Enhancing Children S Cognition With Physical Activity Games

Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity Games helps you create movement-based learning experiences that build the bodies and minds of children ages 3 to 12. You’ll learn how to develop physical activities that foster cognitive development and enhance academic achievement.

There are plenty of books that help you use or create games that develop children’s physical skills, and it’s now widely accepted that physical activity can have a positive effect on academic achievement. But this is the first book that shows you how to tailor physical activity games specifically to enhance children’s cognitive abilities. Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity Games, written by three authorities in teacher education, exercise physiology, and sport science, shows you how to apply current concepts in child development, cognitive science, physical education, and teacher training to create movement-based learning experiences that benefit children both physically and mentally. You will be guided in creating environments that lend themselves to cognitive development and enhanced academic achievement. And you will understand not only how to create games to foster cognitive development but why such games are so useful in developing the whole child. Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity Games offers the following features: •Two chapters of sample games, one for preschoolers and kindergarteners, the other for elementary school children •Expert guidance in creating your own games for children ages 3 to 12, with an emphasis on developmental ranges of 3 to 7 and 7 to 12 •A practice-oriented model of teacher education that shows you how you can best develop and implement physical activity games that support both motor and cognitive development The book contains a running glossary to help teachers and students understand the terms used. It also discusses several models of 21st-century learning, highlighting the role that physical activity games play in a comprehensive education. Enhancing Children’s Cognition With Physical Activity Games is equally useful for teachers working with children in school, before school, or after school and for program directors working with children in community programs. The authors link their application to research, creating a practical reference for professionals in the field, whatever their setting. The book is presented in three parts. Part I grounds you in the research that shows how physical activity affects children’s mental development. You will learn how physical activity benefits children’s cognition and academics, how movement games help children think and learn, and how to create a motivational environment where children want to learn. Part II helps you translate research into practice. You will explore how movements create mental maps and affect mental health, how to engage children in playful learning, and how to incorporate physical activity into your teaching and enhance your teaching models. You will also consider how to assess children at play—how to collect data and know when your program is being effective—and how to apply physical activity games in both the home and the community. In part III, you are supplied with games for preschoolers, kindergartners, and elementary school children. You’ll find games that emphasize three principles: contextual interference, mental control, and discovery. Each chapter concludes with practical implications for teachers, helping you to put into context the information you have come across in that chapter. Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity Games helps educators create, design, implement, and evaluate problem-solving games that foster children’s mental engagement and thoughtful decision making. Kids are highly motivated by problem-solving games, and the cognitive skills they develop in solving those problems can be translated to their academic success.

Explains sensory motor development and provides activities and games for use in the classroom and at home.

A guide to protecting children under eight years old from becoming either lethargic or high-strung.

Every school day, more than 10 million children attend after-school programs in the United States. This book provides a research-based blueprint for offering students in grades 1-5 innovative programming that combines intensive physical activity and social–emotional skills development with academic enrichment in reading, mathematics, and social studies. Presented is an integrative approach that has been developed and tested to meet the needs of all students, including those in high-poverty schools. The volume includes explicit guidance for setting up a program, implementing cognitively engaging physical games and learning activities, working effectively with mixed-age groups, and monitoring outcomes. Reproducible forms and lesson plans can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic. The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed. This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.

The first part of this book describes the background and the current state of the art through a summary about: obesity and sedentary lifestyles as one of today’s main public health problems; the relationship between PA, obesity and academic and cognitive performance; and the most recent findings on PA in the classroom, as a tool to improve health and cognitive performance in early childhood. The first part also details the aims and methodology used in the MOVI-da 10! study. The second part specifies the characteristics of the MOVI-da 10! programme, and provides copiable session plans of the 100 activities used in the programme, which can be of use for any professional interested in implementing PA interventions based on active breaks in the classroom.