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Let the children play: A parent's guide to children's healthy physical development

Young children are whirlwinds of activity. They run, they slide, they scoot around, and just when you think they are down for a nap, they take one last spin around the bedroom. For tired parents this may seem overwhelming at times. But rest assured, all this activity is an important part of young children’s healthy development.

Janice Aronson-Hanson, an occupational therapist who works with school-age children, says there is a natural process by which children develop strong bodies and healthy motor skills—much of which is fueled by physical activity.

"There is a whole lot that happens developmentally when children use their bodies to react to their environment," says Aronson-Hanson. Take for example a simple activity such as when babies lie on their stomachs and push themselves up on their forearms. Not only does this type of activity help strengthen the muscles from the fingertips to the toes, it also allows the brain to receive sensory information from the hands and other parts of the body that make contact with a surface. The brain also receives information from the eyes ("This is what the world looks like at a different level"), ears ("and things sound differently") even the nose and mouth ("Yuck, this blanket tastes rough when I fall back against it with my open mouth").

All the physical activities that kids do naturally have the added effect of strengthening the muscles they will need to use in school when learning such skills as reading and writing. Unfortunately, teachers who work with young children are finding that more and more children are beginning school without the proper strength and physical development to take on new learning challenges. This leads to such problems as an inability to hold a pencil properly, slouching due to an inability to hold the body upright for lengths of time or a lack of ability to hold the head upright and make proper
eye contact with teachers and classmates.

Many factors may be at fault. Aronson-Hanson cites increased television and computer use (both passive activities), as well as preschool settings that emphasize academics over free play and physical exploration. In some cases, for example, children might be engaged in activities that require them to sit still for too long or perform such skills as writing the alphabet with pencils before they have the strength in their hands and fingers to do so correctly.

"The more opportunities children have to strengthen their bodies by practicing with a variety of physical activities from the time they are very young, the better prepared they will be to learn once they become school-age," says Aronson-Hanson. "Once bad habits are in place they are really hard to get rid of."

Trunk and Shoulder Strength are needed for sitting for lengths of time, maintaining proper eye contact and stabilizing the arms for reading and writing.

Activities:

• Using the playground as weather permits.

• Wheelbarrow walking. (Very young children can be held at the middle or by the thighs until their upper body strength develops to a point where they can support the entire length of their body while being held at the ankles.)

• Rolling and pushing each other in wagons or loading and pushing toy vehicles filled with gravel or other materials.

• Carrying buckets filled with water to make sand castles or to help wash the car.

Hand and finger strength are needed for writing, holding pencils, cutting, pinching and picking up small objects.

Activities:

• Kneading dough for bread or pizza.

• Decorating cookies with sprinkles.

• Squeezing sponges filled with water.

• Playing with Play Doh™ or modeling clay.

• Squeezing colored glue from bottles onto paper to make pictures.

• Squirting a spray bottle filled with water.

• Raking and scooping handfuls of wet sand.

Perceptual skills (These include recognizing shapes and colors, finding one object in the midst of others and matching (understanding that one object is the same as another).

Activities:

• Playing with nesting blocks.

• Matching pairs of socks when mom or dad is folding laundry.

• Making a scavenger hunt out of finding all the circles, squares, triangles or other shapes throughout the house.

• Playing with building blocks. Though interconnecting blocks like Duplos™ and Mega Bloks™ are fun, Aronson-Hanson encourages families to use simple, smooth, wooden blocks that require children to practice their precision and dexterity in order to stack and balance them.

Eye coordination. Strong eye muscles are needed to read books, chalkboards, written text.

Activities:

• Ball games that involve rolling or catching.

• Having the child find the light from the beam of a flashlight as it is shone around a dark room.

• Fine motor coordination and motor accuracy

Hand/eye coordination is needed for buttoning, zippering, the manipulation of objects and the refinement of writing skills.

Activities:

• Allowing children lots of opportunities to practice their own zippering, buttoning and fastening of clothing.

• Making collages out of edible objects, such as raisins and O-shaped cereal (good for children who are apt to put things in their mouths) or dried beans or popcorn kernels for older children.

• Stringing beads (large, smooth wooden ones for younger children, smaller ones for preschoolers).

• Finger play, such as the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Where is Thumbkin?"

• Using the dial on a play phone.

• Pushing buttons on electronic toys.

• Using lacing board and cubes.

• Picking up cotton balls.
  

Becoming comfortable with movement

Activities:

• Crawling, walking, rolling, running, jumping—just about anything that will result in grass stains!

• Using an indoor obstacle course to get from one place to another. ("Let’s follow the leader to get to our snack in the dining room by climbing over this pile of pillows, around the rocking chair, under the coffee table and down the hall.")

• Drawing designs with fingers on plates covered with foods that can go in the mouth, such as whipped cream, pudding or yogurt or (for older children) on cookie trays covered with dried rice or cornmeal.

• Finger painting or using a chunky brush to paint on an easel or other upright surface (a piece of paper taped to a wall works just as well).

• Bicycle riding.

Getting them off to a strong start

To ensure that children get off to the best possible start physically, Aronson-Hanson recommends that they have frequent opportunities to move and play.

"Raking, digging in the dirt, loading up their wagons and pushing them around the yard—kids need to do a lot of outdoor big muscle play," says Aronson-Hanson. "They don’t need to be accomplishing anything specific. They just need to be out there doing things."

Generally, children will seek out physical activities that are helpful to their development, and often they will repeat them. Think of your three-year-old who can’t get enough of loading up the toy backhoe with rocks and dumping its contents all over the back lawn. Some major areas of physical and motor skill development and some activities that help develop them are listed below. Children should be encouraged to try new and diverse activities but should never be forced beyond their abilities. Use your child’s age, developmental level and temperament to determine which of these activities seem appropriate. If you are uncertain, talk with your pediatrician.