Will your child be ready for kindergarten?
Will your child be ready for kindergarten?
St. Patrick’s Day means that it’s almost spring. Kids seem to be made of them — springs , that is — at this time of the year. Days are certainly longer especially with the time change, but are not always warm enough or dry enough to be outside. And all that energy needs to move. Here’s a way to put it to good use and promote physical development and kindergarten readiness, too.
Find a safe place for lots of moving. What are some different ways to move? Spring, jump, leap, walk, run, roll, crawl, hop, slither, dance, twirl, twist, fly, etc. Children need to explore all kinds of movement to develop both their large (gross) muscle skills and coordination, and awareness of their body’s position in space. Keeping the leaping and springing to one area can be tricky and it seems that constant reminders are needed to walk not run inside. Nevertheless, kids seem to have more springs this month than king-sized beds. Plus, the moving is good for growing both bodies and brains and that promotes readiness for kindergarten.
Q. What season is it on a trampoline? A. Spring time!
Watching babies develop an awareness of their own bodies is fascinating. Have you seen a baby watch it’s hands and fingers in wonderment, moving them slightly and slowly as if questioning how they got there and what they do? Then babies discover their feet and curl themselves into balls as they hold onto their toes.… Continue Reading
With colder weather comes more inside the house days than outside ones. Does your little one need to wear off some pent-up energy? Physical play is essential to both children’s healthy development and their learning. It’s easy to understand how physical play contributes to physical development and gross motor (muscle) coordination. But this kind of… Continue Reading
Physical activity has a beneficial effect on health, and recent studies show that it even helps memory function. Because memory is such a key strategy in learning, it’s important then that kids get lots of physical activity. While it seems that kids never stop moving, as parents and caregivers we need to make sure that they… Continue Reading
Just a week until Halloween night. To get into shape for all that walking kids might need to practice going around the block. If your little one has a wagon, the pumpkin might like to go along for the ride. Just make sure it can’t fall out. Lots of big muscle activity of different kinds… Continue Reading
Backpacks not only rock, they bubble and fly, too. Using imagination they can. For a physical development and readiness for kindergarten activity you and your child can pretend that you are moving with a backpack that’s filled with all different kinds of things. Using imagination muscles as well as body ones, you and your child can pretend… Continue Reading
Previous blog posts were about sorting the laundry for some readiness for kindergarten language fun and some basic learning about size and colors. Now, that the clothes are washed it’s time to put them away and have some physical activity playtime. Laundry rooms never seem to be in convenient locations but putting the clothes away doesn’t… Continue Reading
Move over, Jack. Hello, magic jumping beans. Did you know that activity is critically important for children’s skeletons? A professor of medicine, Dr. Heather McKay has been researching the role of exercise on skeletal development. “There is no time as important as childhood for the health …of a skeleton,” she advises. Early activity can actually… Continue Reading