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Children and Play: Heavy Work

volunteer300
Mar 25
3 min read

Updated: Apr 3

My name is Siobhan O’Reilly, and I’m a doctoral student in occupational therapy at Tufts University. I’m passionate about spending time outdoors and love sharing that enthusiasm with those around me. For my capstone project, I’m partnering with the Somerville Community Growing Center to create resources that promote outdoor play and highlight its positive impact on child development. My goal is to inspire caregivers to think about developmental milestones and feel excited about bringing children outside to play—all year long!

At the Somerville Community Growing Center, children use the garden space in varying ways and in different settings, including at open garden hours, Children in Nature Initiative events, on field trips, at regular early childhood partner playtimes, and during community playgroups run by the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC). Spending time in a natural, unstructured environment in the great outdoors where children are free to roam and play freely can lower stress and fatigue levels, inspire the imagination, and stimulate the mind. Plus, it’s fun!

Visiting children are often observed engaging in games and activities that incorporate heavy work - that’s any activity/movement that requires effort from our large muscles and causes resistance at the joints. This means that the joints are receiving increased weight and pressure and need to work harder to get the task done. These activities usually involve pushing and pulling movements. This resistance stimuli activates the proprioceptive system, which is responsible for taking in information from the muscles in the body and sending that information to the brain, which then helps to calm and regulate the body. The brain then analyzes this input and decides if the muscles need more or less effort to complete a task.

This flow of information is ongoing and prevents disruptions to the sensory system, allowing someone to use the correct amount of force for activities and helping to build body awareness. Children participating in heavy work release dopamine and serotonin which calm and organize the body. Participating in heavy work can prepare children to attend to tasks, support body and space awareness, and improve upon impulse control. It’s a good idea for adults to model and encourage kids to participate in heavy work before expecting them to sit and pay attention for long periods of time.

In the garden, children seem drawn to activities that require heavy work - as they know best what their bodies need. Children are seen carrying bricks back and forth, a task they set for themselves as a part of their imagined world. Wheelbarrows are filled and emptied, pushed and pulled, and transported throughout the garden. What appears to be childhood fun is actually working to create calm bodies and minds that are ready to focus and learn. Below are ideas to incorporate heavy work while also enjoying time at the Somerville Community Growing Center.

Wheelbarrows! Children can push and pull around the garden space.
- Have children find the heaviest rock they can pick up and load into the wheelbarrow.
- Hide items around the space and have children look around and load the found items into the wheelbarrow
Digging and using shovels; digging into dirt or shoveling snow allows for some great resistance work.
- The sandbox is a great opportunity for children to get digging!
Climbing the tree; children can hang from the branches or practice climbing up.
- Make it a challenge! Count how long they can hang .
Jumping; jumping down/up steps or the rock wall.
- This also is a chance for children to analyze risk and make decisions about their bodies’ abilities.
Carrying heavy stuff: playing with rocks, bricks and sticks requires children to pick up and transport heavy items!