This also improves the shoulder stability in the non-dominant hand.

Bilateral
Coordination is important for motor and brain development.

6. Vertical surface activities improve forearm and elbow stability

and wrist extension needed for functional hand movements
The shoulder works against gravity, but the forearm and elbow need to work
against gravity as well when at a vertical surface.

Wrist extension is when the wrist slightly bends so that the top of the hand lifts
up and back toward the body and shoulder. An extended position in the wrist
naturally curls the fingers toward the palm and improves smaller movements of
the hands and finger dexterity.

Some kids try to incorrectly gain stability by bending their wrist but this makes it
much harder to control the finger movements. A vertical surface promotes
proper wrist extension and stability for improved finger mobility.

7. Work and play at vertical facilitates grasping patterns for better

pencil grasp development

When the wrist is extended, the fingers curl toward the palm and the thumb can
oppose the rest of the fingers. The pinky and ring fingers tend to curl closer to
the palm for more stability. This allows the thumb, index and middle fingers to
be more available to do the grasping, moving and manipulating. (For more info
on grasping patterns, check out Development of Pencil Grasp.)

8. Vertical work helps with crossing the midline of the body

If a task is set-up properly, children can cross midline using large movements at
a vertical surface.

Additionally, midline crossing occurs if children keep their core and head still
and at midline. (Click here to learn more about Crossing the Midline.)

9. A vertical position of work improves the visual presentation

which increases focus and visual attention
When a piece of paper or learning materials right in front of a student at eye
level in a vertical position, it greatly helps them visually focus on a task. This
has been so helpful for my students who have visual attention difficulties. The
work is directly in front of the student, and they don’t have as many other things
distracting them if they were seated at a table or desk.