The biggest problem for a lot of people, both kids and adults, is not getting enough activity and exercise. Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of exercise, and has a healthy weight. Being fit allows for the child to be able to do all the activities that kids are involved in, giving them the ability to play with friends! Your habits can make a big difference, so here are some tips from www.kidshealth.org for you and your child.
Eat a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
Drink water and milk most often.
Listen to your body.
Limit screen time
Be active.
Check out our own Nurse Rona’s advice on how to get your kids involved in eating healthy!
People spend more time in front of TVs or computers and less time exercising. Even as grown-ups we spend more time sitting at desks and in cars than we once did. We have become accustomed to driving everywhere instead of walking or riding bikes. Does your child’s school provide gym class, or another form of physical activity? Try these outdoor activities…
Visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum..of course! Play and climb in Lookout Cove.
Sports…basketball, soccer, skateboards, bicycling,etc. Grab a group of kids and have fun.
Race your sister, brother, cousin or friend….make up an obstacle course.
Take a nature walk…even if it’s just around your neighborhood.Point out different trees, leaves, animals and plants!
Playgrounds...they're good places for varied physical activities, make an afternoon out of ...
I was reading a report by Alix Spiegel, aired on NPR yesterday morning, called Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills. He talked about the development of children stemming mainly from imaginative play. A type of play that is declining more and more. Spiegel states that imaginative play teaches the necessary skill of self-regulation.
"Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline."Read the article here.
The article highlights that toys and items are more of a focus now when children play then the action of play itself. The use of the imagination to create a world of play allows the child to learn rules, obstacles and solutions to problems, all through creativity. With schools cutting back recreational play and emphasizing testings along with structured play like sport, dance, art lessons, imaginative play has declined and children are missing out on prolonged play that builds needed skills such as self-regulation.
Along the same front, just this past Sunday, there was an article in the New York Times which focused on the same aspect of play and development in children, called Taking Play Seriously. They take a more in-depth look at different elements of play.
At the Museum's Discovery Forum this year we had our own speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, who spoke about creativity and learning, his speech can be found here. He inspired many of the attendees, one woman even wrote about the impact she felt about it on
After a long day of fun and excitement, the Museum's Chinese New Year celebration has ended. I had the privilege of being the photographer and videographer of the day. Some of you who attended today probably saw me running around like a chicken without her head. Nonetheless, I was able to get some really good images of the day.
Check out some of the images I captured today on our Flickr page!
A special thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate the New Year and the Year of the Rat!
On a sweet warm morning in the Tot Spot last spring, this Museum Exhibit Technician was mending a wicker fence when a little boy came toddling nearby, dragging a small eucalyptus branch behind him and gabbing a fast flow of what sounded like French. Reaching back too many years to my high school French for the few phrases I still remember, I greeted the youngster "Bonjour, mon petit ami (Hello my little friend), "comment allez vous?" (How are you?) and I introduced myself to him "Je m'appelle Kenny". He burst back with a string of unintelligible but friendly and very French sounding baby talk, while his elderly caretaker told me in French accented English that she was pleased that someone had spoken to her little charge in his native language. C'est magnifique!
So it turns out, I have a birthday present to buy for my niece's second birthday next Saturday. I thought to myself..."Hey, I work at a children's museum! I should check out what we have in our store." I don't know what to buy though. I grew up with more books than toys, I only owned one Barbie as a child and I didn't play with dolls. I wanted to get the perfect toy that incorporated fun and learning. Walking through our store I see toys that I absolutely loved as a child.
Cooking set - yes, though I'm a modern and independent woman, I love to cook and it must have been because I had my own small cooking set as a girl. I also had a tea set but I always used it to drink "coffee" (actually it was grape juice.)
Train set - Okay, this was my brother's toy but I still played with it. Of course I pretended I was the damsel in distress while he was the evil villain who tied me (my Barbie) to the tracks.
My First Chemistry Set - Another toy of my brother's. I inadvertently stole it though when I wanted to do the experiment on the box cover. It was the best baking soda vinegar explosion ever!!!
Cat's cradle - I used to do the hand string puzzles with my friends at school in the play ground each day over and over. Flipping through the book I remembered all the moves instantly.
Astronaut Ice Cream - Not really a toy per se but I couldn't stop begging my parents to buy me dehydrated ice cream just like they had on the space shuttle!
After my walk down memory lane I figured 2 years old is a little young for those toys in particular. I think I'm going for the Skuut Scooter or Ladybug Rain Coat. Both are cute and practical.
The performance will feature dance, poetry, and music of the Silk Road —the historic trade route stretching 7,000 miles across Central Asia from the China Sea in the east to the Mediterranean in the west.
Their repertoire includes:
Afghanistan: Attan, Afghan National Dance; Loghari, Herati, Tajiki and Pashto dances
Iran: Classical Persian dances including Barg-e Behesht: The Gardens of Paradise, Dayereh Hasti: Circle of Life, Atash Dar Noor-e Maah: Fire in the Moonlight, and Caravan of Dreams.
Iran: Folk (Mahali) Repertoire: Gilaki, Azeri, Qashqa’i, Armenian, Bandari, Kurdi
Tajik and Uzbek: Safaar-e Zamaan, Time’s Journey, Uzbek Wedding Suite, Kolyabi, Badakhshani, Ferghana, Bucharan, Shodiana, Chashmaqam, and various Tajik Contemporary dances
In our rapidly changing world, the need to understand and appreciate other cultures has never been greater. Saturday's performance is a terrific opportunity to introduce your children to the incredible beauty and artistry of Central Asia. Catch a sneak video preview of their work online.
Please vote for us in the San Francisco / Peninsula edition - it's all write-in categories, but we encourage you to vote for us in the Best Children's Museum category as well as birthday party location, summer day camp, art studio and any other category where you think we fit!
In Rich Winefield's column in the Winter Newsletter, he wrote about the need to let our children take risks - to allow our children to try and fail and try again in order to authentically build up their confidence and self-esteem. Solving their problems for them doesn't help them learn and grow. You can read the whole letter here for his take on risk-taking.
In the same vein, there's a great video from the TED conference from Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, where he talks about our new wave of overprotected kids -- and spells out 5 (and really, he's got 6) dangerous things you should let your kids do. Now, we're not particularly advocating for giving your 3-year-old a pocket knife or letting her play with matches!, but the provocative video is worth checking out.
What do you think? Are we too overprotective as a society? Or are we simply being reasonable parents? Share your thoughts in the comments...
Join us for grown-up play at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge! An extraordinary reception, auction, dinner and dancing await on Saturday, May 3 at 6 p.m.
The popular party band Notorious has just been booked - you may have heard they played the infamous wedding of Sarah and No Name on Alice Radio 97.3FM.
Fabulous auction items will include:
Style package: Full service one-on-one spa and stylist session
One-of-a-kind playhouse by designer Barbara Butler
Backroads family multi-sport vacation experience
Week’s stay at a San Diego beach house with amusement park pass
All proceeds support the Museums outreach and education programs in the arts and sciences.
We all know that kids play with toys because it's fun, but did you know that toys also help children develop important cognitive, social and motor skills? They help socialize children, teaching them to share, compromise and cooperate with their peers. Many toys also foster creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem-solving.
Starting today, the real experts -- kids -- can don a lab coat and embark on an important mission: to inspect toys from around the world in our new special exhibition Top Secret: Mission Toy. They'll use their investigative and playtime skills to check out dolls and balls and secret codes, find out why tops are tops, and how string can be a fascinating thing.
Check out the San Francisco Chronicle's interview with our Director of Exhibitions, Mary Jo Sutton, to find out about the drama of pretend play, why dolls helps kids negotiate power, and why when you make a kite you learn more than when you buy a pre-made one.
