Skipping for Preschoolers

One of the fundamental movement steps for youngsters is skipping. It is a JOY to see a child, enjoying the freedom and rhythm of a good skip!

The series of locomotor steps are:

1. walk
2. run
3. hop [one leg active, one leg held off the ground]
4. jump
5. leap
6. gallop
7. slide
8. SKIPPING

It is the last skill: skipping that kids want to do!  They feel like 'big kids' when they can show that ability.

And even more importantly, that skill: skipping is a result of good motor planning. A child must be able to think ahead:  to be able to do a series of movements in a row.

• They need to be able to balance on one leg, while the other leg is being actively HELD, with that knee flexed and knee pointed in the direction of travel.
• They need to be able to PUSH of the ground with a strong repulsion of the ground. This skill is a BASIC one for many sports activities in their future play.
• They must be able to HOLD their body erect and stretch their spine and HOLD their head high.
• They must be able to repeat that sequence, using the opposite sides of their body:  what a perfect task to develop both sides of the brain as they develop both sides of their body.

Every child's desire: to be able to SKIP. Knee lifted and angled forward, arms brightly stretched to the sides, and suggest that they do hold their head high:  as the SKIP and throughout their lives! Be their parent and teacher and give them this ability!!

Need a few teaching hints and perhaps a clear WAY to help your child?  Try the Kidskills Movement and Sports Training programs that will take your talents as the BEST TEACHER for your child and guide you ~ THE COACH ~ through a series of simple tasks that accumulate into gaining skills that build a Foundation for a Lifetime of Physical Activity!

Brain Builds Synapses with Early Exercise

When the brain receives early stimulation from movement and sensory experiences, during the developing years of childhood [Greenough & Black, 1992] the effects appear to exert strengthening and bonding within the synapses.

Synapses are the areas of connection between the human neurons.

The developing brain of the young child benefits from rich and nurturing activities. One essential agent in this learning process is movement [Begley, 1997; Nash, 1997].

Research with animals demonstrated:

• Richer synaptic connections
• More connections

For children, this brain research has identified the critical periods during which the brain is wired. These periods are 'windows' of opportunity when experiences have their greatest effect.

The subsequent decades are periods of restructuring and learning, but the important groundwork of complex connectivity is build during the early childhood: three years and earlier.

For motor development, the window of opportunity appears to be from prenatal period to around the age of five years [Chugani, 1998].

During this span of years, the primary motor circuits that connect to the portion of the brain called the cerebellum are developed in the first two years. 

The cerebellum addresses posture and coordination.

In early movement experiences, the child gains sensory information while in motion. This physical activity is a strong factor in the development of the brain.

The fundamental movement abilities are often named: gross motor skills.

Finer motor controls follows the initial years. These more precise abilities have an extended period for acquisition, until about nine years old.

What to do? How can a caregiver provide nurturing?

• Offer lots of sensory-motor experience, in safe places. Especially activities with visual-motor actions.
• Challenge the basic gross-motor activities that promote posture, coordination, and locomotion.
• Add rhythm and music for excellent learning richness.

Arrange daily physical play for at least 60 minutes for preschoolers. They can thrive with up to two hours of play.

The fundamental building blocks for movement and sports training should be mastered through repetition.

Offer large muscle activities both indoors and out-of-doors.

Guidelines for Brain and Body Building for preschoolers

Keep this in mind: Preschoolers need a wide range of movement experiences.

Offer actions that are rich with visual information, such a ball rolling, throwing and catching balls, striking and kicking.

Watch the children's basic steps and encourage explorations of changes

• In speed of performance: slow, faster, alternate/slo-fast
• Offer rhythms with movements
• Elevate heart rates
• Encourage movement explorations: move like and animal, change levels
• Pose problems that can be solved by actions: lie long, climb up the ladder.

Good luck!  And try to keep up with your kids activities!  It's is good for you to move, too!

Kids Games: Jump into a Hoop

Use a kids game: jumping after running, to learn and build spatial awareness for preschoolers.

Can you set up a safe place for this simple self-testing activity for your preschoolers?

Kids love to TRY!  

Place hoop or a rope in a circle as a target. Plan a safe space to run that is 4-5 feet long.

1. Add an "X" in the center of the circle as a chalk mark.
2. That is the place the child will TRY to land.
3. Ask them to run towards the circle & JUMP [both feet together] to LAND~with control~inside the circle.
4. Suggest their arms stretch to the sides to help balance landing.

Teaching hint: The bending of the knees as they LAND is KEY!

They will shout: I Can Do That!

This skill will develop the needed motor planning to begin. The ability to motor plan a physical activity develops cognitive skills! Kids who can internalize and use planning then know who to:

• Use a pattern of behavior in approaching reading: track a line of text;
• Decipher letter patterns into words
• Locate the meanings in their brain
• READ

See the transfer of motor planning abilities?  

Get your children to use kids games as playtimes that build skills!

Bare feet Build Bodies

Brains and Balance

Bare feet...the patter and their importance during the developing years.

Use PLAY to strengthen all those intrinsic tiny muscles of the foot & keep those feet BARE. 

Here at kidskills.com we want to cultivate good physical activities that build brains, bodies and basics for movement skills that will lead youngsters to their I CAN DO THAT! confidence either in play, sports or social activities like kid games, imaginative moments or self-testing through exploration on playground equipment.

Move those toes! If you are interested in teaching movement skills to preschoolers and early elementary children, as a teacher or as a parent/coach, you might find the KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training series of Manuals helpful. There are books and eBooks at Amazon.

Kid Games:

Jumping Builds Brains and Bodies

Kid games are a great way to engage youngsters in physical activity. Try this simple method to bring both aerobic activity and brain building stimulation to your preschoole's play times.

Kid Games: JUMPING build brain power

Want to build little kids muscles and minds? Teach them how to JUMP with feet close together & LAND in balance.

The Sports Training section at this Kidskills web site has some ideas for developing GOOD use of preschoolers feet for control and balance abilities.  

THEN suggest that the child JUMP up and begin to turn in place.  

Remember that fun? Providing a safe place to practice that is your job but spinning and whirling makes this a kids game & a great tool for exercise and cultivating brain with inner ear stimulation. Move to Learn!

Add some music or a clap of hands to add a rhythm component to this learning experience!

Vocabulary Builds During Play and Kids Games

When you plan an obstacle course as a kids game for your children, make sure you include lots of vocabulary words that describe directions When you teach the course's pathway and problems to solve, use as many words that describe directions.

• Under
• Over
• Through
• Beyond
• Under
• Across

Keep the course simple and safe. Look for sharp edges or objects before the children try the Obstacle Course.

Use some hoops, cones low barriers, to challenge the preschoolers movement abilities.

Request some specific locomotor steps be used to move from one section to the next like:

• Hopping
• Sliding
• Leaping
• Galloping
• Jumping

While you are reading this web site, look at the CUE WORDS we suggest for evoking good movement skills for preschoolers. USe them throughout the day as well as during playtimes,

Preschoolers Need YOU:

Their Teacher-Coach to Explore Movement

When preschoolers explore movement, good things happen: early learning, physical skill development, body-mind connections build.

When your children are busy with their play, accept the role of being a teacher-coach!

When you are that set of eyes: that IS  "WATCH ME!" for your children, your parenting role can be extended into a coaching role:

• Be a QUIET COACH, making suggestions or offering caution: only necessary.
• Make each play session comfortable.
• Make PLAY a tool to learn: for your kids.
• Easy learning happens during PLAY.
• Science and sports merge: yielding simple wisdoms.
• Make suggestions: try the other side of your body; do that skill-twice.

Preschool Exercise Playtimes Need Footwork Practice

Footwork for preschoolers and YOU...demands practice during playtimes.

Look at this simple exercise for kids:

Find a place that might serve as a small balance beam. …or use the front edge of a step!

What you are seeking is a place where their toes can 'curl' over an edge.

Even a step in a staircase will do. You, the teacher/coach..stay close to the child to provide steadiness.

WHAT to do?

Ask the child to curl their toes and try to GRIP the front edge of the step! this easy flexing will build lots of intrinsic muscles in the feet.

Footwork is always an asset in good movements and sports participation.

You can try it too. Ask for a few repetitions: curl, relax; curl relax.

Repeat as enjoyed.  Make certain that you do not overdo.

Next time you come to a play time…ask them to practice again!

Look at these fundamental skill areas for preschoolers. 

Use the 6 ideas as a checklist during guided playtimes as you work with your children or students.

1. Skills in place: balance, weight shifting, alignment.
2. Locomotor steps: travel along the ground: forward, backwards, sidewards.
3. Starting and stopping motion: body control.
4. Getting off the ground: jumping, landings, dynamic motion.
5. Strengthening and body awareness: connecting the body and brain.
6. Handling objects: balls, hoops, ropes and safe objects.

IF you need some progressive program for training these exercises. the KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training books might offer some aid.

Find safe settings in which to conduct exploration of the ideas above. Keep in mind that repetition of a simple task needs to happen, again and again!!! [pun intended].

When a basic skill has been acquired, then add by asking the child to try these variations [as they are ready]:

• Changes in direction.
• Alter the number of repetitions: increase or change pattern.
• Change the speed of the skill performed: faster, slower, contrasting with a combination of fast/slow.
• Add music or a beat to change the rhythm. Use a handclap.
• Ask for the size to be different:  bigger, smaller, compact, extended.

Use cueing words to direct any movement attempts:  now, ready, set, go. Review these teaching hints.

TRY this lesson to develop the foot skill: JUMPING.

Ask the child to place their feet together and then attempt to jump forward – two jumps- and then jump into a hoop or a circle made of a rope.

Encourage the child to keep their feet close together. Use your handclap to encourage a rhythmic pattern and action. Remind them to bend their knees deeply as they try to land and FREEZE in the hoop!

Kids skills are basic abilities that need development. Let 'em move everyday! Make certain that they get physical activity every two hours…all day long!

Preschool kids' Sports Goals and how to help…

Your preschool child already has a mental list of the skills they would like to do!

You also, have a mental list of the early movement and sport skills that you use as a checklist for your child's progress along the developmental pathway.

How do these two lists match up?  Children can use playtimes to gain early learning of physical skills.

Look of these fundamental skill areas below and use the information as a checklist for your working with your children during their playtimes.

1. Skills in place: balance, weight shifting, alignment.
2. Locomotor steps: travel along the ground: forward, backward, sideward.
3. Starting and stopping motion: body control.
4. Getting off the ground:  jumping, landings, dynamic motion.
5. Strengthening and body awareness: connecting body and brain.
6. Handling objects, balls, hoops, ropes and safe objects.

Diane Massad has made a lifelong project of progressively organizing a series movement tasks that will lead you child to that: I Can Do That! confidence they desire.

If you need a blueprint for teaching your children these skills: try using the 6 part series for movement and sports training called the KidSKILLS Training Program available as print materials or eBooks.

For a quick online overview of training ideas visit KidSKILLS web site.

Give Preschoolers Language about Directions

In providing playtimes for your preschoolers, you also have an opportunity to add language awareness to the physical activities that play provides. The learning of motor skills breeds the learning of language very easily as children enjoy moving!

While the child is in motion, try to use simple words that require mental processing while the child is in action.

• Forward or front
• Backwards or back
• Sideways or side
• High and low
• Under and over
• Beside or in front
• Add one instruction to another: multiple directions

Which way to go?

Look of the series of words on this vocabulary list.

Using a rope, hoop or ball, give the child a single direction: place the ball behind your heels, for example.

Check to see that the action was correct and give a positive confirmation that the child achieved your request.

Children's Brains Need Parents Nurturing

Young children's brains, a recent study reported in the Proceeding so National Academy of Science, states that now definitely, the parental roles not only help shape the hearts and minds of their children, but actually spur growth of their children's brains.

The use of play a a tool for developing:

1. Brain volume
2. Oxygen delivery
3. Socializing
4. Ability nurturing

The study found that the children with the more nurturing parent had significantly larger Hippocampi than those with less supportive parents.

KidSKILLS believes that the daily time, playtime, is a great opportunity to use physical activities:

• Exploration of simple movement skills
• Self-testing on playground equipment
• Simple kids games
• Social interaction with peers and parents
• Language processing to steer movement skills attempts

With a prime role as protector and provider, the parent has great responsibilities BUT there is a greater opportunity to serve as a teacher and coach, with gentle and nurturing words and manner.  

Let's do that!   And with a calm and controlled attitude, urge each child to give a try to simple, age-appropriate tasks:

• Swinging
• Climbing
• Hanging by their hands
• Sliding
• Reaching: high and low
• Catching safe objects
• Rolling: self and objects

If you, as a caregiver or a parent or grandparent, needs a simple plan to urge ability development: 

• Physical skills
• Social skills
• Safe exploratory fun

perhaps you could use the KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Program or look further at this web site for ideas!

How To Move Words for Preschoolers' Vocabulary

Preschoolers are always moving and during their active playtimes and during the activities of daily living, why not try to introduce words that will expand their vocabulary?

Look over these ideas for words to emphasize during your moments together:

• Body part names
• Body Positions
• Direction words

For you, the caregiver, using the same set of vocabulary words for associated ideas: movement skills, behavior control and informing the preschoolers, is absolutely the BEST practice. 

Consistent use of the same words will reinforce the connections between body action and brain recruitment of those actions.

Practice makes perfect….allow the child to exercise their body-mind unity and build both:

1. Muscles
2. Brain Power
3. Connections to the brain: synapses
4. Vocabulary

BODY POWER  + BRAIN POWER = BRILLIANCE

Healthy Kids is the Goal

at Keep Kids Healthy Site

When you need a solid resource of information about your youngsters

• infants
• toddlers
• preschoolers
• school age
• teens

Kidskills recommends visiting this Keep Kids Healthy  site.

Preschoolers' Parents Can Guide Movement Fun During Playtimes

For your preschoolers, make sure you discover the hundreds of training tips that will build your children's brain power as they develop their movement and sports skills during playtimes.

You, the parent, are actually your kids coach and first teacher.

Kids games and simple preschool activities should bring rhythm and motor skill development to every day playtimes.

Exercise can provide great opportunities for youngsters to develop:

• footwork
• equipment handing skills
• balance
• coordination 
• movement exploration
• imagination
• language skills

Consider using the full six Manuals in the KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Series.

Sport skill development benefits the body-mind connections as exercise builds the neural pathways between the brain and the muscles. 

Children being life…moving.  They learn to move! Then you can encourage their physical activity so they Move to learn! Soon they will take all that great information, gained by activity, and learn to learn well!

Preschoolers Need Play Every Day

Play every day...this is such an vital idea, that caregivers for preschoolers must build in a clear and consistent pattern of exercise for these young children.

All the markers for physical activity:

• Increases in oxygen consumption
• Blood flow increases
• Age appropriate muscle challenges
• Repetitive motions that build coordination

KidSKILLS urges the parents and teachers and caregivers of this young population to find time, place and regularity for Play.

Preschool Sports Series: Hang ON! Manual 6

Young children will be able to build their sports and movement skills further with Hang On! Manual 6 in the KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Series that is now available as an eBook for Kindle on Amazon.com.

The Hang On! Manual focuses on the handling of small objects and balls. The ability to control an object give an active child great JOY!

During playtimes, preschool sports are non-competitive and provide opportunities for early learning and perceptual senses development.

Manipulating safe small balls, beanbags with hands and feet gives an abundance of opportunities to develop motor skills:

• Rolling
• Catching
• Throwing
• Targeting
• Sports maneuvering

The eBook edition of Hang On! gives the reader a series of progressively organized tasks guide a child as they explore handling objects.

The KidSKILLS Hang ON! Manual provides a series of progressively organized but fun skills for children, ages 2 to 6 years. old. A parent or caregiver can use the 48 illustrated tasks and the cue words to guide children’s playtimes, challenging the youngsters to think and solve problems.

The KidSKILLS Training Series of tasks leads the child to skills mastery in a logical pathway. As one skills builds upon the previous skills the child will develop an I Can DO That! confidence as well as have fun!

Play is the way a child naturally explores their world, builds their physical skills, links their body and brain and ignites the imagination to learn through experiences.

The KidSKILLS Training for Movement and Sports Training Series of six Manuals builds the child’s ability to coordinate movement, refine balance, develop agility, gain perceptual awareness as well as embed the mind-body connections for good learning. 

Our Children:  Move to learn, then Learn to move well, and in that process,  Learn to learn.

Parents and caregivers, including teachers will find the skills development series of exercises and drills easy to use as a daily method of physical activity on playground, in gymnasiums or at any safe space. You will be able to guide your child in their development of balance and posture as they understand body control and alignment. 

The opportunity to expand the children’s vocabulary comes through the consistent use of specific words to identify body positions, qualities of movement, directions from their place in space.

Throughout the KidSKILLS Training Series of six volumes, emphasis is placed on the careful use of the feet/ The feet build balance skills as well as provide the ability to leave the ground and then absorb the return to the ground by landing, in control. These foot skills must be practiced and repeated to recruit the body’s proprioception system. Other titles that are available in eBook are: Up and Over! Manual Four and Making Muscles Manual Five. These eBooks are delivered wirelessly for the Kindle.

Each task is illustrated with drawing or photographs. The reader will find a carefully written text to use as they guide the child’s activity. Cue words and teaching hints are highlighted for the teacher.

For parents, this Training Manual will take you into the role as the Child’s First Teacher. Yes, you can serve as their parent, guarding their safety but your also can use this Training Series to serve as a coach or teacher enabling their first attempts as exploring movement and motion an their way to physical competency.

In developing abilities to mastery basic movements and sports skills, youngsters will gain the tools to confident and happy participation in groups for a lifetime of physical activity. 

Play is so vital to the healthy lifestyle caregivers want for their children.

The children of Japan, in the surrounding Fukushima area, are able to exercise only indoors. take a moment to see the facility that they use is beautiful but limits the experiences of natural out-of-doors play.

The effects of the March 2011 earthquake have caused so much trouble and heartache for this country nonetheless they have sponsored the October 2011 World Championships for Artistic Gymnastics and the recent ISU figure skating competitions.

Play Constructs Mental Maps

Preschooler play allow children to explore their environment and visualize:

• Differences in levels: heights and relationship to ground
• Experiences that vary both visual and auditory input: swinging or sliding
• Effects of their body weight as they climb, swing, hang or slide
• Distances from their bodies as they ascend or descend

Rich saturation of the brain occurs when a child interacts with playground equipment, light hand-held objects or other children. The series of changes that occur as a child moves across a surface include:

• Visual information defining the distances to the ground, to a target location, to an object in nature
• Sensory input regarding nature of supporting surfaces, weight of materials handled and resistance of fixed objects

The array of information that is gathered during a play session can serve as a data base for the child.

• That data build a brain map of an explored area
• Provides information for future activity and explorations
• Establishes spatial relationships: near, far, above, behind, unseen

Make certain that your youngsters can have sufficient time:

• to experience and develop confidence and cautions to situations
• to test their own abilities~ with your careful guidance
• repeat activities that bring them a successful confidence

Make daily play a part of your children's day.  With an abundance of observations and explorations, rich neural networks will be established. These brain treasure chests will be a valuable part of their childhood development. While at play, caregivers can use a movement vocabulary to develop language. 

Kidskills Releases Making Muscles Manual 5 for Kindle

Kidskills Movement and Sorts Training Manual Five, Making Muscles, is available through Amazon.com. This eBook is the second electronic edition in the Training Series of six Manuals.

Reading and viewing the illustrations will allow the reader to be a teacher for youngsters from 3 through 7 years old.

With simple text and a progressive series of tasks for the child to try:  you can give that I Can Do! that confidence to your youngsters.

They will explore:

• balance challenges
• direction vocabulary
• hints on shifting weight
• body control
• fundamental movement skills

Use daily play times to build a movement vocabulary for your child as well as build their language skills and confidence!

KidSKILLS training for the Feet: Wheelbarrow Strength

Make certain that you visit our web site [www.kidskills.com] often.  You will find a training lesson or a drawing to color, that can be printed for your child. We want to make certain that they can try and visualize these tasks~ to improve their abilities.

Here today's KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Lesson: Wheelbarrow !

KidSKILLS training for the Feet: Popcorn Popping

Make certain that you visit our web site [www.kidskills.com] often.  You will find a training lesson or a drawing to color, that can be printed for your child. We want to make certain that they can try and visualize these tasks~ to improve their abilities.

Here today's KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Lesson:

Task 1: Popcorn Popping

Make your body do this:

Let's ADD words to Actions and Play Times

Preschoolers can boost their vocabulary during play times. With your suggestions they can:

• Learn spatial terms: forward, sides, abouve
• Understand qualities of movement: slowly, peppy
• Gain knowledge of body terms: ankles, elbows
• Become aware of body position words: tuck, straddle, pike

Within each KidSKILLS Movement and Sports Training Manuals, caregivers will find concise lists of vocabulary words that give the preschoolers increased language. Words that are used during an active play times become associated with positive situations and will build language word banks.

Play Gives children their time to develop

Physical and Cognitive Skills

Our KidSKILLS programs all advocate for the use of play times as learning times.

The Mission of our program is but the MISSION of parents & caregivers:

• Move to learn
• Learn to Move
• Learn to Learn

The freedoms of the 50s and 60s that youngsters held:

• No fancy equipment for sports or playgrounds
• Few distractors:  television or technology
• Lots of unorganized physical activity
• Natural, unorganized, game playing

Children experienced times where they could regulate the dynamics of role playing games, simple task experimentation: kicking the can; simple throw and catch; pick-up games.

The Christian Science Monitor article presents an in-depth recounting of the state of PLAY.

Please know that KidSKILLS believes that play times are times of growth as well as times to mull the whirl of developmental experiences.

Play Builds Kids: Muscle and Mind Benefit

Active physical movement brings a rich saturation of both blood and oxygen to the muscles and the brain tissue.

Medical professionals advocate daily exercise at levels that are age appropriate and situation apropriate.

Safety is the number one concern for everyone. 

Exercise for youngsters comes most often during outdoor play. Daily schedules for the family often limit the frequency of free time as well as the access to safe outdoor areas.

Frequent play activities choices for youngsters include:

• Climbing: on playground equipment
• Hanging: horizontal ladders; rings, bars
• Sliding
• Swinging

As a caregiver or a parent, you might consider reviewing a simple series of play activities that have been progressively organized into a program of training that will develop preschool motor skills that bring coordination and balance mastery to the child.

During Play give Physical Education to Preschoolers

 IF you know someone who is teaching youngsters, ages 3 to 7, you might mention that Diane Massad of KidSKILLS International in Westlake, Ohio has released the Up and Over! Manual 4 in the KidSKILLS Movement and Sport Training Series. 

Each book in series of 6 Manuals presents 48 simple tasks for a child to try. The book provides illustrations of the task and the reader can use the text to guide the child's attempts.

The skills are progressively organized and each one offers a clear objective to make certain the success is experienced by the child. Cue words and vocabulary words will enrich the time spent between caregiver and child. Body positions are introduced and qualities of movement suggested to broaden creative side of physical activity.

The value of good teaching in developing fundamental movement skills provides an invaluable body-brain connection that is critical to ALL learning.

Whether a parent or a school teacher use the books, they will be able to encourage that I Can Do That! confidence for the youngsters. Up and Over! Manual 4 is available in ebook format at Amazon.com

With a few seconds of viewing you can gain some great movement ideas for sharing with your youngsters.

Let's get moving!

Learning with the body brings lots of stimulation to the brain for preschoolers.

Preschoolers Need Movement Building Blocks too!

Preschool kids skills in spatial awareness and manipulative abilities have long been developed through the use of building blocks.

As history repeats itself, a recent New York Times research report, restates the value of using building blocks to cultivate skill development.

The same process of learning applies to gains in physical skill development: build the foundation for physical activities step-by-step.

Movement skills consist of:

• locomotor steps: walk, run, hop, jump
• balance
• body control
• initiating motion: starting action
• arresting motion: landing
• exploration: climbing, hanging, sliding on a supporting surface
• getting off the ground
• interacting with play objects: balls, balloons, cones

A complete listing is much broader but you know the kid skills that you would like your child to master:

• skipping
• throwing and catching
• running smoothly
• appropriate muscular development
• alignment and posture
• exercise enjoyment

The long established adages: practice makes perfect IS the KEY to gaining skills.

One basic step should be a foundation on which to build a second step, which can often be a variation of the first skill acquired:  example being, first skill repeated twice or done backwards or with a change in rhythm. All these simple suggestions will encourage the adult in the child's activity lessons to nudge the developing child along their pathway to ability development.

The KidSKILLS training program will give your, the caregiver, a progressive series of tasks for your child to attempt, under your gently educated eye, as a logical and comprehensive plan to achieve:

• basic locomotor step mastery
• object handling skills
• body control: in place and while moving
• maneuvering: ability to move around objects and people
• sports readiness

Keep your kids active 60 minutes a day!  All national children's physical education guidelines urge one hour of activity PLAY, both guided and unstructured.

The benefits to the child's learning are:

• knowledge gains
• caloric expenditure
• body awareness
• skill gains

Want your child to move well?  Follow these guidelines..

Sure you want your children to be physically active and exercise daily!

And surely, time and place are always a challenge! Make learning kid skills fun with your guidance!

But take a minute today, and review this list of teaching hints as you step from your parenting job into the teacher role as you coach your kid!

• Pick a skill to be tried
• Consider what words are essential in that task
• Picture the starting position and the ending position
• Ask you child to take the START position
• Explain: MAKE YOU BODY DO THIS!
• Short directions using CUE words that will evoke good movement skills
• Urge practice through guided attempts
• Make suggestions for improved performance
• Challenge skill efforts by adding variations: longer, higher, twice in a row
• Mentally, You review a checklist for good skill performance.

You own vision of a good JUMP should include:

• shoulders squared while child is in air
• legs stretched while in air
• feet parallel when landing
• take-off caused by BOTH legs pushing, equally

Conduct your coaching session in a peppy manner so that next time you mention doing an training time, you child will be eager to repeat the time with you as their coach/teacher!!!
 

2 Quick Drills for Preschoolers Feet

Get your preschoolers into their best zone

by practicing these 2 drills.

The total time you will need is 2 minutes!

• Ask them to stand with their feet together.
• BIG TOES touching
• Heels hugging

Ask them to keep their heels touching BUT swing their toes wide apart.

NOW, back to the START position, feet side-by-side:

• Ask them to keep their toes touching
• BIG TOES touching
• Swing their heels apart
• Balance

Create a hand clap and repeat these two moves until their are well done!

Mastery in a few minutes! Will improve motor skills and sports skills!!

Foot skills for a lifetime!

Help your preschooler gain confidence

and improve their abilities with these simple practice sessions

Use a grid on the ground as a safe place to practice

Draw a grid on the ground and number the spaces, if you wish.

This grid will give your youngster a place to practice,

their workplace: remember PLAY is the work of children!

You can guide their learning experience for the development of JUMPING: either in place [staying in on of the grid's spaces] or traveling forward or backward through the grid's spaces.

VARIATIONS: Ask the child to place one foot in a space.

1. Use both feet, side-by-side, and move forward through the grid, placing one foot in each space. JUMP, JUMP, JUMP, JUMP.
2. Place 2 feet in one space. JUMP sideways to open space; JUMP forward to open space [2 feet working together].
3. JUMP sideways, LAND. JUMP forward to open space; JUMP sideways…continue pattern. Feet remain touching big toes during JUMPS and landings.
4. Start at top of grid: try to keep feet touching and JUMP backwards one space. LAND. Repeat pattern: JUMPING backwards again, LAND.
5. Change speed of any JUMP pattern above. Slow, quick or slow slow, quick.

Add the clap of your hands to emphasize the rhythm. Use a simple song to pace the JUMPING practice: Jack and Jill ran up a hill.

Repeat as enjoyed!  Repeat next practice session, perhaps adding more total number of jumps with the aim of increasing endurance.

Preschoolers Feet Need Freedom To Develop Balance and Strength

As your preschooler plays, take that chunk of incarcerating molded synthetics off their beautiful feet!

Bare their soles!

Begin to educate your preschooler [or toddler] to the fundamentals of moving fundamentals. The basic use of the foot demands very specific use of these parts of the feet:

• forefoot: under the toes
• ball of the foot
• outside ridge of foot
• inside ridge of foot
• hind foot
• heel
• instep [where you tie your shoestrings]

As part of a daily routine, conducted by YOU, focus on their feet, briefly but with detailing the needed developmental steps. Pun intended!!

Foot exercise bring mastery and strength

Having their feet, bare, the child will construct solid understanding of how to really use the various parts of their feet and the value: good control of their movements.

In learning good use of their feet, good movement quality will be reflected as they master:

• foot articulation
• knowledge of how the foot works: biomechanics
• propulsion: taking-off
• absorption of energy: landing
• supported elevation in place: tip toes and balancing
• locomotion: all 8 skills: walking, skipping, hopping, sliding, galloping, running, jumping, leaping
• manipulation of an object: ball, bean bag, balloon

You do not need to teach the theories behind the drills you suggest to the children. You do not need to know all those terms yourself but get the kids working their feet! 

Make that a great part of your parenting job!

Add KidSKILLS Classes to your Youngster's Schedule…

New classes on Saturdays will be offered by Lakewood Recreation Department starting Dec. 3, 2011.

The classes are conducted at the Horace Mann Elementary School gymnasium, Lakewood, Ohio.

These classes introduce children to gymnastics and provide fitness training.

The five session classes will run Dec. 3, 10, 17 and Jan. 7, 14th.

Tumble Bugs classes [ages 4-6 years] start at 10:15 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Tiny Turners [ages 7-12 years] start at 11:15 a.m. -noon.

Register online with Lakewood Rec or call 216.529.4081.

Cost is $56.00 residents.

Margo Massad is the instructor.

Test your preschoolers strength by hanging

In a safe environment, like a playground or a backyard gym, find the equipment that will allow your child to teach their ability to support their body weight by gripping their hands…

• horizontal ladders
• a pair of small suspended rings
• a bar, at a safe height

If possible introduce some variations like:  [you-the caregivers should stay close to the child]

• while holding their arms long, tuck both knees up towards their chest
• while holding tightly, ask them to separate their feet a few inches
• if successful, next time up, in a holding position, ask them to slightly swing their feet forward and backwards

Even a well secured thick rope might be a great tool for building confidence in support their body weight.

This practice will build control of the body as a well as build the body-mind connectivity.

For further lessons read the Making Muscles part of this web site.

Preschoolers in Groups: Learning to handle objects and running

Have available: a tennis ball, rubber ring, bean bag or balloon.

Try this simple drill to build the kid skill of manipulation of objects. This playful activity is best for a group of 3-6 preschoolers. Gather them into a circle, facing in. As the guide, you remain outside the circle of children.

The drill to promote dexterity in handling the object while passing it from one child to the next, around the circle of kids.

Practice passing the object from a starting child, around from person to person until the first child has the object again.

NOW, ask the first child to begin passing again, BUT this time the first child will start running, outside the circle, while the rest of the children pass the object.

THE GOAL: is for the first child to be back in the start place before the rest of the children have completed passing the object all around the circle.

Continue play, by having the next child in line start the action and be the runner!

Variations: When each child has had their turn…try a new activity or if they are eager to continue: reverse the direction of running or change the object that is passed.

For more lessons aimed at preschool skill building read KidSKILLS Training section called Hang On!

Have FUN!!

Preschoolers Need to know: Body Positions

During a preschooler's play time, introduce the names of the basic body shapes:

• tuck: bent knees, palms on floor and chin tucked to chests
• squat: bent knees, palms on floor, head up
• pike:  seated on floor, long legs, toes pointed
• straddle: seated long legs and legs opened wide to sides
• standing pike: head down and both legs straight
• balance: both legs: feet flat then try on tip toes
• balance: one leg lifted [keep legs either bend of straight-stretched forward: arms lifted wide to aid balance
• balance: lift on leg and wrap both arms around one knee
• standing straddle: separate feet and keep legs straight: arms stretched to wide

Look at the video for clarity of these kid skills.

Let play times for preschoolers be filled with imagination and safe actions

When your make the time for your preschoolers to play in a safe spot, their deep reserves of creativity and imagination will emerge.

With those traits, you know that the array of developmental markers will be shifted in an upward directions.

1. Role playing
2. Muscle building
3. Skill practice
4. Observations
5. Expressiveness
6. Social relationships: sharing, turn-taking, manners

The play place as the work place for adults becomes useful for recruiting appropriate situational behaviors.

With your casual offerings to spur experiments or confirm successful activities, you preschoolers will connect the network of the brain and the body. This body-mind connectivity brings cellular growth and deepens the matrix of the synaptic system in the brain. All this density of neurons constructs a powerful resource for your child.

Rich neuronal brain power becomes a key part of all learning:

• motor learning
• cognition
• socialization
• expressive language
• creativity
• imaginative exploration

What gives your child the ability to IMPROVE their potentials and abilities?

• Time to play
• Safe environment
• Caregiver observation and low-key input
• Affirmations of efforts

Visit the Training Lessons at this web site to find simple steps to build abilities.

When should play be used as a tool for development? As often as possible:

• bath times
• travel times
• during household activities: cleaning, food preparation, dressing

The hours during which you and your child can associate their desires to DO with your gentle guidance to assist and facilitate are numbered…..make each minute count!

Preschoolers spend playtimes with peers who are competent moves

- physically – will be encouraged to explore movement skills.

With the monkey see, monkey do philosophy, your preschooler can attempt fundamental locomotor skills and movements that they have yet to acquire.

If age-equivalent children are able to demonstrate simple moves and equipment handling skills, with your preschoolers, your child will both observe and attempt through exploration some basic tasks.

Making sure that their play spaces are safe, is your job but watching others kids move and trying to use those observations as a good challenge is your child's job as they move along the progressive route to good movement.

Your job is to allocate time for play, secure a safe spot for play and be ready to suggests some ideas to trying ways to both attempt new skills and add some creative nuances to those skill attempts.

Need some plans for building skills for preschoolers read these ideas.

Have fun!

Kidskills is expanding their class offerings with Saturday sessions.

Beginning in December of 2011, the KidSKILLS America teaching team will teach their Tumble Bugs and Tiny Turner classes at the Lakewood, Ohio school, Horace Mann Elementary School.

Margo Massad will be the instructor for the two class offerings:

1. Tumble Bugs for ages 4 through 6 years old.  Sat.  10:15 – 11 a.m. and Thurs.   6:30 – 7:15 p.m.
2. Tiny Turners for ages 7 through 12 years old.  Sat. 11:15 – noon.   and  Thurs.   7:30 – 8:15 p.m.

The Saturday Sessions will begin:

• Session One: December 3, 10, 17 and January 7 and 14.
• Session Two: Jan. 21, 28, Feb. 4, 11, 18.
• Session Three: Feb. 25, March 3, 10, 17, 24.
• Session Four: March 31, April21, 28, May 5, 14.

The Thursday Sessions will begin:

• Session One: Jan. 26, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23.
• Session Two: March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29.
• Session Three: April 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17.

Register online with Lakewood Recreation Department. See you there!

Preschoolers Use Observations to Improve Kids Skills

It is not only language skills that can be 'upscaled' by positive associations: think about the value of placing a motor skill deficient child with peers who are more movement competent. Nurturing motor skill mastery is my mission for preschoolers.

The exposure to worthy and quality examples of movement demonstration are very important for preschool abilities development.

The adage: Monkey see, monkey do, can be invaluable as a teaching method. Whether one uses your own skill display in live demonstration or exposing your preschooler to viewing live performances, skilled videos or repeating a movement with small coaching ideas from you or an expert, kids need to observe moves!

Research at the Ohio State University, University of Virginia and Florida State University urge preschooler classroom population composition to be carefully structured for enhancement benefits to emerge.

Brain research offers the idea of mirror neuron recruitment as a tool in building the matrix of knowledge within our skulls:  be it for kids or our aging codgers.  We can gain through viewing good moves and thereby learning!

Play is so valuable.

American Association of Pediatrics statement at it's annual Conference in Boston was reported in the New York Times' article urging absence of broadcast visuals for under two year old children.

Just think rural America at the turn of the century from 19th to 20th. Yes, that is the vision. Let kids view nature, observe patterns of light within a room or across a open space.

Let your kids build skills of:

• observation
• guided exploration
• problem solving in safe places
• imagination
• creative expression
• play

The brain's circuitry delivers a nearly tireless search for patterns: visual, kinetic or aural. Make certain that your youngsters are able to sift through sensory messages and build neural circuitry….daily.  Be selective….edit out the media that is synthesized or synthetic materials:  natural and normal.  Build your youngsters' information stores on clear unadulterated [read that distorted or skewed] imagery or sounds. All using sensorimotor skills

Move their eyes and muscles and the brain will build strong routes.

Foot drills smooth coordination for preschoolers

When a child practices a skill that demands both balance and rhythmic repetitions, the brain will be recruited to control both upper body control as well as connect the body and the brain.

Small Practice Idea:

1. Use chalk for marking a large "X" on the ground/floor. Each line 18" [45 cm].
2. Make one line run from north to south; a 2nd line east to west.
3. Have your child stand on the place where the lines cross.
4. Place their feet side-by-side, bog toes touching.
5. Have them JUMP and land, placing one foot at the end of the east-west line. You SAY: 'Apart'.
6. Ask them to JUMP and land on their START spot. You SAY: 'Together'.
7. Nest drill: from START spot ask them to JUMP forward to land on the north end of the north-south line.
8. Ask them to JUMP backwards to their START spot at the center of the "X".
9. Ask them to continue JUMPING backwards to the end of the north-south line. FREEZE there.
10. Suggest they JUMP to the center of the "X" then immediately continue JUMPING to the north end of the n-s line. FREEZE.

Make variations in the patterns: two feet together JUMP to the east spot, 2 jumps from east spot to west. Change the rhythms: slow, slow, quick.

Ask them to jump into the open spaces between the lines and maybe clap your hands to aid the establishment of a rhythm.

Benefits: The skills of balancing on one leg while moving dynamically will be developed as well as the abilities to change support legs.

These movements build a foundation for learning to move efficiently and effectively!

Play for preschoolers~ Builds Brains

This web site was conceived on that idea: that play, unstructured by adults, explored by the children under their own direction and expressing their own ideas: as it allow self-expression.

Preschoolers thrive in a space that is safe…toss in a pot, pan or puddle. Growth of muscle and mind links development.

The randomness of found objects, weather-related environment [rains, breezes, sunshine], peers and places: these elements when mixed with a good measure of free time is the stuff the PLAY needs.

What develops during the act of playing? Well, just as I have been suggesting:  play integrates physical activity with neurological network-building.

You read this expert's view or that scientist's research and I offer one more read.

Make certain that your children have enough time to PLAY. You make time for your workouts…make time for them to PLAY in a safe environment.

Kids must know they important and loved…everyday!

In the current siege of distracters from PLAY, parents must strive to make each day as filled with active play and physical activity as possible: rain, snow or wind. Look for ways to blend motion and the powerful magic of movement

The list of ways to sit not move include:

• passive forms of entertainment
• specialized toys deemed to educate better
• alternatives to child-centered activity
• overly structured games
• adult-driven activities

Make certain that there is an ease and ready availability for your children to delight in exploring ways to move, discovering new rhythms to motivate actions and the social development of play through developing relationships and emotional satisfaction of being valued and importance.

The importance of play is best modeled by the caregivers in a child's life!

Take a few minutes to read an article assessing the benefits of an technology enhanced educational environment.

Perhaps the traditional basics should offer some valuable experiences too!

These basics include:

• hands on dirt-based exploration
• free ranging questioning
• inclusion of topics that address the daily school's climate [meaning what may have happened in the community in recent days
• recruiting local resources to speak and share their abilities

Learn to learn!  IT 's the HOW we learn that will open doors…

Educators comb through research to determine the facts about how people acquire information. Theories emerge and those various theories spawn industries to spread their news!

Any historical review, short-ranged by the past decade or long-ranged over the millenniums, will discover pedagological beliefs:

• about learning styles:  visual, auditory or movement-based
• about the importance of repetition
• advocating for rote memorization
• debating liberal arts curriculum versus specialization in higher education

This author poses that the educators and caregivers become esteemed for their abilities and knowledge. The experiences and education and intentions must be valued and allowed to affect students.

The myriad of evidence-based and driven behaviors in the business of education have so altered both the participants:  the teachers and the students.

The joys of learning have been drained in the fear-based structuring of assessments the placing of an evaluation at the tail end of the learning process.

Give joy and make the process and enticing one!  That open-ended approach will allow and engage those who desire to serve as teachers to use their own abilities in their own ways.  A person who comes into the classroom, having made a professional commitment to render daily service [under a contract] must have the freedom to both design and unroll their concept of a fruitful pathway through the school year.

Let the teachers determine the individual child's nature at the point in time when the student comes to the educational process. Those determinations require the teacher to both know themselves and observe and interpret they child they meet in the classroom.

Cannot we not TRUST the teacher to determine how their own skills can best serve the children who come before them?  Mandating and evaluating provide quality controls in manufacturing products. 

In nurturing children,  the education's AIMS are to develop a child's potential so the child can express all that is harmonious and the maximum in humans.

Play Times Offer Opportunities to Encourage Movement Exploration

Use the play minutes to give your child's skills a subtle boost. When watching your child's attempts to

1. swing
2. climb
3. grip
4. slide
5. spin
6. run
7. jump
8. skip

on their accessible and safe playgrounds, try to establish the attitude that trying and exploring are great ways to learn. To gain abilities: whether cognitive skills or physical skills for kids.

Once the desire to do and move are a part of a person's habits, the opportunity for skill development and refinement will present itself.

When a particular challenge presents itself, try to encourage simple ways for your child to attempt to explore the possibilities of climbing a pole, for example. Your subtle assistance by coming closer to the child, boosting them a bit to start or holding them during the first attempts insures a safe and successful experience.

Each of us, kids or adults find a prime route for learning. The HOW of processing information falls into either:

1. a visual route
2. a listening route
3. a feeling by moving route

When we can decide which mode gets learning accomplished most efficiently…internally…we then know the dominant method to teach to that person.

it is that understanding of HOW people learn that will then allow a teacher or caregivers/parent to encourage:

• anchoring the ability to response successfully to a stimulus
• understanding the state of mind of the learner
• using some aspect of physiology to affect postively learning: rate of breathing, eye focus, hearing skills
• experiencing activities in a frame of reference that has meaning
• modeling an activity or behavior by someone that the learner can duplicate

In the process of gaining skills, the teacher can aid learning by dispelling fears and nurturing performance attempts.

Read more at Brain-Train's site.

Kids Gain Self-control During Play times

Think about the times during your own childhood when you had to wait your turn. Yes, that ability to tell yourself to take turns demanded self-regulation.

The brain sciences now are able to view the active areas of the brain while either cognitive functions are happening or during physical activities.

When tracked, the dynamic neurological activities during any decision-making, show the prefrontal cortex doing it's role: active in the executive function: decision selection.

Now, study those actions: decision-making from it's source:  the brain. If a person has experienced or practiced,

• motor skills
• cognitive knowledge: math facts, word spellings, whatever
• situational awareness: in social or education environments

those individuals will have recruited their self-regulating part of their brain!

Now extend those kid skills: self-regulation, into the developmental process to adulthood….

Yes, the opportunities to make-decisions and select from several choices abound in the play times for our youngsters.

A great role of parenting and guiding youngsters lays in the ongoing opportunities to point out and affirm a child's good decision-making near the time it occurs.

Take time to say:  you made a good choice and acknowledge the results:  better swinging, controlled bouncing of a ball, allowing another person a comfortable turn on the equipment.

Encourage play times to build abilities to develop self-regulation in the action of self-control.

That skill will extend into the academic settings as well as social settings. Patience will be nurtured!

Build Kid's Skills and Confidence~ Guide this learning experience

We have all watched someone do the Nestea Plunge, safely falling backwards into a pool of water. We identify with their utter refreshment but, from a parent's view, we realize that there is a small act of courage necessary to trust one's body to FALL backwards.

Let's try to encourage confidence and guide a learning experience…to give your kid a Plunge experience. No pool is needed you will use soft furniture in your home.

The benefits well be:

1. Your child's increased trust of their abilities.
2. Learning to listen and respond on cue.
3. Develop communication skills between you and your child.
4. Confidence-building and body mastery for the child.

Here's How ~~ Your Teaching Method

Suggestions for guiding the skill development:

Select another adult to partner with you. One of you instruct the  youngster to stand on the edge of a soft/chair heels on the edge of the cushion.

• Ask the child to keep their heels together. Arms pressed against the side of their body.
• You and your partner should stand at each side of the child.
• Ask the child to stand tall and STIFF ~ as straight as a popsicle stick.
• Decide where each adult will place their hands to help the child as they fall rearward~How to catch them! Make certain you each understand.
• Ask the child to keep their eyes looking forward, while pushing off the support [sofa] with their feet.
• Catch the KID!!!
  

If the child is hesitant, allow it, but encourage an attempt, on command.
Try placing the spotters' hands on the child, while they are standing on the sofa. Build everyone's confidence with a few modified tries.

When your read the child's confidence is building, modify the hands-on monitoring into a spotter's catching the Nestea Plunger during the FALL. Delay the body contact slightly. BINGO!  The sureness and trust and fun are all improved in a few minutes.

Remember these few moments are establishing the FOUNDATION for a Lifetime of physical activity. Be sure to reinforce learning and the positive attitude of I Can Do THAT!

Success should be a constant part of mastering kid's skills!

Try the six part KidSKILLS Training System!

Life Skills: self-confidence, teamwork, communication, inclusion, discipline, respect and fair play.

Remember that the essential life skills that provide the psychological benefits of lifting spirits and improving concentration are readily available through

1. sport
2. physical education
3. play
4. recreation

Physical education improves a child's ability to learn, increases, concentration, attendance and overall achievement.

Especially for girls, the skills and values that are learned through sport, given their fewer chances to have social interaction outside the home and outside family networks, sports give girls the opportunity to be leaders and improve their self-confidence and self-esteem.

As girls begin to participate in sports, their acquire new interpersonal relationships and access new opportunities, allowing them to be engaged in school and community life.

To give young people, including those with disabilities, the opportunity to participate in physical activities at school, through community clubs, also offers these benefits mentioned.

Young people learn better when they are having fun and are being active. All contributes to the achievement of quality education for youth.

Summer Strength Use the Idea of a popsicle

Summer is filled with play, sports and cool icy snacks. Use the idea of a popsicle to bring skill training to youngsters.

1. In a safe grassy place, ask you child to lie down nose to the sky.
2. Ask them to place their hands on the top of each thigh.
3. Legs are kept close together.
4. Tell them they are to tighten their body, arms, legs and bottom.
5. While they are stiff as a popsicle stick, you place your hands under their feet and LIFT their whole body in ONE PIECE!
6. If they have control of their body and can recruit their body's strength, they will be able to allow their whole body to move in one piece.
7. Their weight will be resting on their upper back/shoulders.
8. You MAY have to help them the first time or two, by placing one of your hands under their bottom, and pressing the hips upward.
9. Try a few times and POP…soon they will connect their muscle and mind and demonstrate a neat tight body as you lift their heels.

This skill will build strength in the torso and promote the skills of stiffening the body. That ability is very useful in activities like soccer, gymnastics, basketball and any sport that requires hitting an object with an implement.

Good luck and keep cool like a popsicle!!

Get your preschooler rolling with this kid skills: Ball Handling!

In a safe place, try to encourage your preschooler to build a fundamental kid skills: ball handling.

Using a smaller ball 6-8 inch [15-25 cm.] that is under inflated so it is easier to grip.

Begin working with your child by both of your facing each other, seated on the floor.

1. Separate your legs and touch your feet to the feet of your youngster.
2. One of you roll the ball to the other. Repeat.
3. Now model this handling:  place your little fingers together, fingers pointing to the floor.
4. Push the ball with your palms, finger tips pointing downward to PUSH the ball to partner.
5. Make the skill harder, by NOW moving apart 6 inches [15 cm.].
6. Repeat the rolling.
7. Suggest that the child explore moving the ball, by themselves. Just watch as the observer. Just let them play.

With a little hinting, by you, and a few minutes of trying, your kid will probably show that wonderful skill: imagination. Enjoy the moments together!

If you want more instructions on handling skills visit our Kidskills website. Play builds children's brains!

Preschooler Thrive when YOU Watch Their Play

Make time to simple sit down and watch your preschoolers show their moves and actions! Kid skills will grow with your simple investment of time watching their attempts at skills!

Jumping high!   Running faster than last time!

Leaping over a cone!

With a few words, you too, can be a coach and encourage them to try again.

• Suggest a new direction.
• Ask if they can do it twice.
• Have them repeat the action using the other foot.

You can inspire their imagination and promote the acquisition of new skills in motion.

Remember all these skills will also promote brain growth and neural intensification.

Use the KidSKILLS Training Program to guide training sessions for your preschoolers.

No matter what age your youngsters are, in order to join in have fun they needs some degree of proficiency.

It is up to the caregivers and parents in their lives to provide a setting and guidance that bridges the gap between the child's wanting to try a new activity and that I Can Do That! confidence.

If you need a few hints on the basic teaching ideas for preschoolers look at this set of guidelines.

The absence of an adult teacher or the lack of some modeling demonstrations or observations by the children, is a critical factor in the creation of an appetite for movement participation and exploration.

Whether the teacher role is filled by a parent or some professionals, basic participation needs to be facilitated by fundamental skill acquisition.

1. Learning about the 8 locomotor steps.
2. Understanding the names of parts of the body.
3. Understanding the names of directions: behind, side wards.
4. Ability to maintain balance.
5. Basic shapes the body can make.

Make learning fun and build vocabulary for preschoolers.

Try Self-Testing Challenges for Preschoolers

A simple strategy for helping preschool children stretch their abilities is suggesting:  TRY THIS!!!

Youngsters can soar into action with the challenge of SELF-TESTING. It builds confidence!

• From jumping from point A to point B
• Or asking them to HOLD their body position for 10 seconds
• Questioning IF they can make their body into a particular shape

Suggest a simple task:  Can you hop in place 3 times and not fall over when your stop?

After their first attempts, make a few suggestions for skill improvement but do not make it a complete training session.

Use this idea to invite and incite action. Preschool children love your absolute focus on the physical skill displays. 

Make certain that your low-key suggestion gets 100% of your own attention to your child's attempts.

Remember how many times your asked your own teachers, grandparents or parents to WATCH THIS!

Build body control and Brain Strength for Preschoolers

Ask your preschool child to kneel on one knee and stretch their arms HIGH!

Then suggest they stretch one leg to the side.
Count to ten while the child HOLD that position!

Repeat using other knee and opposite leg stretching.

By using a clap of hands, try to clap to ten beats then switch knees.

The alternation of one knee then the other will build into the skill drill the need to do motor planning.

Brain function and cognitive development thrives when the muscles send messages to the brain!

These exercises will form the foundation of sports training and cognitive learning.

KidSKILLS has the six movement and sports readiness education program available for your use this summer.

By following the carefully organized progressions in the six Training Manuals:

• Feet First    Skills in Place
• Moving RIGHT Along!  Traveling skills
• Go STOP GO  Initiating Motion and Arresting Motion through body control
• Up & Over  Leaving the ground
• Making Muscles  Building strength and endurance
• Hang ON!  Handling objects

These KidSKILLS Training Manuals are available at the Amazon.com bookplace.

Kids Skills and Kids Games should Include Jumping

Have your preschool child practice this simple kids skill: jumping. Ask them to step forward and one foot and set their balance equally between both feet.

Then ask them to bend both their knees and JUMP UP into the air and SWITCH the foot that is in front!

Try that move again!

SWITCH  by jumping and changing lead foot.

SWITCH SWITCH! a rhythmic pattern should develop.

Add to the rhythm by clapping your hands to establish a pace and tempo!

Over a few sessions of practice this skill will smooth into a coordinated motion.

New weekly Feature at Kidskills website

Kidskills is adding a weekly feature to this play information feed. 

For your preschool youngsters, we will offer a variety of suggestions for simple but essential movement skills to be introduced during times of play.

The gentle urging a parent/teacher can conduct during play times will broaden the movement vocabulary of your preschoolers.

This Week:  we suggest that while out-of-doors, that  you suggest your child finds an object:

1. a leaf that they like
2. a small pebble or rock
3. a stick

This object will be placed on the ground and…ask you child to stand with their two feet side-by-side NEXT to the found object.

The skill we are introducing is a two footed JUMP, moving to the side.

Practice this skill, moving from one side of the found object…UP and OVER…to Land on the other side.

Repeat the skill to smooth performance and enhance learning.

Take a simple kids task and bring it to everyday use

This exercise suggestion for your preschoolers is the simple movement:  standing on their tip toes.

With just a few hints you can take that everyday move and make it into a skill builder.

• Check to see if their feet are placed, side-by-side.
• Ask the child to press their heels together
• Ask them to rise UP HIGH!
• Challenge them to HOLD that position.
• See if they can stay UP for a second.

This skill will build balancing abilities and in that process stimulate the neural pathways between body and brain. The more frequently these routes are used as they are being established in this growing years…the BETTER BRAIN recruitment will be achieved. 

Those brain cells, once recruited will be available for future brain power:  be that athletics or academics or common sense learning!

Body in Motion Gives Brain Strength: Kids and Grownups

Read in the New York Times the details of a study done at the University of Illinois that reconfirms the powerful effects of movement and physical activities on the human brain.

The neural system is attuned by the muscle contraction as the messages are transmitted, interactively, between the brain's desire to initiate motion and the target body involvement.  When the body response to a brain message, the dendrites [wiring] and the synaptic transmission unions [connectors] are pumped UP.

The bonus is the whole physical activity package is growth in brain cells for cognitive functioning.

Whether one is 8 months or in their 8th decade, getting the neural system to fire up is the best method to keep bright and bouyant!

Play Times for Children Boost Kids Brains & Kids Skills

Again, Swiss researchers find that good stimulation and engagement through active learning and play increase the neural network for children.

Make certain that the children in your care get their daily dose of active play and active learning through lots of movement.

Exploring their neighborhoods and finding new skills on the playgrounds like:

1. climbing
2. sliding
3. swinging
4. hanging
5. running
6. inverting

All these activities stimulate the neural system and build stronger connections and denser synaptic connections:  the links between brain and muscle cells.

The more of those:  THE BETTER for children's body-mind connectivity and good learning!

For kids the skill 'Waiting a little'….requires good focus and self-control.

The ability to self-regulate which is often described as a kid skill. Controlling an impulse to move, speak or handle an item, takes a strong ability to wait. It is an executive function of the prefrontal cortex.

The brain's prefrontal cortex must be recruited by either youngsters or adults when an active response seems ready to cause speech or a movement.

There are strong correlations between those individuals, who demonstrate strength in self-limiting speaking or movement or handling a forbidden object and their success in adult life.

In a famous experiment conducted around 1970 demonstrated that the ability of 4-year-olds to postpone gratification by leaving a marshmallow uneaten for a time as a condition of receiving a second marshmallow was a very good predictor of success in life: “The kids who could wait a full 15 minutes had, 13 years later, SAT scores that were 210 points higher than the kids who could wait only 30 seconds. . . . Twenty years later, they had much higher college-completion rates, and 30 years later, they had much higher incomes. The kids who could not wait at all had much higher incarceration rates. They were much more likely to suffer from drug- and alcohol-addiction problems.”

As a teaching tool, KidSKILLS suggest that you use the children's game: Simon Says, as a tool to promote self-restraint.

Make exercise just a series of kid skills.

As adults, we are aware that it is hard to make enough time to move and exercise in order to be FIT.

Just as tough, is finding time for our youngsters: preschoolers and early elementary children, to be active.

Given the time crunch and the decreases in parent/caregiver interaction, teaching our preschoolers a simple set of exercises might be a good way to get exercise to give effective results;

Acting as a teacher and a coach for your youngster: Teach and then assist them to train good motion.  Follow this pattern of kid skills:

1. Standing in a wide stance, with arms and hands reaching for the sky, rotate the torso in a circling manner, each direction.
    Core Work for Kids!
2. Get the kids to grad a stable support: bar, chair back, kitchen counter. Swing each single leg forward and backward in a smooth rhythm. Leg Swinging
3. Lying down on their back with straight legs, ask the child to grasp each of your hands as you assist their sitting to an upright position. Have them keep their legs straight and the bottom on the floor. Return, gently to laying long and REPEAT a few times. Core Strength
4. Using the old crossing the midline and touching the opposite foot with one hand, repeat alternating sides. Try for 12-20 repetitions. good for core again.
   Side stretching and flexion of spine.
5. Standing tall, with feet apart, comfortably-shoulder width, circle both stiff arms in lots of directions. Arms move smoothly. Stop and then move in opposite directions. Arm Circling
6. Lie on floor on back. Lift one leg, foot towards ceiling, and draw medium circles in the air, over the hips. Reverse direction and then repeat with other leg. Keep arms long and at the sides of the body, pressing on floor. Assist your child a bit. Leg Circling
7. Lying on floor, face down, old your child's two feet and lower legs and ask them to lift their head and back off the floor and HOLD for a few seconds.
8. Start as #7, YOU ask the child to place flat hands on the floor. You then lift their feet and take most of the weight of their body as you ask them to press through their hands and support themselves . extend this action, later, into walking on hands. Support on arms.

Give this exercise pattern a name: Super Kid Training Time!  and practice it until the tasks are developing strength and solid confidence for the child.

As a bonus, the body-mind connections will saturate the neural system, including the brain.

Get them moving, model the exercise for the kids, make FITNESS a family focus.

Get your preschoolers to play this energetic game!

At a clear and safe place, ask the preschoolers to lay long on their backs.
Explain the every time they hear you SAY: POP UP…that is just what they must do: STAND on the feet…as quickly as they can.

Keep the pace rapid:   start counting towards 100 but everything your reach a point that could at a TENS...substitute the work POP-UP!

Change the pace!  Do not be predicable. Vary the directions:  saying this time lay with your face down or this time sit on your bottom.

Keep it active and perhaps extend the time for 3-4 minutes.

A good way to mix listening skills with body management.

It is a way to self-test  and kids enjoy that!. Look at the importance of play and brain linkage at play builds childrens brains!

GET those Foot SKILLS Developed

It is so very important for the preschoolers feet to be able to use ALL the narrow little muscles and stretch the ligaments within these terrific tools:  their feet!

Suggest that in a quick one minute chunk of time they try to:

1. Walk on their tip toes for ten steps.
2. Walk on their heels, with toes lifted high.
3. Roll to the outside edge of their feet: walk ten steps.
4. Roll the legs to allow them to WALK on the inside edges for 10 times.

Ten steps in four different ways!

REPEAT for a about one minute.

The great result will be liable feet and better muscle control.

The BONUS is a improvement in the brain-body connection for better foot skills!

Make certain you MAKE time to read this book review from the New York Times.

The main functioning of the mirror neurons in our brains provides a host of cues and modeling for our own knowledge.

In a process of careful observations and empathizing, a human can embed information that will enhance their own cognitive functions in the future.

The eye and the supporting optical system bring rich saturation of information to the brain cells.

That role of the mirror neurons highlights the importance of viewing good movement patterns in order to understand the movement sequencing that is imperative to successful motor control.

At the PLAY web site discover the options that you, a caregiver for youngsters could provide for your children.

If you could use a simple physical skills training program for the preschoolers in your life, look of the 6 part  KidSKILLS Training Program.

Use the Senses to Saturate the Brain's Mirror Neurons

Make sure your children are able to see and hear:

1. Colorful videos
   
2. Live performances
3. Sporting games
4. Kids playing
   
5. Skill demonstrations
   

As a parent/caregiver for a youngster, take a mental minute to review their today's activities. In this quick health check-up, decide how many activities were ones that were not provided by either a Wi-Fi or electrical energy flow.

How does that list look? Is it filled with physical activities that would fall into the category of PLAY or are the bulk of the activities entertainment  that was delivered via a screen?

Maybe the days of out-of-door play building tree houses and forts or crafting wooden vehicles does not provide challenges for the kids of today BUT what does get them moving and exploring their own control of their movement abilities?

The development of strong bodies and the engagement of the brain, when a kid matches moves with imaginative thoughts:  those activities are sure to be very physical and absorbing! And probably they will be building some social skills: collaborative play and leadership development.

The improvisation of using kitchen objects and furniture to make forts and in the process to role play: can you see unstructured time converted into no cost PLAY by your youngsters?

IF not, maybe you could make some suggestions and provide a low-key lead to get laundry baskets, cardboard boxes and old sheets mixed into old-fashioned play fun.

Even try to remember how exciting it was for you when you were handling modeling clay or producing a neighbor show complete with improved costumes and props.

Find a way to bring puddle jumping and simple kid games [without formal equipment] into your family's fun time.

No car rides needed to get to the place where childhood makes happy memories with next to nothing!

And the big bonus is a healthy kid!!

The time youngsters spend in unstructured, undirected play has shrunk relative to a century ago or even a decade ago. Kids connect with some screen activity or another nearly 7 + hours a day.

Where is the take this and make it do that while sharing a space with a friend? Even kindergartens' curriculum would allow free play in the children's day.

Now caregivers must model imaginative play and suggest, in a guiding way, ways to invent fun or assume roles during playtimes.

In the New York Times article parents report the changes in living space and lifestyle that the deem important to promote good changes in their youngsters play behaviors.

With so many countries, in Europe and the North America, experiencing snowfalls in record amounts, parents and caregivers should use these special times to bundle up there children and explore snow fun!

1. Just moving their bodies, through the snow mounds, makes muscles.
2. Of course, making snow angels give children a good view of how big they are!
3. Hand-eye coordination:  snowball making!
4. The thrills of sledding…with care.

Winter opportunities…with wide-spread snowfalls, give youngster, from toddlers to teens, preschoolers and tweens a exhilaration and exercise!

The importance of careful instruction is emphasized in this article.

This KidSKILLS training web site urges the parent and caregivers for youngsters to take a few minutes to inform them selves on the best ways to introduce basic kid skills as they occur in play, kids games and sports. Learning must be guided by careful instruction, physical education and informed teachers.

KidSKILLS recommends:

1. Using simple and exact cue words.
2. Offering progressions in skill difficulties.
3. Adding variations to task complexity as appropriate.
4. Changing the tempos and rhythm of movement skills.
5. Instructing the safety needed in task performance.
6. Suggesting areas of concern or especial challenges.

When a youngster experiences success in simple steps as they acquire movement skills, they will develop self confidence and be eager to repeat a positive experience. By breaking a skills down into easy and progressive steps, a child will experience-each time they try some level of success. Repetition of a simple task will smooth coordination and form the needed body-mind linking that shifts a motor skill into an automatic recruitment-in the future.

Make sure that you provide a daily time for your child's physical activity. It is your responsibility to do so. Toddlers and preschoolers are intensively building their neural pathways in their motor development evolution.

In her annual Christmas message, the British Queen's commentary on the importance of sport as a tool for social integration.

Just as the KidSKILLS programs urge participation in physical activities, kids games, play and sports, the reigning Queen, urges for the world to value sports as a valuable method of linking people.

Holiday Fun..Get it moving

See if you can make your body do this!  It takes lots of strength in your tummy and your arms.

When you master this training skills, ask you parent or Uncle to give it a try!

Chances are they well struggle also,  to get their own body into a nice flat table top shape.

SHOW them how to do it! Everyone needs to learn sports training.

And in the all the trying you will have some fitness fun in your play!

Preschoolers are commonly placed in a specific gymnastics class by their age, not their ability. The KidSKILLS curriculum is guided by the developmental stages of the students. As musculature develops during the formative years, children gain more confidence and a greater ability to perform physical skills.

Child development specialists graph developmental stages by ages. Children come in all sizes and shapes and have their individual timetables of growth. Therefore, the charted stages of development are used as a much needed guideline in curriculum design.

In our classes, children, who are four to six years old, are able to participate in a variety of motor activities, including  the use of gymnastics apparatus that is age-appropriate for the size of preschool youngsters.

Got your your youngster moving…on a daily basis?

Great!  Now work a few challenges into the active play times.

Using an open safe space, ask your child to simple walk in a circular pathway.

Allow a few circuits to be completed. Encourage swinging of the arms and ask them to reverse their line of travel.

Then, hand them a pair of beanbags or some equally soft items to carry in their circles.

Again allow a few full circles and reverse the pathway.

Next time, exchange the first objects for a pair of objects that are still safe to carry but a bit heavier.

Repeat the circles: moving forward and then rearwards.

That's it!  What did you see? Any quality of movement differences?

Maybe next workout session: gather a set of 3 different sized balls.

Do the same patterns of practice.

You will see the child adjusting to the different weights of the objects and that is great for their brains and their bodies!

IT is the duty of each preschooler's caregiver to provide daily time for active play and exercise.

There are some ideas available in this New York Times article

The article urges that caregivers adopt a paradigm of daily activity that is delivered in small units.

By making a preschooler's day contain a series of mini-sessions of exercise, the end-of-the-day accumulation of moving will increase the general fitness of the child.

KidSKILLS urges you to use our  six-part Training Manuals to guide your youngster though a progressively organized series of lessons that teach movement education.

This movement education will help your child build a foundation for physical activity through careful teaching.

There is nothing like the bare foot of a preschooler for being a great tool to connect the brain and the desire to move.

Channel your youngsters energy flow for a few minutes today. Ask them to work on a simple task that will build both:

1. their balance
2. their foot dexterity

Find a safe space to practice this drill. Start by placing one or two circular shaped objects [diameter about 3 inches - 8 cm.] about 6 inches in front of your child's feet.

1. Ask the youngster to stand with their feet, side-by-side. Big Toes touching.
2. Ask them to extend one foot forward to contact the circle on the floor.
3. Ask them to pull that circle towards the SPOT where they are standing.

This will develop the intrinsic muscles of the foot as well as create a goal while trying to balance on one foot.

     4.  Repeat several times on the first foot. Then try the other foot for several times.

Keep this practice short and peppy.  Variations could be changing the tempo. Using a different object. Trying the skill to the side of the body.

Both the brain and the body will be connected with this exercise.

Practice Exact Positioning of Objects

To develop skill and provide experience in handling objects, have your child explore the dynamics of moving an object while practicing control of that object. with this simple skill drill.

Equipment: a bean bag, small ball or other safe object.

1. Place the object in one palm and stretch that had FORWARD and HIGH from their body position.
2. Bend the knees a little and bounce the body while balancing the object on the extended palm.
3. HINT: Partner/YOU Clap 3-4 times to establish a bouncing light rhythm.
4. Now, ask the child to PULL the object BACK. This is a swinging action. The object rests on the palm and the arm acts as a pendulum, swinging freely from the shoulder…freely.
5. Swing the object FORWARD to start point.
6. Repeat the action until the movement is smooth and confident. Check posture.

Keep the preschooler thinking about directions from the own body position: front, back, side. Change objects and tempo as skills improve.

this is your opportunity to education their body and in the learning process education their brain.

Make sure that your preschoolers can perform this simple task…smoothly.

You will need a open space and a hula hoop or a piece of rope [30-40 inches]. Place the rope into a closed circle or place the hoop in the open floor space.

1. Ask the child to stand OVER the rope circle or hoop. One foot is on the INSIDE of the hoop and one foot is standing OUTSIDE the hoop.
2. Use these directional terms to build their movement vocabulary.
3. Ask the child to move forward, using small scooting steps…like a train.
4. Have them follow the hoop's shape.
5. Ask them to STOP. And then reverse the direction.
6. Practice keeping the feet in almost constant contact with the floor while moving.

This simple task will build confidence in moving while improving the ability to perform a skill over and over again, smoothly.

Listening skills and directional terms will become familiar.

Need more training hints?  Visit kidskills.com.

Keep them moving, happily.

Teaching Hints to Make Playtimes Successful Practice Times

When you and your preschooler make time to play [and exercise], make certain that you remember to:

1. Give a verbal cue:  strong accent on a word like HOP or clap a beat to aid movement.
2. Encourage the child to give self-talk while moving: step, step, s-l-i-d-e, for example.
3. Use the word and concept of FREEZE as a verbal cue during movement. It encourages body control.
4. Be certain that the practice area provides clear space for safety.
5. Make sure that your youngster understands and can see a START SPOT and a FINISH SPOT.

IF you find your youngster walking or running with most of their weight on the ball of their feet, make an effort to stretch their lower legs in one of these ways:

1. While holding their hands, have them jump on a mini-tramp or jogging tramp. Watch to make certain the whole foot accepts the landing on the bed of the tramp.
2. While the child is standing, perhaps while drawing on a paper upon a tabletop. Have there feet be placed, side-by-side, on an incline [maybe 4-5 inches at the high point]. point the toes to the tall edge. Start with a short period of standing, maybe one minute, and then increase the time length.
3. Using a simple beat, 1-2-3-4, have the child start with feet together and then, jump each foot to a wider stance, APART. Repeat for ten or fifteen jumps. Watch and correct to make sure each floor contact is made with the entire foot on the ground. Apart-Together-Apart-Together.

]

The act of playing helps children form attachments. As a child plays with others, they will communicate.

In these communication opportunities, children are able actively to relate to others. This helps build relationships.

When you child is engaged in play that they enjoy, take note and attempt to provide that setting at future times.

Play is a natural part of childhood. It is not just fun and games. Play provides healthy development and maintains the parent-child bonds.

With the KidSKILLS Training Program, the concept is that youngsters, starting at birth:

• learn to move
• move to learn
• and in the process Learn to LEARN!
• 

  Simple play builds social skills

When youngsters move, they need strong feet

The use of the foot is a critical part of the skills that are called: locomotion skills.

The BASIC 8 Steps are:

1. walking
2. running
3. sliding
4. galloping
5. hopping
6. jumping
7. leaping
8. skipping

You can encourage your youngsters skill development by using this quick

FOOT SKILLS Practice TASK:?? HEEL WALK

In a comforting voice and in an open space that is safe, ask you child to

1. Place their feet, side-by-side.
2. Ask them to move across the practice area in a straight line, while walking on their heels.
3. The toes and the forefoot should be kept OFF the floor or ground.
4. Knees will be STRAIGHT during the steps forward.
5. The steps should be slow and deliberate.

HELPER HINT: Clap an easy rhythm to urge progress to the finish area.

This task will develop the kids’ skill of BALANCE and FOOT USE. It will increase the strength and flexibility of the feet and the muscles in the lower limb.

Every locomotor step [listed above] will become more confident and controlled with practice and the mastery of this skills.

Walking on the heels builds the foot strength and control

One-to-One time with Parent is Brain Power

The time a parent spends with their preschooler, one-to-one time, is the prime brain booster.

The parent and child have such an attachment still at this age span: 3 to 5 years old, that the exchange of language and thoughts is a very important brain booster.

Reading together is one great way to build their brain, keep bonding strong and boost the neural pathways with solid stimulation.

Using books that incorporate numbers and counting or books that tell a story makes the cognitive gains so worthwhile.

Brain development is very rapid in preschoolers.

American Academy Spokesperson Advocates 1-to-1 Parent Interaction with Preschoolers

Just as the Kidskills‘ learning philosophies are build on the parent as the best and first teacher, Michele Macias, MD, as a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states the the number one brain booster for preschoolers is one-to-one time with the parents.

Stating that the preschooler is in a period of attempting to develop independence, the parent-child attachment is still there at this age. Macias said, “The simple exchange of language and ideas is a much more important brain-builder than putting your child in a million different activities.”

We offer the KidSKILLS Training Manuals for your parenting use in guiding physical skill development.

Besides developing motor skills, physical activities stimulate the enrichment of the density of neural pathways . the opportunity for role playing and social interactions are additional benefits in parent guided movement explorations.

Learn to Move! Move to Learn!? Learn to Learn!!

Kidskills Gymnastics Perform Floor Exercise Routines

Kidskills gymnastics students presented a floor exercise routine to the Pointer Sisters’ Jump music.

The students demonstrated their abilities to connect elements of tumbling and dance and coordinate their movements in groups of four gymnasts.

Parents and extended family members enjoyed the performances and gave the gymnastics a good round of applause.

The girls performed several times and in the final performances each group added their own unique opening phase of movement.

The Lakewood Recreation Classes will begin again on Thursday Oct. 21, 2010 at the Horace Mann Middle School in Lakewood, Ohio.

Visit Lakewood website to join in!

Kids Skills Build on Foot Skills

Does you youngster need a small boost in their foot skills?? Whether they are just learning to walk, beginning to explore locomotor skills or trying to master their favorite sport that requires running and maneuvering,? foot skills need to be identified and practiced with a careful eye watching their performance.

Today’s tip for drilling is a skill that can be developed either on a flat surface or upon a low balance beam [10-20 inches/cm. above the ground]/

What to look for and promote

1. Start and movement in a parallel foot position.
2. Weight bearing on the ball of the foot.
3. Upper body remains stretched and vertical.
4. Arms are used in balancing lateral body motion.
5. Careful foot placement during crossing step so weight is accepted smoothly onto new foot.
6. Repetition that is fluid. Little stopping between steps.

Study the START position and CROSSING STEP photos.

Parallel feet are used for the START position

Feet cross the midline to move their body to the side smoothly.

]]> http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/foot-skills-kid-skills/feed/ 0 http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/kid-skills-that-use-physical-activity-build-brain-cells-and-fitness/ http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/kid-skills-that-use-physical-activity-build-brain-cells-and-fitness/#comments Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:53:17 +0000 kidskills http://www.kidskills.com/?p=194

The link between childrens physical activity and brain cell development has been validated further with a new study that measures via brain scans, the relative size of specific structures in children.

The study focused on 9 and 10 year old children and measured their oxygen uptake during a physical task: treadmill running. Dr. Art Kramer led the study with Doctoral student, Laura Chaddock and colleague, Dr. Charles Hillman of the Kinesiology Department and Community Health.

When the MRi data was reviewed, the children who had higher levels of physical fitness tended to have larger hippocamal volume- about 12 per cent bigger relative to their total brain size.

When kids skills like:

• active game playing
• running
• climbing
• bicycling
• skating

are practiced with regularity enough to produce fitness, the resulting brain cell increases.

Learning and memory as well as the executive control abilities are kids skills that develop with daily physical activity.

Visit: The University of Illinois site for research details.

Rope Jumping Brings Smiles

Here’s a quick lesson for your the caregiver in some child’s life to provide a start to their kid skill: jumping rope.

The basic kid skill: rope jumping builds muscles and mind.

Want to find a simple way to assist your child’s learning this skill?

Here’s a step-by-step way:

1. In a safe and open area, offer your child a length of rope. The length should be long enough to pass under the feet when the child holds the ends of the rope in their lifted hands~stretched wide to the sides of their body.
2. You should take a rope too!
3. Show then and ask them to place the ends in their hands.
4. Tell them to bend at the waist and make the middle of the rope touch the floor. LIKE a Smile!
5. Ask them to swing the rope away from their feet 6-10 inches and them let it come in to hit their toes!
6. Repeat until smooth.
7. Then add the JUMP over the rope as it come in towards their feet. Practice until smooth!
8. THEN add a toss the rope from the back of your heels OVER your head phase.
9. This demands the child stretch their arms WIDE to the sides and flip the rope over their head.
10. Help the child connect the swing towards the feet, the JUMP and the over the head toss in to whole skill.

This simple technique will bring your child a basic kid skills: rope jumping to their mastery.

Want to make your youngster realize how to tighten their core muscles?

Ask them to try this simple test which is great for the preschool age group:

1. Ask your child to lie down on their back with their feet towards you.
2. Ask them to place their hands on their thighs.
3. Tell them to imagine that they are a Popsicle stick.
4. Mention that their legs, back and bottom should be tightened.
5. YOU: grasp their heels and ankles and lift their body as a UNIT.
6. Their whole body should move UP maintaining a straight line.
7. Their bottom should not rest on the ground.

This takes a great deal of concentration and a good amount of body awareness.

If the child cannot keep everything in line, like a plank,? stop and try again in a week or so!

Make it a daily task:? every BODY that is in your family must move and exercise at least one hour a day!

1. Create a chart.
2. Make compliance a competition sport.
3. Post the exercise efforts of each person.
4. Make a week-end summary
5. Reward those people who did the deed.

Outdoor sports build muscles and teach fair play.

Get everyone MOVING and make it a way of living well!

Want to really stimulate brain cells? Make sure that your little one tries about every motion with the other side of their body.

This simple strategy with saturate the brain with new neural pathways that connect the muscles with the brain.

Look over these ideas:

1. If your toddler or preschooler is still climbing or descending stairs with a dominant leg, make a game to have a other leg day!
2. Using a hula hoop, have the child place one foot inside the hoop and the other foot outside the hoop. Tell them to imagine the hoop is a railroad track and ask them to slide around the hoop a few times.? Then ask them to switch feet. The other foot will be forced to work in a different and strengthening manner.
3. Use the bottom step of a staircase and ask the child to place one foot on that step and step up to place both feet together on the first step.
4. Then ask them to pick a foot and step backwards to where they started. STEP UP with one foot STEP UP with second foot. STEP DOWN with one foot. STEP DOWN with second foot. Watch which foot leads. Then ask them to reverse the lead foot.

Simple ideas:? change which foot goes first; change which hand opens the door; change which foot kicks a ball when rolled to the child.

CHANGE the side of the body that is use.? And you know what?? This is great for any age child and person as it stimulates underused brain cells.

Go SWITCH? grow those new brain cells!

It’s the new school year and everyone has energy and opportunities for exercise are easy!

Get a pedometer for you child!

Teach them how to use it!

Make a chart for each week of this school year to record the number of steps taken.

Get a pedometer for yourself.

Set some goals after a week or so as your child begins to set a pattern.

Over a month or so reward good records.

Then educate your youngster about the number of calories and food energy that moving demands.

The energy balance between food IN and energy spent…is very important to understand for both children and adults.

Moving a lot will keep kids fit and prevent obesity!

Careful balance builds focus ability

For balance and control of the body preschoolers need to practice skill on one leg.

With a few hints from you, the caregiver and now teacher and coach, make sure that your youngster can gain balance on one leg. This is a fundamental skill in basic locomotor skills:

1. walk
2. run
3. leap
4. hop
5. jump
6. slide
7. gallop
8. skip

Every sport needs balance and control!

Use this Balance Skills Drill to Develop Balance

In a calm voice and in a safe and quiet space,

ask you youngster to stand TALL. Feet in parallel position.

1. Ask them to shift their weight to one foot.
2. Have them try to wrap both arms around the lifted knee.
3. PULL the knee up towards the chest.
4. Caution: don’t LEAN the body forward.
5. Wrap both arms around active leg and HOLD.
6. Steady the body and BALANCE.

HELPER HINT: Mention that the child should ‘stand up’ tall UPON the support leg.

NO bends in the standing leg.

This is a tough task! Preschoolers working on this balance skill will make strong legs and build control and balance.

The more stimulation that a young child gives to their muscles the more circuitry between the muscles and the brain occur.

]]> http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/balance-skill-for-preschoolers/feed/ 0 http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/build-muscles-and-skills-for-preschoolers/ http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/build-muscles-and-skills-for-preschoolers/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:50:20 +0000 kidskills http://www.kidskills.com/?p=143

Got a few minutes?? Spend them with your preschooler and take a basic locomotor skill: jumping and give your child a chance to really master the hardest part of jumping:? the LANDING!

With a few hints from you, their coach and teacher as well as their caregiver, they can build a foundation for a lifetime of physical activities through careful instruction.

Take Off and Freeze!

Balanced start for a jump from a small height.

In this simple drill that will develop the explosive power in their legs and feet. The action, when practiced regularly, will strengthen their body and provide good opportunity to link the body and the brain by coordination the muscles’ action and the neural system. The body-mind connection is strengthened with repetitions that have a smooth and rhythmic pattern.

Equipment:Use a low balance beam or a single step. Make sure this is in a safe space.

Standing barefoot on the beam or step, place the toes slightly over the long edge.

1. Use the toes, and let them grip the front edge of the step or beam.
2. Stand TALL and in balance.
3. Bend the knees and let the arms swing gently along the sides of the body.
4. POWER off the beam or step pushing evenly with both feet.
5. LAND on the ground or floor with slightly bent knees.
   
6. FREEZE! Gripping the floor/ground with your toes.
7. Use the arms and upper body to gain good balance on the floor.
8. Practice again and again.

Helper hint: Use an explosive voice and hand clap to encourage a strong ‘lift’ off the beam/step.

Look carefully at the pictures below and note the use of the toes, arms and knees.

Keep the workout session peppy and fun!? Repeat as often as possible.

Preschoolers arms will help the body be balanced in a landing.

Deep knee bending give a balance landing for preschoolers

Vary the speed of the jump and make sure every landing has the knees bending to absorb the energy. Watch for even placement of the feet to get a good landing. This skills will build strength in the body and build the body-mind connections for brain development. Using the jumping skill drills are a good part of sports training.

Use this simple task for preschoolers to improve their abilities to handle a ball when it is bouncing. The basic kid skill that use both eyes and hands is a task that every youngsters wants to master.

Equipment: Large ball 12″-15″ (30-40 cm) diameter.

A large ball is easier to watch and to catch.

Helper Hint: As the caregiver or parent who is now the child’s teacher, remind the child that a TOSS happens when the ball is pushed UP into the air.

BUT the job here in this skill drill is just to DROP the ball. The kid skill called tossing or throwing will come in later lessons.

Bounce & Catch!

1. Have the child HOLD the ball with both hands. Ask them to put their little fingers side-by-side.
   

   Drop the ball to the ground.

2. HINT: This is an important skills Place the little fingers, side-by-side.
3. Using the cue words: ” HOLD, then let go!”
4. The child will just DROP the ball to the ground.
5. This is a DROP BOUNCE.
6. Catching can be attempted by ‘gathering’ the ball into their hands.
7. Try to DROP and CATCH many times.

The simple kid skill is the first task in a progressive series of sports training for bouncing the ball and catching. First the child will control the drop and react to the rebound. Then the child can bounce to another person and that person will return the ball to the child.

The more fundamental training series for youngsters begins with the child and their partner seated on the ground, facing each other with their feet spread in a straddle and their feet touching to create a closed box.? Then all basic rolls will be keep within the box.

Come back to this Kidskills Training Blog to learn more development skills in manipulating equipment as well as control of the body.

Skill work will stimulate the brain and integrate the neural system in the developing systems of body-mind connections.

In casual play, young kids and older children dream about being able to make the right moves with a ball. Whether they are moving down a field in their dreams or striding to stuff a ball into a hoop, kids desire skills with handling a ball. Basic practice drills will build promote training for sports.
So, for your young preschooler here are a few basic teaching hints to make any practice session a positive one. The more frequently a youngster can handle a ball and begin to understand the laws of gravity and physics that apply to ball handling….the sooner they will be able to be self-directed in their practice attempts.

Two-hand HAND OFF!

Equipment: small safe objects or ball

Be a partner with your child or find a friend.

Point your fingers toward your friend.

1. Partners face each other. One yard or meter apart.
2. One child has object (ball). Suggest they stand with feet slightly apart.
3. Ask the first child to REACH with the ball held in both hands and HAND-OFF to their partner.
4. Practice until the HAND-OFF is s-m-o-o-t-h and easily anticipated by both partners.
5. Practice. Keep the eyes on the ball.
6. Add a rhythm with the clapping of the helpers hands or a drumbeat. Tap you toes if you are working as a partner.
7. Increase the distance between partners a little. Practice. No tossing yet.
8. Return to smaller distance apart. Increase the speed of the HAND-OFF. Practice.

Making sure the the beginning practice attempts are actually hand to hand exchanges removes the risks of dropping the ball. Make every beginning attempt a sure and complete success.? Then increase the distances and be allowing if there are drops or mishandlings.

Make your child feel that I Can Do That! feeling in all your workout sessions. See if these website lessons might help.

]]> http://www.kidskills.com/preschoolers/lets-work-on-ball-handling-skills/feed/ 0 http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/preschool-leg-workout/ http://www.kidskills.com/exercise/preschool-leg-workout/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:53:41 +0000 kidskills http://www.kidskills.com/?p=124

Take those hundreds of little steps that your toddlers or preschoolers are doing everyday and channel them into a workout that will build brains and connect muscle and mind.

To make good motor skill development the sooner a youngster can recruit the body-mind connection through activity the stronger and more significant their brain cell matrix will be.

The importance of a rich neural matrix is the resource it will be for all future information retrival.

By activating many neural pathways between muscle and mind while a child is under five years old, their brain cells are stimulated and strengthened.? Brain imagery has shown us that there is three times as much brain tissue in a three year old as in a teenager. Unused brain cells are sloughed off with disuse. learn more by reading these training ideas.

So let’s get your children moving and stimulate the synapses [the connections along neural pathways] as frequently as possible.

Initiate a informal but structured session with your child.

1. Find a safe and open area.
2. Have the child face you and place their feet together.
3. Ask them to kick one leg BACKWARDS.
4. Rapidly kick the other leg backwards.
5. Change support legs as they alternate kicking legs rearward.
6. Continue kicking backwards
7. Make sure each leg is STRAIGHT as it moves to the back.
8. Mention that it is okay to lean the body forward.
9. Arms may be comfortable is held slightly sidewards from the body.

Helper Hint Encourage vigorous jumping and freedom to use the arms in the actions. Use a clap or rhythm beat on a drum to set the pace. vary the tempo: slow or fast.

Here’s a quick method to get legs into action. Build brain pathways and develop strength.? Do this daily.