Does Your Right-Half Know What Your Left-Half is Doing?

Bilateral coordination refers to the skilled and coordinated use of two sides of the body at the same time- such as holding a pencil in one hand while holding the paper down with the other.

Each side of our brain controls the opposite hand and foot for motor tasks. The communication between both sides of the brain to carry out a task using both sides of the body is bilateral coordination.

Strong bilateral coordination is necessary for writing, tying shoes, riding a bike, cutting with scissors, throwing and catching balls and most daily living activities. Bilateral coordination eventually leads to the development of a dominant hand. Developing a dominant hand is important because it creates a “specialized” hand with increased strength and dexterity to help the child to develop both accuracy and speed with fine motor tasks, particularly handwriting.

Children usually develop a dominant hand around 2-4 years of age and should show a definite hand preference by 5-6 years old. Children with weak bilateral coordination may have delays in developing hand dominance, and may struggle with jumping, hopping, and catching balls.

For a comprehensive list of developmental milestones, visit The Center for Disease Control's "Learn the Signs. Act Early” page for a list of milestones.

Activities to strengthen bilateral coordination:

• Banging toys together
• Clapping games
• Apart/together activities: marker tops, toothbrush holders, pop beads, bristle blocks, stacking cups, Russian dolls, Megablocks, Duplos and Legos, Velcro toy food
• Wind up toys: jack-in-the-box, See ‘n’ Say, salad spinnners
• Practice beading- first use a pipe cleaner or straw, progressing to shoelaces and then lacing boards.
• Sensory activities using play dough, water, sand, shaving cream, and finger painting
• Pouring water or sand from one container to another
• Squeezing, pushing and pulling on clay, putty, play dough or modeling foam
• Rolling play dough, putty or clay with rolling pins
• Stirring ingredients in a bowl
• Rolling play dough, putty or clay with rolling pins
• Stirring ingredients in a bowl
• Practicing tearing or folding paper or other materials for craft projects
• Building with large blocks, rolling large balls, holding books with one hand while turning pages, using two-handed musical instruments like drums, cymbals, shakers
• Opening and closing lids on jars
• Hammering toys- such as a styrofoam block covered with burlap using golf tees and play hammers.

Our Choices for Children resource libraries have a number of toys and resources to help you provide or augment these types of activities for the children in your care. Come check something out!