by Wendy Canary, PT

School is over and summer days are in full swing!  These months will make childhood memories of endless days, free time and fun!  Summer playtime is important not only for decompressing and relaxing but also for development.  Outside play builds up strength, coordination, balance and endurance. Let’s look at some fun ways to set up free playtime for children to explore through play.

Play Ball!  Ball games lead to eye hand coordination, balance and endurance. Kids love to explore with ball games and chasing a rolling ball is a great way to get our kids up and moving!  Play catch. Target throw at a can perched on a wall or bench. Play a game of kick ball. Hit a beach ball or balloon with a racquet or your hand and count how many hits you get before it falls to the ground. Whatever the game, ball play will lead to new skills and coordination all while having fun!

Jumping Rope! You can use a long rope that is turned for your child with a song to keep the rhythm and add to the fun! If there aren’t two people to turn the rope, tie one side to a tree or other stationary object.  Let your children work on their coordination by being the jumper and the rope turner. A single person jump rope is another wonderful way to work on coordination, bilateral skills, endurance and perseverance in learning a skill.  Jumping rope takes practice but once mastered will bring hours of fun!

Water play!  Hot days of summer can make outside play less appealing, but adding water to it changes everything!  Turn on a sprinkler, squirt water toys, “paint” with a bucket of water and paintbrush, pour water through funnels, into different size cups, water toys etc. to explore through water activities.  Any water play you think of kids will love!

Pool time!  Swimming is a great way to exercise, play and learn a life saving skill.  Children love to play in the water chasing water balls, diving sticks or playing games in the water like Marco polo, underwater tea parties etc.  Just remember, children need CONSTANT supervision when they are in or near a pool to prevent drowning. So take your towel and sunscreen and head to the pool to cool off as a family!

Grab a blanket! Lay out a blanket in your backyard, park or beach.  Bring a picnic. Read books. Lay back and search for shapes in the clouds.  Take a walk and collect things from nature and bring them back to the blanket to share them with others.  If it is evening, count the fireflies and see if you can catch one on your hand. The picnic blanket will become a place to relax and enjoy your time together outdoors!

Driveway Play!  Asphalt can be a great place to explore! Take out the sidewalk chalk and watch creations of hopscotch, artwork and written messages change the look of your driveway –at least until the next rain! Find a curb and walk on it like a balance beam. Bring out ride on toys, bikes, skateboards, skates and scooters and let your child explore.  Always remember to wear a helmet when riding on any of these toys! It takes practice and often patience from a parent to master these skills but the freedom and coordination gained when mastered will make everyone proud!

Rainy Day Play:  Go ahead and go outside!  Take a walk with umbrellas, jump in a puddle or two, look for worms, watch the rain running down the sewer drains and explore the world in the rain!  When back inside you can find an online video of kids’ movement or yoga. Animal walk around the house like a bear, crab, snake, frog etc., Create your own exercise class with jumping jacks, planks, balancing on one foot or perhaps have everyone choose one exercise to teach to the others.   And you can also bake a treat, make a craft or just curl up with a book on the rainy day!

Summer days can come and go quickly. Carving out the time for active free play can promote children exploring their abilities, interests, and their world.  These moments of simple play will lead to skills and memories that will last long past the last day of summer! 

by Anjali Fortna, PT, DPT

In a world of cable television, Netflix, and Youtube, it’s easier than ever to find programming for children of all ages. But how much TV is too much TV for kids? In April, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines for screen time and sedentary behavior for kids under five. The recommendations may have you rethinking a rainy day movie marathon.

Let’s start with the screen time recommendations. For infants and one-year-olds, screen time is not recommended at all. For children ages 2-4, less than one hour per day of screen time is recommended. In fact, WHO recommends that children this young should not be restrained (in a high chair, stroller, booster seat, etc) for more than an hour at a time at all.

So why is all of this important? Childhood, and young childhood specifically, is a time of crucial physical and cognitive development for children. Physical activity and free play allow a baby or toddler to develop strength, balance, and coordination, as well as emerging social skills such as exploring, asking questions about the world around them, and interacting with other kids and taking turns during play. Additionally, getting in the habit of a healthy and physically active lifestyle early in life can prevent childhood obesity and associated health problems later on.

The WHO recommends that babies under one be physically active in a variety of ways several times per day, including at least 30 minutes per day of “tummy time.” For one- and two-year-olds, this increases to 180 minutes of activity of varying intensity spread throughout the day. For three- and four-year olds, at least 180 minutes of active play including at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity play is recommended.

So what does all of this mean? Children as young as babies and toddlers need to be busy, active, and curious. Little to no screen time is recommended under age 5, and free play throughout the day and as frequently as possible is recommended. Stuck inside on a rainy day? Read a story book to your baby while she plays on her tummy, rolls, or explores. Create an obstacle course for your toddler including climbing over, under, and around pillows, tables, and toys. Go through the obstacle course with them, and let them problem solve how to get through the course. Read a book, blow bubbles, paint a picture, build a pillow fort, or put on a play. Developing healthy lifestyle habits early in life can help build fine and gross motor skills, and teach children to value healthy habits throughout their childhood and adolescence.

This week I got the flu.

Not fun for anyone, I know. Then I started to feel better, awesome.  

But then I started to feel dizzy, crap.  Some of you know about my history of vestibular (inner ear) disorders that caused me years of dizziness.

I’ve solved this dizzy problem (yay!), so why was I dizzy? After testing some things on myself (yes, I’m my own physical therapist!) I came to the same conclusion that I have several times before.

My sensory systems got out of sync.

Why?  Because I was in bed for several days doing nothing.  Watching Netflix doesn’t require much from the vestibular system.

My body had been used to a lazy vestibular system for years (because it wasn’t working right) and so it took in more information from my eyes and somatosensory (touch and body position) system for balance and body awareness. Without being challenged, my sensory systems slid back to old habits.  

Many things can cause these kinds of shifts.  Since my vestibular system is my weakness, being sedentary can cause a shift.  For children, growth spurts can be a bigee to send the sensory systems out of whack.  Getting glasses or a change of prescription can change things. An injury, such as a concussion can make a large impact.

For a child who has differences in their sensory or motor systems to begin with, such as a child with cerebral palsy or autism, something seemingly small like a growth spurt can have a powerful impact.

Our bodies are a complex amazing collection of systems that dynamically interact so that we can move, play and learn.

For some, one change can throw the rest of it out of whack, needing time or therapeutic intervention to reorganize.  So if you seen a big change in your child’s abilities, there may have been a period of growth or an experience that’s causing the system to reorganize. Perhaps it will also be a window for your child grow even stronger and more resilient than ever.

Small, Tall, Big and Small

From a young age, children are introduced to opposites.  From children’s books to playtime, opposites are a fun theme with great vocabulary and concepts.  From a developmental perspective, we are showing our kids how to recognize differences in the world and in ourselves.

Our perceptions and the decisions we make are guided by recognizing differences.  We can recognize differences in the world when we learn how some things are big and some are small.  We recognize an elephant as big and a mouse as small. We recognize a Dad as tall and the child as short.  From these concrete and visual opposites we can learn to understand similar differences in our thoughts and feelings.  We can feel happy sad, hungry or full, sleepy or energetic and engaged or bored.  

At Kid PT, we often hear from parents that their child is always on the move, always running, or always soooo loud.  Often the strategy used to address these concerns, is to practice the opposite. The child is told to slow down and be quieter.

But what if we flip this strategy on its head???    

The child who is always on the move may not recognize the difference between moving fast and slow.  Asking them to move slower is not something they can truly perceive let alone do, especially on their own when no one is asking them to do it.

Instead, if we try the opposite and ask the child to move FASTER, we’re asking them to recognize a difference that is already within their world of understanding.  If we can practice fast-faster-fastest, then the child can begin to recognize the differences of different speeds. Once they do, they can then understand all of the other speeds of slow, medium and fast.  

A child that is always moving fast is like a light switch.  There is on and off. There’s no such thing as a little on or a little off.  It is one or the other. You can’t ask that light to not be so bright.

If we install a dimmer on our light switch, it can now move between bright, not so bright, a little dim and off.  Meeting our kids where THEY can recognize differences, like between fast and faster for the always-fast-moving-child, is like installing a dimmer switch.  The child can start learning to move that dimmer switch and over time they will be able to recognize all the different speeds that they can move their bodies.

The same goes for the child who is always loud.  The main strategy is usually to ask the child to be quieter.  What if we try the opposite??? Ask the child to be louder! Then have them use their regular voice (even if it’s loud).  Keep playing with the differences that are within the child’s universe. From there, you can build and build. You’ve now installed a dimmer switch that can recognize all different levels of volume and not just one the child has and the level that adults are asking of the child.

This is is just one example of how we can flip therapy on its head and work smarter instead of harder.  If we work on a child’s strengths and natural abilities, we can truly change how a child experiences the world.  Helping a child change from the inside out can then spontaneously change how they learn and how they move so that they can truly become their best selves!