Sitting Positions on the Floor

In this post we will explore the classic crisscross style of sitting, as well as acceptable alternative sitting positions on the floor. We will explore floor sitting for circle time, gym class, and other classroom learning situations. Not only are we learning about alternative sitting positions on the floor, I am hopeful you will become an advocate for the students you serve. Another resource to check out is our post on flexible seating options for the classroom.

When it comes to sitting positions for kids, the classic criss cross applesauce is often the go-to during circle time and classroom activities. But for many children, especially those with sensory needs, motor planning challenges, or postural control difficulties, this position can be uncomfortable or even inaccessible. It’s important for educators, therapists, and caregivers to recognize that alternative sitting positions for circle time are not just acceptable, they’re essential for an inclusive learning environment. Whether a child is a kinesthetic learner or needs additional support to feel regulated, offering flexible floor sitting positions can make a big difference.

We need to think about the spine, the lower back, tight hamstrings…there is a lot more than just sitting up straight and paying attention during circle time or floor time learning. Let’s talk about best positions for sitting on the floor in the classroom…

There are many versions of sitting positions on the floor and depending on the sensory motor considerations of each child, these floor sitting positions facilitate learning.

We made this image of types of sitting positions but this visual is just the beginning. There are many other sitting positions that can be used for comfort, function, and sustained positioning on the floor.

Sitting positions on the floor

At least ten times a day I hear a teacher say, “come on in and sit crisscross applesauce.”  This type of cross-legged sitting used to be called “Indian style” or “Tailor sit” before that was deemed insensitive. I cringe when I hear this, not only because of the silly name “crisscross applesauce, but because this sitting position on the floor should not be a universal request, or the only choice students have for seating.

In the preschool setting, we usually have a circle time or floor activities where sitting on the floor is part of the school day. For kids that struggle with sensory motor skills, this can be a real challenge.

Read our blog post about Crossing Midline Activities for Preschoolers for a developmental explanation of this age range and how we can support young kids in functional midline tasks like sitting on the floor for story time or for preschool circle time.

One way to support these sitting positions is by using a ball pit as a therapy tool.

Types of SITTING POSTIONS ON THE FLOOR

There are several different types of sitting positions on the floor that are seen in classrooms. There are pros and cons to all of them.

Teachers may tell you that sitting on the floor in one specific way (criss cross applesauce) creates uniformity and structure. If everyone is sitting quietly in the same position, there is less distraction in the group.  Children benefit from rules and regulations. 

This is a great answer, however, not all children can comfortably sit in this position, thus causing more distraction as they struggle to find a comfortable seating posture or retain crisscross applesauce.

You might see a version of these various sitting postures during circle time activities, during play, or during various centers. Let’s go over each type of sitting position.

Cross-legged position

Since “crisscross applesauce” or cross-legged position is the most often used, let us start there.

This cross-legged position involves both knees bent, crossing feet at the ankle, with both ankles on the floor.

There is a rhyme that accompanies the crisscross applesauce phrase:

“Crisscross, applesauce

Hands on lap, gingersnap

Sit up straight, chocolate cake

On your rear, root beer

Zip your lip, cool whip.

Shhh, now you are ready to listen!”

Pros of Criss Cross Applesauce Sitting Position: the body is in a compact form with legs and arms “inside the vehicle.” It is a universal sitting position, known or taught to most children. If everyone is in the same sitting positions on the floor, there tends to be uniformity and less distracting chaos.

Cons of Criss Cross Applesauce Sitting Position: it is uncomfortable for many people. It can be difficult to stay in the same position for long periods of time, due to fatigue, discomfort, sensory challenges, and inattentiveness. There is not a wide base of support with the knees off the ground and arms tucked inside the lap.  Some students need more support.

Alternative Sitting Positions for Circle Time

Not every child can or should be expected to sit the same way during circle time. Offering alternative sitting positions for circle time can help meet the needs of all learners while promoting engagement and attention. 

Some children may benefit from long sitting (legs extended), side sitting, kneeling, or even tall kneeling to stay regulated and focused. These options help reduce discomfort and allow children to choose the position that works best for their bodies. Encouraging choice also fosters autonomy and supports self-awareness during group learning activities.

Criss Cross Applesauce Alternatives

Although “criss cross applesauce” is a common classroom cue, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Kids with sensory processing differences may find the posture overstimulating or too restrictive. 

Others may lack the core strength or flexibility to maintain this position for any length of time. Instead, allow children to use alternatives like side sitting, tailor sitting (with legs loosely crossed), or even lying prone on their stomachs with elbows propped. These criss cross applesauce alternatives still allow for group participation without forcing an uncomfortable posture.

Alternative Sitting Positions for Kids

1. Tailor Sitting

Similar to criss cross applesauce but with the legs more loosely crossed and knees wider apart. Easier for kids with tight hips or core weakness.

2. Side Sitting

Both legs are bent and tucked to one side of the body. One hip is on the floor, and the child may lean slightly to that side. Offers a more relaxed position and can help with balance.

3. Long Sitting

Legs are extended straight out in front of the body while sitting upright. Great for stretching the hamstrings and promoting postural awareness.

4. W-Sitting

Knees are bent, and legs are positioned outside the hips in a “W” shape. This position is common in young children but may place stress on the hips and joints, so it should be used with caution or avoided if advised by an OT.

5. Kneeling

The child sits on their knees, with legs folded underneath and buttocks resting on their heels. Can offer more postural support than cross-legged positions.

6. Tall Kneeling

The child kneels with hips extended and buttocks lifted off the heels, creating a straight line from the knees to the shoulders. Engages core muscles and can provide proprioceptive input.

7. Half Kneeling

One knee is on the floor while the other foot is flat in front, creating a “lunge” shape. This position can help with balance and muscle strengthening.

8. Prone (Tummy Time) Position

The child lies on their stomach with elbows bent and propped under the shoulders, supporting the upper body. Great for building upper body strength and providing calming input.

9. Squat Sitting

Child sits low to the ground in a squat with feet flat on the floor and knees bent. This position supports proprioception and is often natural for younger children.

10. Standing or Wall Sitting

Child stands or leans against a wall during group time. Helpful for those who need movement or find floor sitting uncomfortable.

11. Sitting on a Cushion or Wedge

Child sits on a small cushion, wobble seat, or wedge to provide more comfort and/or movement while staying seated.

12. Sitting on a Therapy Ball or Active Stool

Although not a floor option, this is ideal for seated classroom activities at a desk. Allows for movement and builds core strength.

Floor Sitting Positions

There are many types of floor sitting positions that support different needs. In addition to tailor and side sitting, children may prefer w-sitting, sitting on heels, or using a floor cushion or wedge for added comfort. 

A therapy ball, wobble cushion, or floor rocker seat can also be helpful for children who need a bit of movement while seated. Having a variety of options available helps meet the needs of kinesthetic learners, children with core weakness, or those who benefit from sensory input during learning.

Think About Postural Support

Proper postural support is key when it comes to sitting for extended periods. Without support, children may slump, fidget excessively, or disengage altogether. Supporting posture can include simple strategies like providing a firm seating surface, allowing children to lean against a wall, or placing a visual cue on the floor to guide leg positioning. 

For some children, adding external tools like a small footrest, cushion, or low stool can help stabilize their core and promote more upright posture. These supports can make floor sitting positions more comfortable and sustainable for kids with motor or sensory needs.

Proprioception and Sitting

The proprioceptive system plays a huge role in helping children understand where their bodies are in space, especially during seated tasks. Proprioception and body awareness are closely connected and sometimes, kids just don’t realize the way they are sitting. For kids with sensory processing challenges, sitting still can be hard without additional proprioceptive input. 

Offering heavy work activities before circle time, like animal walks or wall pushes, can help “wake up” the body and prepare it for stillness. Seating tools like weighted lap pads, firm cushions, or kneeling positions can also provide that needed input during sitting. By tapping into the proprioceptive system, we support regulation and improve the child’s ability to focus during group activities.

About W-Sitting

Did you ever try to W sit? Do you know what a W sitting position looks like?

I know many of you are cringing just thinking about the dreaded “w-sit.”  It is a popular sitting position on the floor among young children, especially those with low strength and/or muscle tone.

In this position the legs literally form the letter W on the floor. When a child sits in a W sit position, their hips are internally rotated, while the knees are bent facing the midline, and the feet are positioned away from each side of the body.

Pros of the W Sit Position: offers great stability while playing, due to the wide base of support.  It is very comfortable for long periods of time, for those flexible enough to effectively achieve this position.

Cons of the W Sit Position: w-sitting is terrible for the knees and hips.  They are not meant to be in this position long periods of time. This wide based sitting position on the floor takes up a lot of space, especially when there are several children seated close to each other.  The hands do not naturally have a “bunny hole” to go into to keep them busy while sitting.

Prolonged w sitting can be a sign of developmental difficulties. For others, w sitting offers a wider base of support which offers more proximal stability so the individual can use the arms and hands with refined dexterity. For the individual who struggles with core strength and stability, and sitting balance, a W sitting position can help with attention and focus.

Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles has a different opinion. Their research claims that w-sitting does not cause hip problems, and most often children, by the age of eight, grow out of this habit on their own. 

Dr. Goldstein explains, some children have more inward twist in their thigh bones than other children, so they can easily bring their knees in and feet out. In fact, for some children, sitting with their legs crossed in front of them may be uncomfortable because their thigh bones have less twist in the forward position than the inward position.

Note: some children need this wide base in order to sit for several minutes. Without this wide base, they are unable to use the rest of their body to play with toys and engage. As they build core strength, students may be able to transition to a cross-legged pose.

Long Legged Sitting position on the floor

In this sitting posture, the hips are generally at 90 degrees with the legs extended out in front. The width of the legs, or how far apart the feet are, may vary depending on the type of support needed, and tightness in the back and hip structures.

There are times when this is the only position a person can achieve on the floor due to tightness in the hips or legs. 

Long legged sitting is a typical stage of development in children as they gain core strength, but is integrated into higher level sitting positions.

Pros of the Long Legged Sitting Position: it can offer a larger base of support than cross-legged sitting.  Long sitting may be comfortable. This position may provide enough support to free the upper body to move and engage.

Cons of of the Long Legged Sitting Position: this sitting pose takes up a lot of room.  If 30 children in the class sit like this, they will run out of carpet space. Long sitting can lead to posterior pelvic tilt, or slouching due to the stretch of the muscles, although some people have remarkable posture in this position.  It can lead to increased tightness as the student bends their knees or abducts their legs to get comfortable, thus making it difficult to straighten their legs later.  It is hard to reach forward to play with items while in this position. Sometimes this position is less stable as the child can easily tip over to the side or lean back too far. 

As with w-sit, some children can only sit in this position due to disability, tightness/weakness of muscles, or instability. In my opinion it is better to allow a person to sit this way, if sitting in other positions impairs their function.  The end goal is function.

An alternate seating option related to the long leg sitting posture is:

• Bent Long Sit- The legs are both forward and the knees are bent. In yoga, this might be called a mountain sitting posture
• Bent Legs Holding Knees- This position has the individual sitting with their legs in front of them with the knees bent. They may lean forward and hug the knees.

Mermaid Sitting Position

An alternative to the long leg sitting position is the mermaid sitting style, where the knees are both positioned to the side and back, in the same direction. This positioning offers greater base of support.

Short kneel Sitting Position

In the short kneel sitting position on the floor, the learner is sitting on their feet with their legs tucked under them.  This position can offer not only comfort, but needed sensory input.

Short kneel is a developmental milestone that leads to pulling up to stand.

Pros of a short kneel sitting position on the floor: this is a compact position with the legs tucked underneath.  It can be comfortable for long periods of time. Short kneel provides proprioceptive or deep pressure input while sitting, and often helps with self-regulation needed to attend to a lesson.

Cons of a short kneel sitting position on the floor: children are sitting up higher in this position, making it difficult for those behind them to see. It can cause pain in the knees.

An alternative sitting position to the kneel sit is:

• Open knees kneel sit– the individual sits on their legs with their feet tucked under their bottom, but the knees are spread apart. This option offers greater base of support and stability through the core.

Image of different sitting positions on the floor from the World Distribution of Postural Habits, published in American Anthropologist in 1955.

These are the most common alternate sitting positions on the floor we see in schools. There is also side sit, lotus, squat, tall kneel, and more. This drawing illustrates over 35 different sitting positions on the floor!

How to offer alternative seating positioning on the floor

• Teach children to stay in their personal space without touching others. You can do this by using a carpet with colored squares, taping squares to the floor, using rug samples, or mini swimming pools for each student.
• Teach children that they cannot block another student’s vision of the circle time activity.
• Unobtrusively put out the new possible seating options (cushions, fidget toys, lap pads, etc.) during free play so they are not so new and exciting that they take children’s attention away from the circle time activity.
• Teachers can offer chairs in the back of the circle time area. Cube chairs, stadium seats, carboard boxes, wiggle cushions, or other alternatives. Consider DIY seating options.
• How about weighted lap pads for children who cannot stay in one spot? They can be as simple as a sock weighted with rice, or sitting with a heavy backpack.
• What about those children who seem to be in constant motion? Maybe they can have a squishy ball or fidget toy.  This opens another can of worms. Fidgets need to be tools, not toys, and taught to be used in a non-distracting manner. Here are some quiet fidgets you can try.  This article, The Ultimate Guide to Fidgets on the OT Toolbox provides some great ideas. Note that fidgets of any type should be used with caution and based on the individual skills and level of each child. It’s up to the educator/therapist/etc. working with the child to select appropriate and safe fidget tools for the child. Also note that The OT Toolbox is not liable for any fidget or recommendation used with children.
• Maybe children who do not want to come to circle time can do a quiet activity in another area of the room.  While this does not seem like the right idea, it can allow the other 24 children to have a successful lesson.  Then work on problem solving getting this student involved in circle time.
• Respect children’s attention span and keep circle time to 10 minutes.
• Plan your circle time to include a welcoming time, an activity focus, and a closing tradition.
• Tell children daily what is going to happen at circle time, first, second, third, so they know what to expect.

Neurodiversity and sitting positions on the floor

Above we illustrated some good reasons for children to all sit cross-legged on the floor. If all the students in today’s classrooms were neurotypical, with average tone, muscle strength, attention, and self-regulation, teachers might be able to expect all their students to sit in a uniform fashion.

However, classes are full of neurodivergent students who do not fit into the same box as typical peers.

Focus in classrooms needs to be on learning, not sitting positions on the floor.  In my opinion, as an occupational therapist, we need to offer students more options in classrooms to enhance their learning potential.

Some teachers are getting on board with this, while others are resistant to change. If you are a therapist in the schools, a big part of your role is education. Use your knowledge to explain why you are requesting changes to the classroom.

FAQ: Common Questions About Sitting on the Floor

As pediatric occupational therapists, we get a lot of questions where educators, admin, and other service professionals want to “pick your brain” about how to support students. Here are some common questions we get about sitting positions and attention, learning, etc.

Q: Why can’t some kids sit criss cross applesauce?

Some children have difficulty sitting criss cross applesauce due to challenges with core strength, hip flexibility, motor planning, or sensory processing. This position requires balance, postural control, and body awareness. These are gross motor skills that may be delayed or underdeveloped in some kids. For others, the position can feel uncomfortable or even painful, making it hard to focus during circle time.

All of this is to say that kids sitting in a variety of positions is OK!

Students with sensory needs may benefit from sitting options that offer movement, proprioceptive input, or a more stable base. Great choices include:

• Sitting on a wobble cushion or therapy ball
• Kneeling or tall kneeling
• Side sitting or tailor sitting
• Lying on the stomach (prone position) with elbows propped
  Providing sensory-friendly seating helps these students regulate their bodies and better participate in classroom activities.

Q: What is the best classroom seating for kinesthetic learners?

Kinesthetic learners often learn best through movement and physical engagement. Ideal seating options for them include:

• Floor cushions or rocker seats
• Standing desks
• Therapy balls or active sitting stools
• Opportunities to switch positions frequently
  Incorporating movement breaks and active learning also supports their learning style throughout the day.

Q: How can I support kids who struggle with sitting?

Start by observing what makes sitting difficult. Is it posture, attention, sensory discomfort, or restlessness? Support strategies may include:

• Offering alternative seating options
• Allowing frequent position changes
• Using visual cues or carpet spots
• Adding movement breaks before seated tasks
  Collaborate with an occupational therapist if sitting challenges are persistent or impacting learning.

Q: What is flexible floor seating for preschoolers?

Flexible floor seating means offering a variety of sitting positions that support a preschooler’s developing body and sensory needs. Examples include:

• Criss cross, side sitting, or kneeling
• Long sitting (legs straight out)
• Cushions, small mats, or wedges
  This approach gives young learners the ability to choose positions that help them feel comfortable, regulated, and ready to learn during group time or quiet play.

Occupational Therapy Tips for Floor Sitting

Here are some tips for supporting learning when sitting on the floor. Start with some posture exercises to get started. Another tip is to take a look at retained reflexes. Then other tips include:

Choose the Right Surface for Support

The type of surface makes a big difference in floor sitting comfort. A firm but padded mat, folded blanket, or even a yoga block under the hips can reduce joint strain and improve spinal alignment. For kids who struggle with core strength or postural stability, sitting at the edge of a folded blanket slightly elevates the hips and helps maintain a more upright position.

Encourage Proper Posture and Spinal Alignment

Maintaining a straight spine and proper spinal alignment is important for reducing lower back pain, neck pain, and overall strain during floor sitting. Supportive tools, along with attention to posture, can help reduce fatigue and prevent discomfort. Encourage back support (e.g., sitting against a wall) when needed.

Gentle stretching or tension release techniques can make sitting feel more relaxing and functional.

Teach Floor Sitting Variations That Reduce Pressure

For children who can’t sit criss cross applesauce, introduce alternative floor positions like the straddle, bent sit, or even a wider stance with feet hip-width apart. Kneeling variations may involve knees shoulder-width with the tops of the feet flat against the floor. For more advanced postural work (or when pairing with physical therapy), positions involving a front leg bent and back knee extended, like a modified lunge, can build awareness and mobility. Be mindful of weight distribution across wrists, front knee, and opposite knee if a child is using hands for support.

Balance Duration and Movement for Better Function

Sitting on the floor should be done in short periods, especially for kids working on human performance goals like blood flow, core strength, or lower body muscle development. Incorporating movement breaks, seated stretching, or switching positions often can support bowel movement function, increase circulation, and reduce stiffness. OT practitioners often integrate short seated tasks with embedded movement to encourage regulation and engagement.

Focus on body awareness. This is huge. A lot of positioning needs comes back to strength, coordination, motor planning, body awareness, visual motor skills, and more. All of these areas contribute to functional performance.

references on Sitting Positions on the Floor

Hewes, Gordon W. “World Distribution of Certain Postural Habits.” American Anthropologist, vol. 57, no. 2, 1955, pp. 231–44. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/666393. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.