Play, Games, and Sports for Children Wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane
When a child with a mobility visual impairment or blindness (MVI/B) wants to run, play, join a game, or participate in sports their mobility tool become something they can continue to rely upon for balance, protection, and information during the fun
Play is not an optional part of childhood. It is how children explore their environment, develop motor skills, learn social relationships, build confidence, and discover what their bodies can do.
For children with an MVI/B, opportunities to participate in play and physical activities can be limited by more than vision alone. Navigating unfamiliar spaces, anticipating obstacles, maintaining personal space, and knowing what is happening immediately ahead can make ordinary childhood activities more challenging.
A child with an MVI/B uses a mobility tool to meet each of these challenges: How do we adapt play, games and sports that children wearing their mobility tools can participate in activities that were never designed around it?
At Safe Toddles, we believe the answer begins with changing how we think about pediatric mobility.
Much of Early Mobility is Play
Traditional approaches to mobility instruction often emphasize learning to walk, navigating an environment, or using a mobility device during structured travel.
But children don't spend their childhood walking from one destination to another.
They play on playgrounds. They chase balls. They follow friends. They participate in group games, physical education, recreational activities, and sports.
These activities require movement, exploration, interaction, and the confidence to take the next step.
The Pediatric Belt Cane offers a different approach to mobility. Connected to the child's body through a structured belt, the cane frame provides continuous, body-centered tactile feedback as the child with an MVI/B moves, turns, and explores. Its extended-touch connection with the environment helps the MVI/B child receive information about the space immediately ahead while absorbing environmental contact.
Because the Belt Cane is worn, the MVI/B child does not have to hold a mobility device in their hands to receive that feedback. This creates opportunities to think differently about how mobility instruction can be incorporated into everyday childhood activities.
Introducing Our Podia Course
Teaching the MVI/B Child Wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane: Play, Games, and Sports
Safe Toddles educational course designed to help those working with MVI/B children understand how to adapt familiar activities to include the whole child into play, games, and sports.
The course brings pediatric mobility into the activities that make childhood meaningful. Rather than treating play as something separate from mobility instruction, we want educators and other professionals to consider how MVI/B children can learn, move, explore, and participate while wearing their Belt Cane.
The goal is to expand the possibilities for participation.
Who Should Take This Course?
This course is intended for families, professionals and others involved in the development, education, and mobility of children with an MVI/B.
This includes:
Orientation and Mobility Specialists
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs)
Physical and occupational therapists
Early intervention professionals
Adapted physical education professionals
Parents and caregivers interested in expanding their child's opportunities for movement and participation
Whether working with a toddler beginning to explore movement or an older child ready to participate in organized games and sports, the is the same:
How can we make mobility a natural part of the MVI/B child's active life?
Rethinking What Is Possible
Children with an MVI/B deserve more than opportunities to practice walking.
They deserve opportunities to move freely, explore, play alongside other children, participate in physical activities, and discover their own capabilities.
We need to look beyond the traditional boundaries of mobility instruction and consider what becomes possible when a child's mobility tool is designed to stay with them throughout their activities.
A child shouldn't have to choose between mobility and participation.
Let's bring mobility into play.
Explore the Course
Enrollment is open!
Learn more about our new Podia course: Teaching MVI/B Child Wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane: Play, Games, and Sports
Because childhood is about more than getting from one place to another. It's about everything a child gets to do along the way.
Safe Toddles is committed to expanding mobility opportunities for children with an MVI/B through innovative pediatric mobility solutions, education, and research.
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