What is Midline Crossing?
Crossing midline simply means that a child reaches across their body with either hand or foot. Think of it as if there is an imaginary vertical line down the centre of the body. Crossing the midline would mean having the ability to reach over this imaginary line with an arm or leg, and perform a task on the opposite side of the body.
The ability to cross midline develops as bilateral coordination skills develop. The child learns to coordinate their stronger hand (used for specialized skill) with their helper hand (the hand that they use to assist the dominant hand).
Crossing the midline is a developmental ability that is important for so many gross motor tasks. When a child has difficulty with crossing their midline, they will demonstrate difficulty with fine motor skills, too.
Brain Development
Helping your child cross the midline as they grow is very important for their brain’s development. Midline crossing activities are often tied to higher learning skills such as speech, language, handwriting, reading, tracking objects, math sequencing, sensory integration, body awareness and other important skills for critical thinking. It’s also important for helping children retain information, improves attention and focus and allows them to listen to the teacher as they give directions (auditory processing).
Crossing the midline helps the right and left sides of the brain work together. If we only work one side of the brain, the other side may become weaker, which could cause gaps in learning. Learning tools that come naturally for some children (organizing thoughts on paper, executive functioning, writing, comprehension and sitting still in a chair) may not come so easily to others who can’t cross their midline.
When a child crosses their midline, new connections are made between the right side and the left side of the brain, and both sides are then working together, rather than independently of each other. It integrates the two sides of the brain, and organizes the brain for better concentration and problem solving. This is needed for reading and writing, as well as sports activities and other daily skills.
Signs a Child can’t Cross their Midline
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Appears ambidextrous. Children who have difficulty crossing the midline may use their right hand to perform tasks on the right side of their body, and their left hand to perform tasks on the left side of their body. They may seem ambidextrous, but what’s actually happening is that they aren’t properly developing the fine motor skills in their dominant hand. Instead, they are essentially developing average skills in both hands which can have significant implications in the long-run.
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Has poor handwriting and often changes hands repeatedly while writing, drawing, colouring, etc. Handwriting may be more challenging, and their school work may be sloppy and messy.
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Has difficulty performing basic life skills, like brushing teeth and hair, doing up buttons, zipping up zippers, putting on socks and shoes, etc.
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Demonstrates poor gross motor skills. A child who can’t cross the midline will likely struggle with gross motor activities. For example, they may struggle to kick a ball with two feet instead of fine-tuning this skill with only their dominant foot.
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Appears uncoordinated and struggles with more complex gross motor activities that require greater coordination, like jumping with a skip rope or doing jumping jacks.
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Has difficulty with reading. Kids who can’t cross the midline may find it more difficult to visually track something from left to right, which can result in delayed reading skills.
Home Activities to encourage Midline Crossing
Tip: Place a “marker” like a sticker, on the child’s right hand, elbow, knee and foot and tell them that the hand, elbow, knee and foot with the “marker” is their right side – the unmarked is their left side.
Crossing the midline activities don’t have to be boring, make a game out of them!
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Cross drills: in standing, pick up left knee and touch right hand to it, and then right knee and touch left hand to it, and continue on in this manner, alternating back and forth for a number of repetitions. Then try: pick up left knee and touch right elbow to it, and then right knee and touch left elbow to it.
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Windmills: stand tall, reach hands over head, then bend at waist and touch right hand to left foot, return to standing position, and then left hand to right foot.
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Torso twist: stand tall with hands reaching for the sky, and then twist torso to the right so his or her arms are pointing in that direction. Return to the middle before twisting to the left.
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Bicycles: lie flat on your back with hands behind head. Next, ask the child to bring his or her left elbow to his or her right knee before returning back to a lying position. Repeat on the opposite side.
Now put on some music and turn these drills into a fun activity by marching around and playing Simon Says… “Simon says stop and touch your right hand to your left knee”, “Simon says do 3 jumping jacks”, “Simon says stop and touch your left hand to your right foot”, “Simon says…….”. Kids love this game!
Activities with Tape:
Place a long line of masking tape on the floor.
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Grape Vine Walk: Have the child walk along the tape line, scissoring their legs - stand with each foot on each side of the tape line, walk along the line by crossing the right foot over the left foot and then left over right. At the end of the tape, turn around and come back, this time start by crossing the left foot over the right and continuing. This exercise can be repeated for the hands by having the child go down on hands and feet on the floor with hands on each side of the tape, now “walk” hands by scissoring right hand over left hand.
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Figure 8: “Draw” a large figure 8 with masking tape on the floor. Ask child to sit in the middle of the figure 8 and to trace the shape using his or her finger, using one hand only. The shape of the figure 8 will force him or her to cross the midline while tracing. Repeat with the other hand. (You can make this extra fun by using shaving cream to draw the figure 8 if you want to add a sensory component to this activity.)
Activities with an Exercise Ball:
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Sitting: sit upright on the ball, hands above head – then touch right hand to left foot, return to upright position and then touch left hand to right foot.
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On Tummy: place some objects on the floor to one side of the ball and some containers on the other side of the ball - the child lays down on his or her tummy on the ball, and ask him or her to place the items from the one side into containers on the other side using their right hand – when finished, use the left hand to take the items out the containers and place them back where they were. You can also do this by placing some cones to one side of the ball and the child must stack them on the other side and then unstack them with the other hand.
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Standing: this exercise can be really tricky for younger children, so you may have to work up to it. Start by having the child hold the ball in their right hand. They are going to loop the ball under their left leg using their right hand. When they have looped the ball from right to left, have your child take the ball in their left hand and loop it under their right leg. As the child gets faster and better at this activity, they are now ready to bounce the ball. Instead of the child looping the ball through their legs, they will now bounce the ball with their right hand and swing their left leg over the ball. Have the child alternate arms and legs with this activity.
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Hot potato: if you’re looking for fun crossing the midline exercises for kids you can do with larger groups; this is a great one. Have the group sit in a circle and then ask them to pass a ball with both hands quickly around the circle while you play some fun music. Once the music stops, the child who is holding the ‘potato’ is out. The game continues until only one child remains. Be sure to switch the direction the kids pass the “potato”.
Activities with Stretchy Band:
If you don’t have stretchy bands, use any elastic or stocking. Make sure your stretchy bands are tied together at the end (making a circle).
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Balancing: have the child take the stretchy band in both hands and bring their right arm over their head to the left side of the body (so your right arm is touching their right ear). Then help your child transfer their arms to the other side of their body with the same exercise. Repeat.
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When the child has mastered this exercise with their arms, add the legs with it. As the child crosses the midline with their arms, have them lift their opposite leg and balance on one foot for a few seconds before alternating both hands and arms to the opposite sides of the body.
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Stretchy Band Scoot: for this exercise we will be sitting on the floor. You can sit side-by-side with the child. Take your stretchy band and complete the same exercise above with your arms alternating back and forth from the right to left sides of the body.
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When the child has mastered this exercise sitting on the floor, add the legs with it. While your child alternates their arms, have them lift one knee off the ground and switch legs as they switch arms. Make sure the opposite leg is working with opposite arms. For an extra challenge, have your child complete the activity with their arms while scooting their bum across the floor. This will build their core muscle while crossing the midline.
