Top 5 reasons why children NEED to color

1. Color recognition— many children receive their first (and sometimes their only) exposure to the color wheel and art, through the use of crayons, markers, and colored pencils.  Learning how to tell the difference between red, pink, green, yellow, and so forth, might not seem like a big deal, but children who color with crayons or markers early on, have an easier time of understanding colors, the makeup of colors, and the mixing of colors.  This can only help the child as he/she gets older, and is exposed to the full spectrum of color in the color wheel.

2. Self expression–coloring on a blank “canvas” (piece of paper), is a way for children and adults alike to express themselves.  You can tell a lot about the way a person is feeling by the images that they draw, the colors that they use, etc. A child who draws skulls and other disturbing objects might be crying out for help, in the only way that he/she knows how.  A child who draws hearts, suns, and other cheerful objects may be expressing satisfaction, content, and love, in the only way that he/she knows how.  It is important to give children a chance to express themselves, and not all children express themselves through words and through writing, many use art.

3. Grip/Control–many children learn how to hold a pencil, pen, marker, or colored pencil, by first learning how to hold a crayon.  For many children, a crayon is the first object that they have to “grip” in a certain manner, in order to control it.  Many children learn how to hold a pencil, by first coloring with crayons.  I think it’s important for children to develop proper grip and control over a crayon, to help them properly grip and control other writing instruments in the future.  All of the skills they learn from skills, will definitely help when it comes time to work on penmanship.

4. Coordination–coordination is yet another important lesson that we can learn from coloring.  It takes a lot of hand-eye coordination to color in a coloring page.  From the proper way to hold the crayon, to recognizing what color to use, to sharpening crayons, these basic coordination developing skills will last children a lifetime.

5. Building motor skills–any time a child does something like color, play with blocks, paint, etc, they think they are just having fun, when in fact they are developing motor skills at a very basic, simple level that they will expand on later in life.  Coloring with crayons or markers, learning to print, pencil grasp, playing with Play Doh, beading, lacing, crumpling paper, tearing paper, using stamps, and wiggling fingers all are activities that help to strengthen and develop hand muscles.  These skills are very important to help develop activities later on, such as typing, lifting objects, and other activities that they will encounter as they grow older.  These activities require arm muscles and hands to work together to be able to manipulate objects to perform the task(s)
at hand.

Read more about the benefits of coloring at http://www.dltk-kids.com/articles/why-color.htm

National Chiropractic Health Month

This month, chiropractors nationwide will educate consumers about the many benefits of chiropractic care and to position doctors of chiropractic as wellness experts.

National Chiropractic Health Month (NCHM) is a nationwide campaign held each October. This year’s activities will focus on how chiropractic care can help prevent and treat the repetitive stress injuries associated with the improper use of handheld technology. This year’s NCHM toolkit will enable DCs to reach out to their patients and communities and help to raise awareness about a technohealthy lifestyle.*  Read More: http://bit.ly/72CKc

In acknowledgment of National Chiropractic Health Month, I created a Chiropractic Coloring Sheet.
Click the link above to download it.

Be sure to check out www.myhpchiro.com, where Dr. Asha S. Fields Brewer offers insightful facts on how to “Live Better, Move Better, and Define your Best”

* http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=1823

Columbus Day Coloring Sheets…

Columbus Day, which is annually on the second Monday of October, remembers Christopher Columbus’ arrival to the Americas on October 12, 1492.

Click here to download the Columbus Day Coloring Sheets:

Columbus Day-Ship
Columbus Day-Anchor
Columbus Day-Ship Steering Wheel

Teaching a Child to Tell Time?…get doodle clock coloring sheets

Teaching your child to tell time can be trying if you don’t know the easiest steps to take. However, if you utilize a step by step process, your child can learn at their own pace. Five years old is a good age to begin to teach your child how to tell time.

To help you will teaching your child to tell time, I’ve created two Clock coloring work sheets. Remember learning is fun when doodles are involved! Click here to down load the clock Doodles: Clock Diagram, Clock Activity

Read more: How to Teach a Child to Tell Time | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2057157_teach-child-tell-time.html#ixzz1Y3dfuNwF

Atlantis Space Shuttle Coloring Sheet

Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off July 8 on the final flight of the shuttle program, STS-135, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis carries a crew of four and the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station. The STS-135 astronauts are: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

Click here to download my Atlantis Coloring Sheet

* http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Vintage Toys: Tricycle

Tricycles are typically used by children between the ages of two and four, after which point they usually switch to a bicycle, often with training wheels. Parents choosing a tricycle for their child should ensure that the trike is not too tall and that the seat is too high, and that the wheelbase is wide enough, because if this is not the case, the child may tip over easily. The seat should be stable, which is not always the case with the most inexpensive models. Some trikes have back rests which provide support and a push bar for parents so that the parents can push the child up hills or hold the child back when descending, or in case of the sudden approach of other traffic. For safety many parents make children wear a helmet when riding a trike. Some parents also attach a safety flag to the trike so that the child will be more visible to drivers.

Children’s trikes are made of steel frames or plastic. One disadvantage of plastic frames is that they be more likely to tip over than a steel frame if a heavier child is riding. On the plus side, plastic frames will not rust like steel frames if the trike is left out in the rain. A good quality trike’s wheels will have treads, which provide better traction.

While most children’s trike have direct drive, a small number of models such as the Cheetah have chain drive. Unlike adult bikes, children’s trikes do not always have pneumatic tires; instead, some trikes have solid rubber wheels. While this adds to the weight of the tricycle and reduces the shock-absorbing qualities, it eliminates issues with flat tires, punctures, and leaky tubes. Since most trikes are direct drive, the child can slow the trike down by resisting the forward motion of the pedals, as with an adult fixed gear bike. Pull brakes are rarely used on kid’s trikes, but some “Bigwheel”-style plastic trikes have lever brakes in which an inverted half-moon-shaped brake pad is pressed against the driving surface of the righ rear wheel.

So if your child doesn’t have a tricycle, you can always let them color one. 🙂  Click here to download my Tricycle Coloring Sheet.

Enjoy!!!

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricycle

Pretend Time?

Do children still play pretend…or better yet do children of today engage in make believe?

According to Brett Singer, “children have so many electronic entertainment options that they may not be getting enough good old fashioned pretend play.”

It has been suggested that parents should balance children’s time playing with “true toys such as blocks and dolls” and with electronics. With “true toys”, they are more prone to use their imagination fully.

When I was a kid, on the weekends, my sister and I use to create a tent in our room and pretend that we were at the drive in theater. This imaginary drive in theater became the highlight of many of my weekends. What fun we use to have.

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless — Jamie Paolinetti

* http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/06/are-your-kids-getting-enough-pretend-play-time/
* http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;119/1/182

Do children still play out doors?

A couple of days ago, I was driving through a neighborhood on the way to my parents house, and noticed that there were no kids outdoors playing.
Which was odd because it was 5ish, the skies were blue…just a nice day.
I thought to myself this is a great day for hopscotch, jump rope, hide and
go seek, etc…. WhERE ARE ALL OF THE KIDS??????

So I did a little research and discovered that most parents have to push there kids outside. When I was a kid being outside was a privileged. I couldn’t get enough of riding my bicycle.

Per Dennis Cauchon, The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood – days of pick-up baseball games, treehouses and “be home for dinner” – has all but vanished.

Today, childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing video games and working the Internet. When children do go outside, it tends to be for scheduled events – soccer camp or a fishing derby – held under the watch of adults. In a typical week, 27% of kids ages 9 to 13 play organized baseball, but only 6% play on their own, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade, with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike riding, swimming and touch football, according to separate studies by the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.

A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day than to ride a bike, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the CDC. Dakota Howell says his favorite video game – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater – is more fun than actual skateboarding.

The change can be seen in children’s bodies. In the 1960s, 4% of kids were overweight. Today, 16% are overweight, according to the CDC. It can be seen in their brains. Studies indicate that children who spend lots of time outdoors have longer attention spans than kids who watch lots of television and play video games, says Frances Kuo, director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

You can read more at  http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=sedentary%20kids.

“Children need the outdoors like they need breath in their lungs.”