4 Ways to Use a Surfer Board

Surfer boards are widely used by children’s occupational therapists, and for good reason. The square-shaped skateboard with 360-degree rotating wheels can help children reach important motor skill milestones. You can use a surfer board for building strength in your toddler’s neck, for developing gross motor skills in your toddler, and for teaching your older child to navigate around obstacles. We guide you to safe, fun, and educational surfer board exercises.  

Highlights:  

• Surfer boards offer great motor skill workout, improving especially children’s:  
  • Gross motor skills 
  • Core strength 
  • Postural stability 
  • Navigational skills 
• Use a surfer board from when your baby turns 4 months old, and well into your baby’s childhood. 

Surfer Boarding Benefits 

On a surfer board, your child develops gross motor skills, core strength, postural stability, navigational skills, and more. Occupational Therapist, Mette Vainer Wegloop, uses the surfer board in her children’s therapy sessions and here’s why she likes it so much:   

“The surfer board invites your little one to lie down on the stomach, while moving around in different directions and at different speeds. This combination is a fantastic motor skill workout! Laying on their stomach helps your baby build muscle strength in neck and spine, while toddlers and older children learn to coordinate their body movements, work on their postural stability, and finetune their navigational skills. When it comes to motor development, a surfer board is really one of the best toys you can give your child.” 

4 Exercises on the Surfer Board 

“You can use a surfer board from when your baby turns 4 months and well into their childhood years,” says Mette vainer Wegloop. She guides you to four educational surfer board exercises for children of varying ages:  

1. Baby on Board 

Age: 4 months – 1 year  

Instructions from Mette Vainer Wegloop:  

• “Have your baby lie on their tummy on a surfer board.  
• Position yourself and your partner so you sit at each end of the room but so you can always support and hold on to your baby.  
• Gently send your baby over to your partner, by gently pushing your baby, not the board, and let your little one enjoy this gliding sensation.  

What this exercise does: strengthens your baby’s muscles in neck and back, improving their head control and paving the way for the next stages of your baby’s development: sitting up straight, crawling, and walking.”  

2. Cruising the House 

Age: 1 – 2 years 

Instructions from Mette Vainer Wegloop:  

• “Let your child sit up straight on top of a surfer board. Most boards are designed so your little one can safely hold on to the edges of the board.  
• Give your toddler an exciting tour around the house. It’s fun to explore the underside of the dining table, for example, and it challenges your child’s balance when you stop to pick up toys from the floor.   

What this exercise does: improves your toddler’s sense of balance, core muscles, and proprioceptive systems (which is our subconscious ability to adjust our body position to external surroundings).” 

3. Merry-go-round 

Age: 2 – 3 years 

Instructions from Mette Vainer Wegloop:  

• “Have your child lie on their tummy on a surfer board.  
• Hand your child a hula hoop and hold on to the hula hoop both of you at the same time.  
• Now you can wheel your child around by gently pulling at the hula hoop. Wheely good fun! 

What this exercise does: strengthens all the muscles in your child’s neck, back, arms, and core, while improving your child’s sense of balance and general body control.”   

4. Vacuum Cleaner 

Age: 4 – 5 years 

Instructions from Mette Vainer Wegloop:  

• “Place a large, empty box in one end of the room – the box should be big enough to contain your child’s toys on the floor. 
• Ask your little surfer to pick up the toys from the floor while scooting around on their belly. 
• Challenge your child to throw the toys into the empty box from a safe distance. A real win-win situation for both children and their parents!    

What this exercise does: enhances your child’s gross motor skills, navigational skills, and bilateral coordination, which is the ability to coordinate both sides of the body simultaneously.”