Chest and Tricep Strengthening

This is the easiest form of push ups. It can be done a variety of ways. Here I have the child facing me standing a few steps away from me. She holds my hands, bends her elbows to lean against me. She straightens her arms to push away from me. The further back she steps, the harder this activity is. In another variation, I have my back to the wall and I step my feet out a little from the wall. The child starts with arms bent leaning against me and then pushes out and away from me. Every time the child comes down on top of me, I complain that she is smushing me, and I beg with her to get back up. It leads to giggles and fun.

Another way is having the child’s back to the wall. Then she pushes against you against the resistance you provide. Start with her arms bent and then have her push out to arms straight.

A similar level of difficulty is having the child simply do pushups with her hands on the wall from standing. The further her feet are from the wall, the harder the wall push ups are. I have a lot of children who started their push ups on the wall.