Beach Vacations—How to make the most of the sun, surf and sand! by Trisha Roberts

BEACH BABY,  BEACH BABY!

Ah…..the Beach!  Sun, Sand, Water, Waves. Who doesn’t love it?! But a good day at the beach can be a GREAT day at the beach with a few “tweaks”.

Caution--First Things First!                                                        

There are few things that will spoil a day at the beach more quickly than a bad sunburn. Even though we all know that sun protection is important, it bears repeating.  Make sure that you bring a water and sweat-resistant sun screen with an SPF of at least 25.  Apply it 20 minutes before heading out to the shore and re-apply it at least every hour.

Use Sunscreen for a Happy Beach Time!

Let Kids Participate in Application of Sun Screen

Take Turns!

Put a large-brimmed floppy hat on young children to keep the sun out of their eyes and protect their face from sunburn. 

Protect Baby's Eyes and Skin with a Hat!

Floppy Hat to Shade Baby's Face

Don't Forget the Sunglasses!

 

Sunglasses for Everyone!

Have Sunglassses for Each Family Member

                                         

 Make sure that your children stay hydrated.

                       Have lots of fresh drinking water available and offer it frequently. 

If you have a beach umbrella, it is worth taking.  If you are lucky enough to arrive at the beach when there is still a selection of "spots", try to choose one with partial shade. There are creative ways to give yourself additional shade and protection.

Take a Beach Umbrella!

Creative Ways to Supply Extra Shade at the Beach

Preparation

Playing at the beach is great fun and it can be an exceptional learning experience as well. Sand is a wonderful sculpting medium, as anyone who has ever made a sand castle can confirm. 

Sand Castles--Classic Beach Fun!

Creative Fun in the Sand

Sand and Water Toys

Taking along a few sand tools can make the adventure that much richer, as well as some of the items mentioned here. (sunscreen, beach umbrella, sheet, beach toys, Frisbee, Beach Ball, Kite)

First Time At the Beach--Creating BEACH BABIES!

Most children love the feel of sand and water; they find pleasure in letting it run through their fingers and relish the feel all over their body.  But there are kids who have negative reactions to different textures (Tactile Defensiveness).  If your baby or child is experiencing sand play for the first time, it is advisable to introduce them slowly to the new encounter and sensation. 

Make an "OASIS" with a large Sheet

Start Slowly and Make it Fun!

 Bring a large sheet (I prefer this to a standard beach towel or blanket as it is easier to clean because the sand doesn’t cling to the fabric as readily) and place your baby or child in the middle of the sheet.  Sit near the edge of the sheet and let your little one watch you play with the sand.  They will be curious and will probably crawl or move closer to get involved in your activity. If they don’t stick their hands into the sand, sprinkle a little sand on their hand or arm and watch their reaction. If they don’t like the sensation, don’t force the issue.  They can play happily in the middle of the sheet without direct contact in the sand.  Let the sheet be their oasis—they can travel to the desert if they get adventurous. Going slowly this first time can make a diference for a lifetime--Make it a Great First Experience!

Use Sand as a Positioning Assist

If your young baby is not yet able to sit alone, you can remove sand under the sheet to make a small crater the size of your child’s bottom and sit them in the hollowed out area.  Push the sand up around their pelvis and trunk as needed to give them sufficient support to sit without your aid. 

Scoop out sand and place baby in the indentation.  Perfect Positioning and Support!

They will play happily for long stretches of time if you place toys within their reach.  Sand can also be used to prop children in a prone on elbows position or supported hands and knees position—mound sand under the sheet into a roll the approximate size of the space between your child’s arm pits and groin.  Place the baby on their tummy over the mounded sand with their hands and knees on either side of the hump; this will give them support under their trunk and allow them to bear weight through their hands and knees while playing.

Benefits of Sand Play

Improve Social Interactions

Older children will love digging and measuring sand, making sand castles, and creating mud pies.  Bring a variety of rakes, buckets, shovels, sand sifters, and watering pails. Challenge children to dig the deepest hole they can.  Or make the highest hill of sand possible. Children have the opportunity to improve their Cooperative Play and Social Interaction Skills.  

Cooperative Play at the Beach

Kids who have low muscle tone or need strengthening will not realize how much exercise they are getting when you give them buckets to fill with sand or water to carry from one part of the Sand Castle to another. (Remember--a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds!)

Playing in a Squat Position Improves Strength

Repeatedly moving from a squat position to standing will build strength in the thighs and buttocks (quadriceps muscles and gluteal muscles) as children rake, dig, and move around their sand masterpieces. 

Smooth wet sand and use a stick or finger to draw or write.

 What a great way to practice fine motor skills and handwriting!  

Running on Sand is a Great Strengthening Activity!

Running through the Water and Waves

Running on wet sand is challenging, as is running through the water at calf-height.  It is a great workout and strength-builder!  

Kids Parachute Games on the Beach

Kite on the Beach

Consider taking along a beach ball, Frisbee,
Parachute or Kite to encourage additional active play.

Finally, and most importantly, Have Fun! 

 The Memories you Make Today will Last a Lifetime!

Author:  Trisha Roberts
www.proeducationaltoys.com

Copyright © 2016 TNT Inspired Enterprise, LLC, All rights reserved.

Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE TUMMY TIME and CRAWLING WITH YOUR BABY! Activities for Improving Tummy Time and Crawling by Trisha Roberts

So……in our last blog we talked about the importance of Tummy Time and what Crawling does for a baby’s body and a baby’s development.  But the most frequent statement I hear from parents and care providers is, “My baby HATES Tummy Time!! I feel like I am torturing them when I place them on their stomach. How can I get them to like it?”

Tummy Time for Three!

Ideally, you should start placing your baby on their tummy as soon as they arrive home from the hospital or birthing center.  A terrific way to do this is to place them on your chest.  Recline in a chair, sofa, or in bed and place your baby on your chest.  Bare skin to bare skin is ideal, but some babies like to be “swaddled” and don’t like being outside of their blanket or clothes. Bonding occurs between child and parent in this position; as you talk and sing to your baby they feel your chest rise and fall with your breathing and vibrate with your voice.  They can smell you and feel your skin.  It is a delightful smorgasbord for their senses! They will be mesmerized and love being on their tummy!

Dad and Baby Tummy Time

Tummy Time on Mom

If your baby is not a newborn, it’s not too late! Placing them on your chest is still a very good way to encourage prone (tummy) position. Get yourself into a comfortable, reclined position on the floor or in a chair. Place your little one on your chest facing you and prop their elbows under their shoulders. In this position you can both be face to face and enjoy some one-on-one time chatting, humming, or singing.  You can tell them about your day, about your hopes and aspirations for them, about all the qualities you love about them! They will answer you with lots of cooing and affection. They will tolerate this position much longer because they are sharing time with you and enjoying the soft warmth of your body.

Bonding with Baby in Tummy Time

Another excellent way to get babies to stay on their tummies is by placing them on the floor over a “Boppy Pillow” or making a towel roll and placing it under their upper chest and arm pits.

Tummy Time in Triplicate!

Using a Boppy for Tummy Time

 This is helpful for children who do not yet have sufficient strength to lift and maintain their head and upper trunk off the floor. 

Play with Baby During Tummy Time

Tummy Time Fun

Make time to join them in this activity--if you place yourself in front of your baby in the same position, the two of you can have great conversations together.  Or you can put a toy between the two of you and you can engage in interactive play. Some great toys for floor playtime can be found here. 

Tummy Time Over a Forearm

Tummy Time over a Thigh

Try placing your baby on her belly across your forearm, thigh or legs.

Tummy Time over a Lap

If you have an older child who did not crawl a lot or you would like to reinforce crawling with your baby or toddler, Tunnel Play is a wonderful way to do this.  Kids love to play Hide ‘N Seek in a tunnel or go around and around from one end to the other, especially if someone is ‘chasing’ them!

Tunnel Crawling Improves Coordination and Reciprocal Movement

Scooter Board Fun Improves Skills

Prone Activities improve Trunk Strength

Even older children can still work on building coordination and reciprocal skills by playing games on their bellies.  Using a scooter board is an excellent way to build strength and use arms and legs.  Let kids swing face down with their belly over a swing. Playing a game of “Slithery Snake” or “Inch Worm” can also engage children in prone activities.

Go slowly and start with just a few minutes at a time.  Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day! 5 minutes of enjoyed Tummy Time is better than fighting and crying for 15 minutes of Tummy Time!  Find several times throughout the day when you can relax and dedicate at least 5 minutes to one-on-one with your child.  The investment in time is worth it!  Your relationship will deepen and you will find great joy in the bonding that takes place and in knowing that your baby is developing muscles and skills that will help him or her advance through their developmental milestones of early childhood.


Author:  Trisha Roberts
www.proeducationaltoys.com

Copyright © 2016 TNT Inspired Enterprise, LLC, All rights reserved.

Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Importance of Tummy Time by Trisha Roberts

What is the big deal about “Tummy Time”?

 There is such a Buzz about that term—what does it mean and why are childcare professionals so adamant about it?

Crawl, Baby, Crawl!

Prone on Extended Arms Position

Prone on Elbows Position

 The American Academy of Pediatrics started to encourage parents in 1994 to put their babies to sleep on their backs to help reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  “Back to Sleep” Campaigns have helped reduce the occurrence of SIDS, but therapists have seen an increase in children who do not like to be on their tummy at all!  Sometimes parents hear, “back” and block out the part, “to sleep”.

• When a child is awake, they need to be placed on their tummy in order to develop extension through their body, leading to head and trunk control and the gross motor skills for crawling.  When a child gets to a prone on elbows position or prone on extended arms position, they experience weight bearing through their shoulder girdle.  This weight bearing facilitates the development of the shoulder joint leading to proximal stability.  If a child does not develop good proximal control (control at the center of the body), they do not have the stability and control they need at the distal end of their extremities, in this case their wrist, hands and fingers.  So a child who is not bearing weight consistently through their shoulders will have a more difficult time with fine motor skills like holding their bottle, holding and passing a toy from hand to hand, feeding themselves, and eventually coloring and writing.When a child gets into an all fours position (hands and knees), the same thing occurs at the hip joint—the muscles around the joint ‘firm up’ and prepare the hip to perform its task of stabilizing the pelvis and lower extremity. 

Crawling Develops Proximal Stability

• If children are not placed in prone (on their tummies), they don’t develop good core control and they will be delayed in their crawling skills or not crawl at all.  Why is this a big deal?  I have had mothers say to me in a proud way, “My baby never crawled—they went straight to walking!”  Well, this is not really a thing to celebrate!  Crawling is a very important part of development.  It develops core strength and control as well as the control of the hips and shoulders, as previously discussed.  But it also develops eye acuity—when a child crawls they look down in front at their hands and then up and out to where they want to crawl.  This allows the eyes to develop the ability to perform close-up work and then adjust to focusing at a distance, which are skills necessary for classroom work.

Looking Up and Out

• Crawling is also a skill that requires the use of arms and legs together as well as the coordination of the left and right sides (bilateral coordination) of the body.  The right side of our body is controlled by the left hemisphere of our brain, and conversely, the left side of our body is controlled by the right side of the brain; reciprocal movement (alternating sides) is extremely important to develop the skills for walking and coordination. When we perform activities like crawling, we are using both sides of our brain.  A baby develops connections in the brain in the Corpus Callosum that allow this coordinated control of both hemispheres. These connections serve that child for their entire life!  In fact, more connections are formed in the first year of life than at any other time in a person’s life. When a child doesn’t crawl, less connections are formed; non-crawling children are often clumsy and uncoordinated, even as adults.  They have more difficulty with left-right skills, like writing, reading, and most sports, as almost all sports require the coordination of both sides of the body and crossing mid-line.
• When a baby is on their tummy, they are getting sensory input through their entire ventral surface (front side)—their skin is in contact with the floor and they are taking in information and learning about their world. Tile is hard and cold.  Carpet is soft and giving. A blanket will bunch up and form a lump under their tummy.

  

  Great Sensory Experiences in Crawling

• Babies who are frequently placed in an infant seat, baby carrier, car seat, bouncer, Exersaucer, walker, etc. do not develop the same skills as readily as a child who is allowed to move freely on the floor.  Many parents think that it is better for their children to have all of these ‘great’ pieces of equipment to use, but the opposite is true.  As a therapist, I often refer to these children as “Container Babies”—kids who are moved from one type of restricted seating system to another and not allowed time to move and explore with their whole bodies.  I have visited Daycare Centers that use walkers and Exersaucers on a regular basis to help “protect” from more active toddlers or aggressive kids or control children and “keep them from getting into trouble”. Children certainly need to be protected and kept from harm, but confinement in a ‘container’ is not the way to achieve this!
• Frequently parents or daycare workers will point to all of the wonderful toys and gadgets attached to a seat or saucer and say, “See—they have all kinds of great things to play with.” Or “Look—my 4-month old is standing!”  These are not good things!  Playing with a toy is wonderful, but when a child is only allowed to play with a toy in a restricted, confined space, they are not getting the full benefit of play.  When a child is placed in a walker or Exersaucer at an early age, they tend to develop increased extension through their trunk and lower extremities and frequently rise up on their toes, which can lead to poor muscle tone and oftentimes, to toe walking. Children don’t develop good control of their “core” musculature when constantly supported in a walker or saucer.  I am not saying that you should never use a walker or an exersaucer, but the time in these devices should be restricted to no more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time once or twice a day.  I have seen children placed in an Exersaucer in front of a TV screen for hours at a time!  This is NOT good!

In my next Blog, I will focus on:

 HOW TO ENCOURAGE TUMMY TIME and CRAWLING WITH YOUR BABY!

Author:  Trisha Roberts
www.proeducationaltoys.com

Copyright © 2016 TNT Inspired Enterprise, LLC, All rights reserved.

Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Biking with Young Children--Choosing a Bike and Teaching Safe Biking Skills by Trisha Roberts

Biking is a great outdoor activity for the entire family! When is it feasible to start your toddler on a bike? 2 and 3-year old children are able to start using a tricycle when they can reach the pedals.  Nowadays tricycles come in a variety of sizes that allow young children to start biking.  There are folding tricycles

Red Folding Tricycle

that are extremely portable, easy to store, and are a perfect fit small children.  They easily fit in the trunk of a car and can accompany you to the park or grandmother's house!

Folds and Stores Easily.  Fits in Backseat or Trunk of Car!

There is a new type of bike for young children learning to balance and ride called a “strider”  or "balance" bike.  It is a small bicycle without pedals that basically lets children learn the skill of balancing on a bike without the necessity of pedaling. 

Strider or Balance Bike

They 'stride' or run with their feet on either side of the bike frame.

Some tricycles are 3-in-1 units, allowing a child to use the toy initially with just their feet, Flintstone-style and then progress to feet on pedals with an adult helping to push and steer, and finally, to propelling the tricycle independently.

3-in-1 Bike

When choosing a bike you should take into consideration the child's size, level of coordination and balance, and motivation. There are four  basic components to learning to ride a bike:  

• Ability to place and maintain feet on the bike pedals
• Coordination--the smooth, reciprocal motion of the lower extremities (legs)
• Balance
• Steering

Adaptations may need to be made for an individual child. A child must have the balance to sit independently, so a child with poor trunk control may need a seat with a higher back support--you may need to adapt a tricycle or look for one with more support. If your child is vertically challenge, you may need to secure small blocks of wood to the pedals to adapt them to their shortened legs.

When teaching the components of biking, it is important to stress Biking Safety as well.  It is essential to wear a helmet when biking or participating in other sports activities where falls are common (skating, skate boarding, etc.).  Proper road rules and etiquette should be taught from the very beginning. Learning to stop at stop signs, yield the right of way, allowing pedestrians the right of way in crosswalks, and staying alert and attentive to surroundings are important skills to keep children and others safe and also serve as building tools for later driving skills.  

A fun way to teach driving rules and safety  is to set up a small obstacle course on a driveway, playground, or bike park.  You can use small traffic cones, pre-made signs, or cardboard boxes with magic marker symbols. Invite the whole neighborhood to participate!

Teach Safety and Life Skills in a Fun, Interactive Way!

Summer is almost here--Get outside and Enjoy a Great Bike Ride whatever your age or Skill level!

See our Blog Post about Strider or Balance Bikes for starting young children!  


Author:  Trisha Roberts
www.proeducationaltoys.com

Copyright © 2016 TNT Inspired Enterprise, LLC, All rights reserved.

Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.