Postural Control activities are exactly what you’d think. You’re testing balance and body control. Not always easy for a toddler or school-aged kid.
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Motor Planning: Animal Dice
To find this week’s Motor Planning activity, in addition to the activities in Growing an In-Sync Child, I also browsed activities on Pinterest.
Lots of themed yoga, obstacle courses; things designed to get your kid’s body into different shapes. But what to pick when it seems like your kid’s attention span is particularly short?
Continue readingMove with Intention: Motor Planning
Remember playing Twister? Contorting your body to keep your hands and feet on specific colors without falling. This classic game utilizes a skill called motor planning – the ability to ideate, sequence, and execute movements to complete a task. Sounds easy, but this skill develops over time with body awareness, observation, and trial-and-error.
Continue readingYoga For All: A How-To Yoga Guide for Kids
Yoga is simple enough that your child can do it.
Here’s some suggestions for your kid at any age.
Namaste All Day: Kids Yoga
By now, we’re all pretty familiar about the perks of yoga. It promotes our overall health and well-being, reduces stress, and helps us “find our center.” The practice has been trending in the past decade and schools have even implemented it to help guide children’s focus and self-regulation.
Research has shown positive outcomes from regular yoga practice, including:
- Increased attention, decreased hyperactivity, and faster task completion in 5-year-olds who completed yoga 2x/week
- Mental and emotional benefits in children ages 5-18 years, including decreased anxiety, boosted concentration and memory, improved confidence and self-esteem, and improved academic performance
- Brain scans revealing reduced activation of the amygdala (the part of the brain responsible for emotions and arousal levels) in 6th graders
- Improvements in attention as well as decreased oppositional behaviors, restlessness, and impulsivity following 20 sessions of yoga with boys diagnosed with ADHD
- Improvements in imitation and play with peers in children with ASD following 10 months of yoga 5 days/week
Sounds good on paper, but yoga with kids can be intimidating. “Am I doing this right? Can kids even do these poses?”
It’s not just a bunch of poses and breathing. Although that notion is partially true, there’s more to it. The goal of yoga is to grow self-awareness, connecting the mind and the body to the present moment. It’s because of this broadness that makes participation in its practice easy.
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Child(ish) Advice 