PitterPatterFeet

It is easier than you think to prevent childhood obesity using specific movements designed to integrate the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These movements are particularly  fun when they are done with and to music. They can be dance movements, sports moves or moves that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as something that would help to prevent obesity and get kids moving.

Really you say? Yes, really I say, this is because all movement helps to develop the brain. When children are moving they are learning. Read more »

Preventing childhood obesity is very easy when you start early with a child. It is never too early to start either. You can start even when the child is in the womb by rocking and swaying to music. It doesn’t necessarily have to be musical instruments or a CD or live band. A mother’s voice is a beautiful instrument to a child. It is beautiful music to their ears even in utero. You can make up your own songs which is a lot of fun and will give you a chuckle or two or you can sing nursery ryhmes or songs that were sung to you when you a child. The whole point of this is to Read more »

Empowering your child is a great tool to help in preventing childhood obesity. Children use food as comfort too, not just adults. Many people think of this as just a problem that adults have and never link it to children at all. You  can help prevent childhood obesity that may be caused by stress eating by helping children to feel good about themselves.

Helping children to feel good about themselves can be achieved in the following ways: teaching them something where they will gain independence and helping them to develop new skills. Children develop self esteem by Read more »

Getting children to behave is a universal challenge that every parent and teacher faces, but it doesn’t have to be. There are things that you can do if done consistently, that will help your child to behave. The key words here are “done” and “consistently”. I’m sure that you are all aware that in order to see results in anything you are going to have to actually do the things that you know you are suppose to do and do them consistently.

There are many different opinions and techniques that you can use to help your child behave but Read more »

You can do a lot for your baby by helping them to develop their brain and develop a love for their bodies and prevent obesity in the future by dancing with them. Many people mistakenly think that  you have to be a dance instructor or some other type of specially trained person in order to teach dance to your baby. While this is true there are things that you can do at home that your baby will love.

Babies are so excited by this new world and are anxious to explore it,  especially  their bodies and learning what it can do is very fascinating to them.  Now is a great time to Read more »

With the warm weather it’s so much fun and excitement to do movement activities outside. It is recommended that children get 120 minutes of moderate to rigorous physical activity each day. This will do a lot in helping to prevent obesity in children and help them in learning to have a healthy lifestyle. One activity that children love are bubbles!!!!Children are so excited at the thought of bubbles.

In my classes at Pitter Patter Feet I use bubbles to teach the children about spatial awareness and how it is so important to have your own personal space when moving. Every one should have their own personal space. They become aware of empty space and space that is filled or has something in it. As adults we take this for granted and are basically aware of personal space and try to respect it.  But children need to be aware of this and need to be taught this valuable lesson. They also learn about soft and gentle and hard and fast. Blowing bubbles takes self control.

I’ve found that the best bubbles are the big long wands that they sell at Wal-Mart for a dollar. I love these for several reasons. One because it’s so big you can blow a lot of bubbles at one time for a group of kids. To encourage confidence and mastery I have each child come up and individually blow and pop their own bubbles. They learn that in order to get the bubbles to come out they have to blow gently and slowly. This takes a lot of self control for a preschooler.

To get them moving I move around instead of just staying in one place. Another teacher was telling me at  a workshop  that I was conducting that you can run with the big wand and make bubbles that way too. I loved this idea because kids love to run and this adds to the fun. One last thing I do is tohave the kids pop the bubble with a different body part this presents a bit of a challenge to them and requires a lot of reminding but it’s fun too.

I heard that you can get the bubble wand at other places besides Wal-Mart but I found the ones from there have worked the best for me. I’d love to hear about your experiences please feel free to comment . Also for more ideas check out http://heatlthykidsweightloss.com/info.

Rigorous movement helps to burn energy and calories, an excellent way to insure  you will be assisting your child in preventing obesity. What’s even better is when the child is having so much fun that they don’t even realize they are working out. To them they are just having fun. Which is why I want to tell you about a really fun activity for preschool aged children. Not only is it fun but it helps to develop their peripheral vision.

What you will need is a large piece of material. It helps if this material is light weight and colorful. You will also need open space and their favorite music. It would be great if more than one child is doing this. Explain to the child that they are going to ball up the material in their hands. For some preschoolers they may complain that they are not able to ball it up. Help them by balling it up within their hands. After balling the material up in the air they are going to throw it up as high as they can above them and then catch the material without it hitting the floor.

This is a blast for them and really beautiful to see all of the materials flying up in the air. It is like going to Mardi Gras or Carnival. Everyone is smiling and laughing and the music is adding in to the excitement. Everyone is throwing up their material and are trying  not to run into one another.

Throwing the material up in the air forces their eyes to track it or follow it in order to catch it. Unlike a ball that moves fast. The material opens up as it’s being thrown in the air and comes down sort of like a parachute. Because it takes a little longer to come down, the eyes are tracking and following longer. This is also why we ball the material up tight to help give it velocity in being thrown up. The higher it goes the more it just floats down to the ground.

Try this exercise just to have fun and to do something out of the ordinary.You’ll be glad you did. Also get your free ebook on Healthy Kids Weight Loss  at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com.

Using dance to help children move, learn and have fun is an excellent way to prevent childhood obesity. As a parent or teacher you are helping your child to get into the habit of physical activity early in life.  An activity like dance has many benefits that other activities do not. Dance is an activity that your child can do alone or in a group. It also incorporates one element that many other activities do not and that is music. It calls upon the student to utilize memorization skills, as well as problem solving skills. It uses the mind and muscles simultaneously developing a smarter student as it develops the brain.

Don’t expect your child to come home excited about how they developed their brain and explored new and exciting things that they can do with their body. Do expect them to tell you about how much fun they had. Expect them to tell you how they flew to a distant land with wings, or a cape like Superman  or even as an airplane. How much fun they had going in slow speed, fast speed and meduim speed as they flew.

This is fun for a child not exercise as they are using the largest muscles in their bodies, their legs to run in the different speeds. Fun is what fuels the dance class and because of this learning takes place. So if you aks your child to show you what they learned in dance class and they take off running don’t be alarmed. You might ask them if a Ballet run is the same as when they run on the playground or at the park or in the gym and to show you the difference. Now your child knows the difference between fast and slow and in between. If they are a little older they might learn pre Math skills by learning about parallel and perpendicular lines.

These things are usually learned in a preschool dance class or a class geared to 3-5 year olds using Creative Movement and Dance. It is a good idea to start them young so they can develop a love of movement and not think it’s a crime to sweat. More schools are incorporating Dance and Creative Movement into their curriculums as they find that it really helps to supplement and reinforce learning in a fun and memorable way. They learn these skills in addition to traditional dance vocabulary and movements.

Try dance for your child. It is a wise investment not a cost into your child’s future. They will also have a blast in the process. Also get a free report on helping your child stay healthy at http://healthykidsweightloss.com.

This is fitnesss activitiy is to help children learn rhythm and timing and to learn to take turns. In learning to take turns toddlers learn patience. Which takes quiet a bit of practice for their age because everything at this age is about me me me. Learning to wait for their turn is an important skill that toddlers must develope. It is a social skill and this particular activity helps them to work with others and bulids comraderie as they cheer one another on. Sometimes they even say one another’s name in an effort to help.

This is a very popular activity in my dance classes held on site at preschools through out New Jersey. The school above Lil Tykes Learning Center in East Orange, New Jersey and also a part of the Tri City Peoples Corporation, have dance as a part of their learning curriculum. It is given at no additional charge and is a $55 per month per child value that is freely given to their parents. The teachers and parents appreciate having the convenience of having it at the school and love the fact that it’s so much more than dance, and learning as well.

This is a great activity for circle time or for children to use at home. Children doing it at home can use their stuffed animals. You can also substitue say your age also to add some variety or change the beat. It’s all up to you and the chlildren so have fun!

Excellent teaching skills were demonstrated in the movie ” The Karate Kid” starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chen and Taraji Henson. Teaching and parenting are things that people usually do from a place of love.  Jackie Chen’s character(Mr. Hong) tells Jaden Smith’s character (Dre Parker) that there are no bad students only bad teachers.

I understand where Chen was coming from. As teachers and parents it is our job to find out and figure out what it takes to reach our children. Read more »