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How many hands
do we have?
FOUR!
Two on our arms,
two on our legs.
The following games for the "hands on our legs" are both much fun and good for health:
Picture series for introduction
The favourite games of all foot artists
Discover feeling and moving your feet
Develop mobile and strong feet
Click the pic to see full size! |
The favourite games of
all foot artists: |
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Fun with flexible toes: Healthy toes easily grab at small stones, nuts, pine cones etc. and put them elsewhere, e.g. through holes in the cover of a box. Try to carry things over some distance -- walking on the heels or jumping on the other leg. Or throw the stones away with the feet, as far as you can -- you may even try to hit goals. |
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Tricks with sticks: It is not difficult to hold a stick between the toes, but it requires some attention to pass it to other persons without dropping it. One could arrange a competition of two queues of people who should pass the stick along as fast as possible. |
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Bring the ring! Pick up rings of soft material and place them on a stick. You also could carry them over some distance jumping on the other leg.... |
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Cup setup: We take cups with our toes and pile them up. We try to build a high stack without bowling it down. Let us find out, if our left or right foot is more skilled! |
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Tie the knot! At first, it takes some time to tie a knot with the toes, but with some exercise it works! Who can also undo the knot with the feet?? |
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Foot-made mosaic: What we can grasp with the toes, can be placed as a mosaic. Thus we need not creep on the ground, but we stand upright and have a perfect overall view of our piece of art! |
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Movement is life: There are lots of merry games that challenge and develop the senses of motion. |
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| Drawing a towel: Two persons are sitting on the ground face to face. They grab at a towel lying between them with the toes and try to draw it towards their side. Who has the tougher toe grip? |
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| Writing and painting competition: Try to write your name or to paint a little picture with your foot -- and look at the webmaster's first attempt |
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| Discover feeling and moving your feet: Chose a pleasent ground (carpet, lawn, sand) for your first foot gymnastics experiences! |
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| Discover proper walking slowly and with awareness of comfortable motion! You gently touch down with the heels, roll over the outer edge of the foot, shift the weight to the balls -- and finally the toes precisely "hand" the body weight over to the other foot. Enjoy elegant natural walking without heel bumps! |
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| Also try uncommon ways of walking, namely on tiptoes and on the heels. Exercising these positions alternately is not only just for fun, but also for prevention of vein disease. |
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How flexible are the toes? Certainly you can bend and stretch them, but can you also spread them out like a fan? If the toes can move to all directions, they will help to stabilize the foot in the optimal position. |
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| Develop toe power! Stand on the soles at a distance of some inches between the ankles and press the toes strongly against the ground. Keep pressure for some seconds to strengthen foot muscles. You can observe that applying power with the toes moves the ankles apart by a little distance. This demonstrates how "toe power" can lift flat feet! |
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| Exercises for mobile and strong feet Avoid overstrain, as long as you are not acquainted to challenging exercises! If you feel discomfort or even pain, return to the easier exercises of the above sections. If formerly neglected, the muscles of the feet would need a gentle workout and some time to build up. |
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Balancing on a round-shaped beam is lot of fun and an ideal exercise for bare feet. For children's feet even a broom-stick will do. Also try it on tiptoes to prevent hallux valgus! Barefoot balancing does not only train the feet but also improves the bearing of the whole body. |
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Children like barefoot climbing on ladders, wall bars, trees and all kinds of playground equipment. Parents and teachers should try it too, but they won't reach the children's skill. |
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| Most kinds of gymnastics are best exercised barefoot. This also applies to easy jumping exercises with a soft landing on the balls -- but avoid hard heel bumps! |
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| To strengthen the arches, repeatedly lift up on tiptoes. As soon as you feel to have a lot of toe power, you may also exercise this by clamping with your toes on the edge of a step. |
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| Barefoot hiking on various grounds also implies the most versatile training program for strong and flexible feet! |
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| Try to get up a steep hill on bare feet for a short distance! Find out how the toes are able to adhere to the ground vigorously. |
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| Relax between the exercises! Sit down, shake and circle the feet and legs, bend and stretch the toes, massage your soles, walk around barefoot on a pleasant ground. |
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| Contents of this chapter |
