The Importance of
Abdominal Exercises for Kids

Doing regular abdominal exercises for kids will strengthen your child’s core muscles, which are are vital to classroom performance. Without a stable core, your child may struggle to sit still at a desk and to carry out fine motor tasks. This, in turn may affect concentration and the quality of written work.

The importance of strong core muscles


The core muscles are the many different muscles in the abdomen and back that work together to support your spine and hold you upright. The muscles around the shoulder girdle and the hips also form part of the core.

Good core stability will help your child to maintain a good sitting posture at the desk, and will help develop a stable, supportive base for gross motor and fine motor movements.


Imagine trying to paint a wall while dangling from a rope or working on a wobbly stepladder. The paint will go everywhere and it will be really hard to get the paint to land on the right spot. You need a stable base in order to paint easily and effectively.

A stable stepladder gives you the stable base
that you need in order to paint.

Your core muscles should give you a stable core base
to enable you carry out your daily tasks with minimum effort and no strain on your body.

In the long run, developing your child's core muscles will help your child to avoid the lower back pain which which so many adults are plagued.

If your child is already a keen athlete, strengthening the trunk muscles will enable your child to use the arms and legs more strongly, in a more coordinated way.

Using abdominal exercises for kids will also have a positive impact on your child’s balance and improve the ability to sit well at a desk instead of slouching all over it! You may well find that your child’s endurance of gross and fine motor tasks also improves.

Does my child have weak core muscles?

Does your child do any of the following?

• Hooking arms over the back of the chair, rocking on the chair and generally driving you crazy with an inability to sit still


• Instead of sitting upright, a tendency to lie all over the desk, supporting the body weight on the arms and propping the head in a hand


• Preferring to lie down to watch TV instead of sitting upright, or preferring to lie down during mat work at school


• Slouching the body against the nearest wall or table, instead of standing up straight


• Struggling to balance while lifting one leg off the ground, or losing balance easily during gross motor activities and sports


• Poor gross motor skills and general clumsiness


• Avoids climbing on playground equipment and/or trees

If you answered yes to a few of these questions, then your child’s core stability may be poor! Your child may benefit from doing some simple abdominal exercises for kids.

These can easily be done easily at home using the free core exercises for kids on my site, or try my OT Mom e-book for a wider range of easy abdominal exercises for kids.

There are photos to guide you through each activity!

However, please check with your health professional before commencing any exercise program with your child.



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