Wednesday, November 27, 2013

How do you ensure that your kids get enough exercise during the winter?

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punchy333


With the winter we've been having (blizzard one day, rain the next, repeat) what indoor, physical activities do you do with your kids to make sure they'll sleep during their nap. My 4-year-old refuses to nap, and then is cranky the latter half of the day because he hasn't been particularly active the last few weeks.


Answer
We live in Quebec, Canada and go outside everyday, irregardless of weather. My 2 boys, age 3 and 5, are so active that it is the only way to let them be sane. Some days we are just out for 10 minutes but we always go. Once we are back inside they play a lot on hopper balls for kids and we use couch cushions for sliding. They also have an exercise mini trampoline that they jump on to music (with adult supervision).
Another great toy that we have is a play tunnel. It folds up for easy storing and the boys run around and crawl through it.

We also love having musical parades. Gather a bunch of musical instruments and then have an energetic musical parade. Hide and seek burns loads of energy!

On high energy days we head to the mall and walk around, visit the pet store, and at the end they each get to pick a ride

Have fun with it!

What are the 3 most important toys for a toddler ages 1-3?




Lindsey


I would like to know the 3 best toys for a toddler. Toys that can help them learn and grasp different sersory skills. Can you answer why those toys you picked would be best for the child?
Thanks sooo much!!
Would help me a lot!



Answer
If I have to limit myself to 3, this is what I pick:

1. It's not technically one toy, but a toy kitchen. Pretend play helps with vocabulary, social skills and story telling narrative. The little pots, pans, dishes, etc are good for motor skills.

2. A water table. For one, it will occupy them for HOURS. Pouring is a good fine motor skill and pouring from one vessel into another helps kids learn to conceptualize spatial concepts like volume.

3. Nesting cups. Stacking and balancing is a good motor skill. Nesting cups allow a child to stack just like blocks, but they also allow a child to experiment with size and again, conceptualize the spatial relationships of the cups.

There are others that are important, but those are my top 3. If you wanted a longer list, I would add:
Puppets for building narrative skills which is vital for pre-reading.
Art supplies for fine motor and color recognition.
Small pretend play sets such as little cars/trains, doll houses, action figures, Little People sets, etc for narrative skills and fine motor skills.
Dolls, household items, stuffed toys, doctor/vet kits, costumes, etc for pretend play to encourage imaginative narrative play. Copy-cat play is the primary vehicle through which kids learn.
Tricycle for gross motor.
Musical instruments (emphasis on rhythm instruments) for pattern recognition (both a pre-reading and pre-math skill), learning rhythm (improves math abilities because music is applied math) and vocabulary (the more you sing and particularly the more you RHYME the more your child is likely to pick up on new words and pick up on the phonemic relationships between words).
Balls. Lots of balls in lots of sizes. Great for gross motor.
Puzzles. Spatial relationships and object manipulation.
And books that your kids can handle without fear of messing them up. Pretending to read is part of print concepts which is a pre-reading skill.




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