left knee) have child match the stickers(great to teach cross crawls)
-think about set-up-you can incorporate crossing midline in almost in activity, let your creativity soar!