Angel L. Avery-Wright
Having children move throughout the day promotes cognitive learning and physical health while reducing behavioral issues.
Moving helps children focus better. “When you move, you stimulate all the nerve cells that we use to think with, and when you stimulate those nerve cells, it gets them ready to do stuff,” said Dr. John Ratey, an expert in neuropsychiatry. When those nerve cells are stimulated, they enable children to stay focused and retain more information.
Movement can help reduce stress and anxiety. Physical activity pumps up the endorphins in your brain which makes you happier, reducing stress and anxiety. It relaxes you and when used regularly can help you sleep better.
Moving regularly teaches children that movement is important to physical health and creates habits that may continue with them into adulthood. With a rise in obesity, it is even more important to keep people moving.
Moving reduces behavioral issues. Movement reduces excess energy and enables children to manage themselves better.
How can movement be incorporated throughout the day? Below are some tips to use in the classroom.
- Music and movement: Play some tunes and dance to the music. Fast and slow.
- Children’s yoga: Learn a few moves and have the children practice these poses before asking them to sit and learn.
- Let the children stand and get their ‘wiggles’ out, periodically throughout the day.
- Have children ‘walk like a cat’ and other animals to their next activity.
- Children can do upper body exercises while sitting in their chairs or on the floor, such as shoulder rolls and head rolls.
- Get Up and Move Dice. Make dice using cardboard. Add numbers to one di and add actions to the other. Roll them both and see what comes up. Five jumping jacks? Ten hops? 2 long jumps?
