Fidget Spinner Workout – Exercise While It Spins!

Right now, fidget spinners are everywhere.  Whether they are banned from your school or not, here is a fun way to add in some overall exercise while your spinner spins! You can download your FREE fidget spinner workout below.  Years ago, I created a fun printable with a different DIY spinning top (you can view that here).  I thought I would update it so children can use a fidget spinner to time their exercises.  The fidget spinner workout would make a great in class brain break to get the body ready to learn again.

How to Do the Fidget Spinner Exercises: Get the free download below and print.  Spin your fidget spinner. Try to do the exercises listed the entire time the fidget is spinning. Put a checkmark in box when completed. Write down some additional exercises that you want to try while the fidget is spinning.

If you need more quick aerobic exercise workout for children check out Movement Flashcards.  This digital download includes 10 aerobic exercises with flash cards templates. Students can get physical activity while reviewing material. The 10 aerobic activities include: run in place, jumping, hopping, squats, lunges, skipping, twists, cross crawls, jumping jacks and marching. Each page includes a picture image of the aerobic exercise along with a blank template to type in 18 flash cards. You choose what to work on for academic material.  FIND OUT MORE.

The post Fidget Spinner Workout – Exercise While It Spins! appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Aerobic Exercise Improved Self Regulation and Behavior

Pediatrics published research to determine if structured aerobic exercise during physical education (PE) resulted in improvements in behavioral self-regulation and classroom functioning among 103 children (ages 7-16 years old) with students with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and mood disorders.

Over a 14-week crossover design, students were randomly assigned to receive the 7-week aerobic cybercycling PE curriculum or standard nonaerobic PE.  The cybercycling phase had children use the bikes 2 times per week during 30- to 40-minute PE classes.

The results indicated that following the aerobic intervention phase, children experienced 32% to 51% lower odds of poor self-regulation and learning-inhibiting disciplinary time out of class.   The effects were more pronounced on days that children participated in the aerobic exercise where disruptive behaviors dropped over 70 percent, but carryover effects were also observed.

References:

Bowling, A. et al. Cybercycling Effects on Classroom Behavior in Children With Behavioral Health Disorders: An RCT. Pediatrics Jan 2017, e20161985; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2016-1985

Heasley, S. Study: Exercise May Cut Behavior Issues In Half. Retrieved on 1/12/2017 from http://ift.tt/2iabN0C

Self Regulation Skills Curriculum: Move – Work – Breathe – This curriculum provides an effective, time-efficient structured system to provide classroom breaks, improve self-awareness and self advocacy and teach specific self-regulation skills so that kids have tools to use in their classrooms. This system will get kids moving, give them the benefits of a brain power boost [from getting their heart rate up], give them heavy work and isometrics to help them calm down, and help them learn techniques to quiet and control their bodies in order to return to their academic work. FIND OUT MORE.

The post Aerobic Exercise Improved Self Regulation and Behavior appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Acute Exercise and Executive Function in Children

Psychophysiology published research on the effects of acute exercise on executive function in 20 healthy, 8-10, year old children.  This study compared the effect of an acute bout of continuous or intermittent, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise on executive function in young children. Participants in the continuous exercise group ran at 90% of gas exchange threshold whereas the participants in the intermittent exercise group performed six consecutive 2.5 min blocks of exercise.  The intermittent exercise block was designed to reflect children’s typical activity patterns, comprising 45 s at a heavy intensity, 33 s at a moderate intensity, 10 s at a severe intensity, and 62 s at a low intensity.

Assessment of executive function included the Stroop task before the submaximal exercise bouts and after, at 1-, 15-, and 30-min intervals and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure cerebral perfusion and oxygenation.

The results indicated that:

• in both conditions, Stroop performance was improved at 1 min after compared to before and the improvements were maintained until 30 min after.
• NIRS (oxyhemoglobin, total hemoglobin) explained a significant amount of variance in the change in Stroop performance for the intermittent group only.

The researchers concluded that an acute bout of exercise, of either an intermittent or continuous nature, improves executive function in children, and effects are maintained for ≤ 30 min following exercise cessation.  Therefore, it is recommended that children should participate in bouts of physical activity during the school day.

Reference:  Lambrick, D., Stoner, L., Grigg, R. and Faulkner, J. (2016), Effects of continuous and intermittent exercise on executive function in children aged 8–10 years. Psychophysiology, 53: 1335–1342. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12688

Mini Movement Breaks – This download is a collection of 60+ quick sensory motor activity cards. The mini movement breaks are quick and require no equipment. The movement breaks can be done indoors. Most of the movement breaks can be done with one child or a group of children. It does not get any easier than this to encourage sensory motor activities in the classroom or home.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.

The post Acute Exercise and Executive Function in Children appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Physical Activity and Executive Control in Children

Pediatrics published research on 221 children (7-9 years old) who were randomly assigned to either a 9 month after school physical activity program or a wait list group. Following the intervention various measurements were recorded: changes in maximal oxygen consumption, electrical activity in the brain and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control.

The intervention was every school day for two hours. Each session included at least 70 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

The results indicated the following:
1. fitness improved more among intervention participants from pretest to posttest compared with the wait-list control group.
2. inhibition and cognitive flexibility improved more in the intervention group from pretest to posttest compared with control.
3. only the intervention group increased attentional resources from pretest to posttest during tasks requiring increased inhibition.
4. improvements in brain function on the inhibition task and performance on the flexibility task correlated with intervention attendance.

The researchers concluded that the physical activity intervention enhanced cognitive performance and brain function during tasks requiring greater executive control. These findings demonstrate a causal effect of a physical activity program on executive control.

Reference: Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function. Charles H. Hillman, Matthew B. Pontifex, Darla M. Castelli, Naiman A. Khan, Lauren B. Raine, Mark R. Scudder, Eric S. Drollette, Robert D. Moore, Chien-Ting Wu, and Keita Kamijo. Pediatrics peds.2013-3219; published ahead of print September 29, 2014, doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3219

Best Exercise for Overweight Teens

JAMA Pediatrics published a research study on The Healthy Eating Aerobic and Resistance Training in Youth (HEARTY) that included 304 overweight teens between the ages of 14 to 18. All were given the same four weeks of diet counseling to promote healthy eating and weight loss before being randomly placed into four groups: 1) resistance training involving weight machines and some free weights; 2) only aerobic exercise on treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes; 3) combined aerobic and resistance training; and 4) no exercise training.

The following results were recorded:
1. each type of exercise reduced body fat significantly and similarly.
2. all three exercise programs caused significantly more fat loss than in the diet-only control group.
3. the teens who completed at least 70 per cent of the study's exercise sessions (4x/week for 22 weeks), the percentage of body fat decreased significantly more in those who did combined aerobic and resistance exercise than in those who only did aerobic exercise. In addition, waist circumference decreased close to seven centimeters in the combined aerobic plus resistance exercise group, versus about four centimeters in the groups with only one type of exercise, with no change in those randomized to diet only.

Reference: University of Calgary. Research study analyzes best exercise for obese youths. Retrieved from the web on 9/27/14 at http://www.ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2014-09-23/research-study-analyzes-best-exercise-obese-youths

Just 12 Minutes of Exercise Improves Reading and Attention

A recent Dartmouth study of 85 participants (ages 17-21 years old) compared selective visual attention, reading comprehension and stress levels of low income and high income students following 12 minutes of jogging in place in the individual's target heart rate zone.

The following results were recorded:

1.  both groups saw improvement in selective visual attention up to 45 minutes after exercising

2.  the low income group showed great improvements than the high income group in selective visual attention

3.  low-income students improved on tests of reading comprehension following the physical activity, whereas the high-income students did not

4.  low income participants did report more stress than the high income participants

Reference: Tine M. Acute aerobic exercise: an intervention for the selective visual attention and reading comprehension of low-income adolescents. Front. Psychol., 11 June 2014 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00575

[subscribe2]

Mini Movement Breaks:  This download is a collection of 60+ quick sensory motor activity cards. The mini movement breaks are quick and require no equipment. The movement breaks can be done indoors. Most of the movement breaks can be done with one child or a group of children. It does not get any easier than this to encourage sensory motor activities in the classroom or home.  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/minimove.html

4 Free Summer Printables for Motor Skills

Need a summer motor activity in a hurry?  Check out these freebies:

1.  Watermelon Multisensory Handwriting Activity Page at http://yourtherapysource.com/mssummerfreebie.html

2.  Hand Out on Fun Physical Activities for the Summer at http://yourtherapysource.com/summerfree.html

3.  Summer Tic Tac Toe at http://yourtherapysource.com/summerfitnessfreebie.html

4.  Outdoor Bingo at http://yourtherapysource.com/fmsummerfree.html

Happy Summer!

Sprint Interval Training for Young Adults with Intellectual Disability

Clinical Rehabilitation published a randomized control research trial on the influence of sprint interval training on body composition, physical and metabolic fitness in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability.  The 54 participants with intellectual disabilities  (average age 17 years) in the study were randomly assigned to one of three groups: sprint interval training, continuous aerobic training or control group (did not participate in any exercise).  Sprint interval training consisted of three blocks of 10 minutes at ventilatory threshold (blocks 1 and 3: 10 sprint bouts of 15 seconds, followed by 45 seconds relative rest; block 2: continuous training) twice a week for 15 weeks. Continuous aerobic training consisted of three blocks of 10 minutes continuous training. Following eight weeks, intensity was increased to 110% of ventilatory threshold.  Prior to the training period and after the training period, body composition, physical and metabolic fitness were evaluated.  

The following results were recorded:

• sprint interval training showed a significant positive evolution for waist circumference, fat%, systolic blood pressure, lipid profile, fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, peak VO2, peak Watt, ventilatory threshold, 6-minute walk distance and muscle fatigue resistance when compared to the control group with no training.


• sprint interval training group demonstrated significant improvements for fat%, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein, fasting insulin, peak VO2 and peak power and ventilatory threshold when compared with continuous aerobic training. 

The researchers concluded that sprint interval training has stronger beneficial effects on body composition, physical fitness and metabolic fitness than no exercise or continuous aerobic training.

Reference:  Pieter-Henk Boer et al.  The influence of sprint interval training on body composition, physical and metabolic fitness in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability: a randomized controlled trial Clin Rehabil March 2014 28: 221-231, first published on August 20, 2013 doi:10.1177/0269215513498609

Check out Locomotor Games at http://yourtherapysource.com/locomotor.html for activities to get kids moving!

Research: Children Are Significantly Less Fit than Decades Ago

Photo by Chucka_NC on Flicker Creative Commons License

The American Heart Association presented research on 50 studies on running fitness between 1964 and 2010 that involved more than 25 million kids, ages 9 to 17, in 28 countries. Most of the studies measured cardiovascular endurance by how far kids could run in a set time or how long it took to run a set distance. The tests typically lasted five to 15 minutes or covered a half-mile to two miles.

The results indicated the following:

• cardiovascular endurance declined significantly within the 46 years 
• average changes were similar between boys and girls, younger and older kids, and across different regions, although they varied from one country to another
• today's children are about 15% less aerobically fit than children 30 years ago i.e. about 90 seconds slower when doing a timed mile.

Reference: Douglas, C. Kids' Aerobic Fitness Said to Decline Dramatically. Retreived from Runner's World on the web on 11/20/2013 at http://www.runnersworld.com/health/kids-aerobic-fitness-said-to-decline-dramatically.

Get Moving Flashcards - Powerpoint and PDF

Get Moving Flashcards is a collection of 5 physical activity breaks (jogging in place, marching, squats, jumping jacks and trunk twists) randomly placed between flash cards.

Find out more information.

Tabata Timer App to Get Moving

If you follow this blog at all you know I am always on the look out for apps that get kids and adults moving.  I have been use this free Tabata Timer app for quite some time now and really like it.  Tabata is an exercise protocol based on the work of a Japanese scientist named Izumi Tabat and his colleagues on high intensity interval training.  Basically you exercise for 4 minutes going as hard as you can for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second break repeating this 8 times.  I have had great success with children combining the Tabata 4 minute exercise routine with physical activity cards.

Start out by selecting at least 4 exercises to complete (you can repeat each one twice) or pick 8 different exercises.  I use exercise cards for the children to choose the activities from.  I usually pick through the cards for what each specific child needs to work on and then allow the child to choose from that pile.  Once the exercises are chosen, if they are new I teach the child the exercise first.  If not, we get started.  Place the cards on the table and start the Tabata Timer app.  It will count down to start with three beeps.  Begin the first exercise.  As the 20 seconds counts down the timer also provides a visual image of the time elapsing along with the number count down.  For the last 3 seconds it beeps.  You then rest for 10 seconds.  Turn the first card over.  Get ready for the 2nd exercise for 20 seconds.  Repeat the process until all 8 exercises are completed in 4 minutes.

Here is what is so great about this app:
1.  Kids are much more motivated to complete the exercises.  There is a start and stop time.
2.  The visual timer of the time elapsing let's the child see that the exercise is almost completed.
3.  The rest period is just short enough for the child to be ready for the next exercise.
4.  Kids who are very hesitant to complete aerobic exercise are completing this 4 minute work out without complaint.  If I asked them to run for 4 minutes or jump rope for 4 minutes some children just would not participate. 
5.  Great little app to build endurance.  Start a session out with the 4 minute workout and finish up with a 4 minute work out. 

If you need physical activity cards, check out Physical Activity Cards and Games , Move Cards and Games and Action Alphabet. 

Exercise, Academics and Autism

Pediatric Physical Therapy published research on the effects of aerobic exercise on academics in young children with autism. In the experimental phase of the treatment, the children participated in 15 minutes of aerobic activity prior to academic tasks. In the control phase, the children only completed the academic tasks. The results indicated a significant difference in correct responses following the exercise. There were no differences seen in stereotypical behaviors and on-task behaviors.

Reference: Oriel, Kathryn N. PT, EdD; George, Cheryl L. PhD; Peckus, Rebecca DPT; Semon, Amanda DPT The Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Academic Engagement in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Pediatric Physical Therapy: Summer 2011 - Volume 23 - Issue 2 - p 187–193 doi: 10.1097/PEP.0b013e318218f149

Exercise and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Current Opinion in Rheumatology recently published a review on the use of exercise therapy in the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Previous studies indicate that children with JIA have significantly impaired aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacity. This can result in deconditioning and disability. Girls with polyarticular rhematoid factor positive subtype are at the great risk for disability. The authors state that

"Recent trials suggest that structured aerobic training or low-intensity programs do not exacerbate arthritis and can lead to improved physical fitness, quality of life and functional abilities in children and adolescents with JIA".

Reference: Long, Amy R; Rouster-Stevens, Kelly A The role of exercise therapy in the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Current Opinion in Rheumatology

2010 doi: 10.1097/BOR.0b013e328335d1a2

Aerobic Exercise and Higher Intelligence

Researchers followed 1.2 million (yes, million!) Swedish men born between 1950 and 1976 when they were 18 years old. The results indicated that aerobic fitness was associated with higher intelligence and muscle strength was not. In addition, genetics accounted for less than 15 % and the environment for more than 80% indicating that no matter what your background, aerobic exercise can effect intelligence.

Someone remind me why children sit all day long in school...

Reference: Gardner, A. Exercise May Lead to a More Smarter, More Successful You. Retrieved from the web on 12/2/09 from Health Day at http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=633553&hq_e=el&hq_m=2160913&hq_l=66&hq_v=622792c640