It’s time to Tuck in the Garden. As Daylight Savings ends and temperatures plummet, the days of growing delicious food at the Truro Community Children’s Garden is ending for the season. We’ll still be able to snitch kale and mint leaves for smoothie snacks, but our big job right now is preparing the garden beds […]
The Core gets a great workout when you crab walk. Activating all those muscles and joints also stimulates filters and organizing parts of the brain. So, when the kids start to get really excited about Halloween, grab a few pumpkins and challenge them to a crab walk race. Along with the positive brain organizing effects, […]
When discussing our collective experiences in growing a Children’s Garden at the Truro Central School, a second grader summed it up by stating, “I like making food.” The students participated in the process of planting seeds, amending and tending to the soil, weeding and best of all, harvesting delicious food. Along the way, they acquired […]
I remember staying at my Nana’s all weekend while my parents had their “adult time…” I loved going because she let me climb into her bed to watch Lawrence Welk with a Seven-up ice-cream float. The show was pretty boring but to sip ice-cream from a straw in bed was divine. The thing is, she […]
With a cheshire cat smile, a third grade girl held up both hands and said, “I have dirty hands!” Her friend chimed in, “That’s part of gardening-getting dirty!” Temperatures may still hover in the uncomfortable 40 degree (F) range with a biting cold wind, but the garden cries out for food and care, so the […]
Big, colorful exercise balls are a staple of gyms and therapeutic settings. Because of the dynamic nature of balls (they roll), more core work is required to stay on the ball. The muscles necessary for balancing get into the act. That’s why trainers and therapist have used them for years. Children like them because they […]
A hundred years ago when I worked in hospitals I trudged around corridors hauling a large orange exercise ball. White lab coat and a giant ball. Keep in mind this was pre Pilates. The word “core” referred to apples, not human anatomy. So you, readers, are way ahead of my colleagues accustomed to seeing spectacles, […]
Several years ago I read an article that noted the decline in children’s ability to crawl. In the report, pediatricians said perhaps they had overstated the importance of crawling, and it was a developmental milestone that could be jettisoned from the books. NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Crawling is really important. When physical therapists and I sat at child […]
When my oldest was six and the twins were two we traveled to Europe for my husband’s sebbatical. At this point one might think-what were we thinking?! We were given a lovely home in the country with a garden, so the children could run around. One hitch- there were no electronic devises in the house-no […]
I did this with my three children when they were very young while we prepared for a bath. Each had a turn going down the hall and back. They loved it and because we tacked it onto a task done every day we never forgot to enjoy our “wheelbarrow workout!” Wheelbarrow walking is something you […]
Fiber barrels are hard to find these days but they are a real treasure for motor challenges. I used to have a great big one, so I fit inside and could demonstrate some of the more challenging moves to the folks I worked with. Those demos gave my hips a big workout and when I […]