North West Midlands Cystic Fibrosis Centre

University Hospital of North Midlands NHS NHS Trust

Blowing Games and Activities for Toddlers and Young ChildrenPhysiotherapy with ‘toddlers’ can be challenging at times. Introducing blowing games and activities can make physiotherapy more fun and encourages your child to start to become actively involved with clearing their lungs of secretions.

Blowing games and activities encourage your child to take in deeper, bigger breaths and to control their breath out with each of the different activities, whilst having fun. The bigger, deeper breaths help to move and clear the secretions through their lungs.

Your child learning and understanding how to change the depth of their breathing in and out is an important skill that will help them as they become older to perform more formal breathing techniques which will be taught by the physiotherapist.

Below are some ideas of different games that you can do with your child. They can be done at any time during the day, for any length of time; the important thing is to do at least one of the suggested activities daily and have fun. Doing the games with brothers, sisters or friends will help to keep them more focused but also increase the fun.

Bubble PEP: This can get messy but is very popular. Before starting it is a good idea to place a towel or a large plastic container on the surface you are going to use. A large plastic jug or beaker of water (half filled), place a few drops of liquid soap into the jug. Using a straw in the jug ask your child to blow into the straw, encouraging slow and long. This will create a dome of bubbles on top which your child can then blow off. Counting as they blow out may encourage your child to keep going for longer. Warning: If you are concerned that your child will suck rather than blow through the straw, leave out the liquid soap at first.

Blowing Bubbles: Using traditional bubbles, your child should take a big breath in

and gently blow out through an ‘o’ shaped mouth. As they become better at blowing the bubbles, encourage your child to breathe out for longer. They can also run after them and burst them, getting them active at the same time.

Z.Rushton.Advanced CFphysiotherapist. Version 2. December 2017.Blowing Games and Activities for toddlers and young children.NWMCF

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University Hospital of North Midlands NHS NHS Trust

Blowing a tissue: Holding out a thin tissue and ask your child to take a big breath in and blow onto the tissue to lift up and away from them, encouraging them to keep the tissue up for as long as they can.

Blowing Cotton Wool Balls: Holding a cotton wool ball in the palm of your hand or your child’s hand and encourage them to take a big breath in then blow out onto the ball. Your physiotherapist could also give you a cardboard tube (Peak Flow Tube), place the cotton wool ball at the end of the tube and ask your child to blow the ball from the tube with their lips tightly sealed around it. This encourages your child to create a wide mouth when blowing which will help them to develop a ‘huff’ technique. It is also helpful when the team are considering starting lung function tests around the age of 5yrs old.

Blow Football: The aim is to encourage big breaths in and long deep breaths out through a straw to move the ball. Using a straw and a ball of cotton wool or a light weight ping pong ball, you can make this a simple game seeing how far your child can blow the ball across a table or smooth surface. Alternatively you can make a football pitch using a cereal box, create a goal and they can score goals. As they become older this can become competitive with other children to see who can score the most goals or the quickest goals.

Blow Painting: This can be quite messy but great fun. Place a few blobs of child friendly paint on a piece of paper and using a straw ask your child to blow as close to the paint as possible. This should move the paint across the paper creating ‘spider like’ pictures.

An alternative option that your child may enjoy is to use blowing toys such as a harmonica, whistle, toy recorder, paper windmill.

CleaningIt is recommended that ‘blowing’ toys should not be shared and kept for ‘Physiotherapy’ sessions. Some equipment should be used only used once, such as straws or tissues. Others should be kept clean by washing them in warm soapy water, rinse with clean water and left to air dry naturally.

If you have any questions or experience any problems with any of the suggested games, please contact the physiotherapist through the CF office team.

Z.Rushton.Advanced CFphysiotherapist. Version 2. December 2017.Blowing Games and Activities for toddlers and young children.NWMCF

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