Crossing the Midline
Crossing the midline is an important part of coordinated movement and develops as children begin to use both sides of their body together during activities such as reaching, crawling, walking, and manipulating objects. It supports bilateral coordination, body awareness, and the ability to perform smooth, efficient movements.
Developing this skill helps children integrate the left and right sides of the body, which is important for locomotor skills, object control skills, and everyday functional tasks. In the early years, opportunities to cross the midline should be regularly embedded within a physical literacy program through varied and playful movement experiences.
Simple midline crossing involves controlled, single movements across the body, such as reaching across to touch the opposite knee.
Complex midline crossing involves repeated or coordinated cross-body actions during movement, such as crawling, throwing, striking, or performing alternating movement patterns.
- Focus on simple crossing the body actions in a slow, controlled manner, such as tapping opposite knees or shoulders while stationary, with activities like Beanbag Balances
- Encourage reaching across the body with hands during stretching and warm-up activities like Balance Slow-Down Cool-Down or Gymnastics Shape Up
- Play games such as Balance Battle or Balance Twister to encourage “touch the opposite side” movements or follow-the-leader movements
- Provide visual cues such as floor markers or targets placed across the body
- Encouraging tummy time across all ages supports the development of strong core muscles and better postural control
- Include classroom opportunities such as placing resources slightly to one side so children must reach across their body to collect them, and simple tasks that encourage tapping or touching the opposite knee or shoulder during short brain breaks
- Incorporate cross-body movements into locomotor skills such as crawling, walking and climbing
- Use throwing, catching and striking activities that naturally encourage crossing the midline, such as Musical Catches, Two Square Mixer or Precision Strike
- Set up obstacle courses that require reaching across the body to pick up or place objects
- Play rhythm and coordination games that involve alternating cross-body movements (e.g. clapping patterns), such as Jump to the Beat or Musical Balances
- Include classroom opportunities such as placing stationery on one side of the desk so children must reach across their body to get them, passing books along a row from one side to the other, and using sorting trays where children pick up items from one side and place them into a container on the opposite side
- Combine crossing the midline with speed, timing, and directional changes and complex movement patterns, with activities like Move and Groove Routine
- Use sport-based skills such as dribbling, passing and striking with both sides of the body
- Introduce multi-step movement sequences that require repeated cross-body coordination
- Challenge children with reaction games where they must respond across the body quickly and accurately, such as Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes, Cone or Reaction Tennis
- Include classroom opportunities such as fast-paced learning stations where children must quickly reach across their body to collect, sort and place resources on alternating sides of their workspace, or interactive whiteboard tasks where children reach across their body to tap, drag or select items on opposite sides of the screen
- Moves one arm or leg across the centre line of the body
- Maintains balance and control while crossing the midline
- Uses both sides of the body confidently
- Eyes track the object or target
- Movement is smooth and coordinated
- Repeats cross-body movements during continuous activities
- Avoiding crossing the centre line of the body
- Turning the whole body instead of reaching across
- Lack of coordination between left and right sides
- Reduced control when moving quickly
