I received some helpful advice for helping my daughter stay safe as she RUNS through the house.  I think it is a great thing to teach children of all abilities and wanted to share with you. 

The idea is that when they are running, they keep one hand in front of their chest so that their hands would hit an object first before their face.    At first, Elly wanted to cover her face with her hands, but we would turn it around so it faced outward.  We practiced bumping into things while we ran and talked about how if our “bumper” was up, we wouldn’t hurt our face.   It took a couple days and quite a few “play times” for her to get it.  Now, if I see her running without her hand up, all I need to say is “Bumper UP!”

This has significantly decreased the number of times that she runs into walls, corners, and doorways.  Another version is bumper cars, where the child hold their arm at chest level and the other at stomach level.   We encourage her to use her bumper often at home when she is in the mood to let off some steam, but have been fortunate that she has a healthy fear of new places and slows down when we are at parks and playgrounds.