Are Your Kids Getting Enough Exercise?

Read this great article from www.Parenting.com.  Dance is a great way for your child to get the exercise he/she needs.  For information on our classes, you can check out our website at www.OakCreekPerformingArts.com.

 

“Is Your Kid Active Enough?

You can't plop a 2-year-old on a treadmill and measure his heart rate, or ask a 4-year-old to do push-ups -- but you can get a good idea of whether your child is getting enough exercise by answering these questions.

Outside time: Playing in the sandbox counts as much as tooling around on a trike. Outdoor time can be broken up. For example, if one morning she runs around in the backyard for 20 minutes, and then that afternoon she spends an hour at the playground, write down 80 minutes for that day.

Structured physical activities: This refers to adult-led activity -- anything from games at preschool (check with the teacher) to soccer, gymnastics, or movement classes.

Unstructured physical activities: Play that's not adult-led, both indoors and out -- such as dancing, climbing on the jungle gym, swinging, splashing in the pool, even digging in the sandbox or simply running around.

Sedentary activities: This category includes screen time (TV, computers, video games), as well as reading, coloring, and doing puzzles. Note when your child is just sitting, and jot down for how long each time.

Measuring Up

Compare your findings with these activity goals:

"Research shows that if a preschooler has plenty of opportunities to be outdoors, he'll be more physically active," says Faigenbaum. And yet some kids get only 10 to 15 minutes of daily outdoor playtime, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), 2-year-olds should get at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity each day; kids ages 3 to 5 should get at least 60 minutes of structured activity each day.

According to NASPE, toddlers and preschoolers should get a minimum of 60 minutes and preferably several hours of unstructured physical activity daily.

NASPE also recommends that toddlers and preschoolers not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time. This doesn't mean that reading or doing crafts is inferior to peewee soccer; it does mean that there should be a healthy balance between sedentary activities -- especially screen time -- and physical ones throughout the day.”

If you are looking for activities for your child to stay active, consider our dance classes.  We offer ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and poms.  We have something for everyone!  Check us out today!  www.OakCreekPerformingArts.com  We are registering now for summer and fall!

New Program coming to Oak Creek Academy of Performing Arts
Music FunTime

Music Funtime is different than the typical preschool music program.
Music Funtime is not a simple play group where children sing, dance, jump & play instruments. We offer an innovated new program, geared from the Johns-Hopkins Research that children 7 and under can learn to read music notation and symbols, eventually, learning to play instruments.

If a child can learn their letters, numbers, shapes, animals etc., why can’t they learn to read music?
Through crafts, worksheets, games, instruments, singing, & very small group classes, we teach children in a fun & exciting way, how to play and read music. Class excitement has proven over & over, the children’s enthusiasm to look forward to weekly music lessons.

Our classes are for a half hour once a week. We change the curriculum every 5 minutes accommodating child’s attention span.

At the end of each 8 week session, students are eligible to graduate into the next level of music education. All lessons are geared towards the piano because the piano is a string & percussion instrument. Children not only learn timing, rythm & tempo they also learn the notes on the grand staff, such as…e,g,b,d,f (every good boy does fine) etc.

Our children also perform at public facilities singing with their instruments, a minimum of 2 times per year.

Our students will explore music, dance and sing together and more. They learn to share, take turns and develop the skills they’ll need in school and on the neighborhood playground.  They are fun, yet educational and an important part of your child’s development.  In this special place for musical, social and emotional learning, your children will strengthen their ties with each other and with you!

Below are some quotes taken from articles in the magazines listed below!

“I came to test little children on the effects of studying music [has] on their intelligence…”

“We concluded that after three months of music lessons, these children were improved in their abilities long term…”

“The idea is that [we] are born with structure in our brains [and] music can prime these neural pathways in a way that makes them stronger…”

“If you can [prime] these pathways early through music, from two or three [years old], the earlier the better, the more likely you are to work to your fullest potential…”


Watch for Music Funtime classes starting this Fall!

www.OakCreekPerformingArts.com

(414) 768-0101  Call us today!  We offer dance, music, & acting classes in Oak Creek!