Helping Autistic Children with their Associations

As our company grow we learn even more about use of our products from our customers and bloggers who review our products. Recently DreamGYM was mention in “Doing It The Phys Ed Way” blog in the article “Battling Autism”. According to the author DreamGYM Therapy Gym is a great tool in helping autistic children with their associations. It keeps children with autism physically active enabling them to burn off excess energy, thus in return allowing them to concentrate on particular tasks. Below you can find a re-print of the article for your information:

A day at Harbourfront Centre

Today we spent the whole day at a The Toronto International Circus Festival at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON.
It was great to see so many talented people.

Our boys were lucky to get a special treatment from “Balloon Master”. She have created in few minutes costume of “Dragon” for older son and “Knight” for his little brother. Thank you very much whoever you are.

The real “mind twister” for adults was a “The Rice Show”. They present “The Americas” show. On a show you see a piles of rice grains. Each grain represents one person that belongs to this group. For me most notable were following groups:
– The Population of Canada (30+ million grains);
– The Population of USA (300+ million grains);
– McDonald’s customers in the world each day in 2008;
– Canadian People Registered as Clinically Obese, 2007;

ADHD/ADD Therapy for Children without Drugs or Side Effects

We all know the necessity of physical exercise in the maintenance of good health.  Physical activity can help children with ADHD/ADD channel their boundless energy and focus better in school or other tasks. Not all sports are appropriate for ADD/ADHD children, and not all children will like the same sport, so you might have to experiment a little bit. There are some activities that have been proven to be successful and generally enjoyed by children. The list below offers a good starting point for introducing physical activity to a child who is struggling with ADD/ADHD.

The first thing that can be done to increase the level of physical activity for your child is easy and affordable. Simply spend more active time outdoors! Spending more time in nature is a proven remedy for relieving many mental disturbances and increasing the levels of endorphins and serotonin, hormones associated with emotional well-being. Add some physical activity and reap the benefits! Children usually like to go for daily walks, visit playgrounds, ride bikes or hike on forest trails. Daily active time outside is a proven and fun way to increase your fitness level and is good for the whole family.

How Simple Roll of Masking Tape Can Help Children Burn Energy

As a mother of two active boys, I got frustrated from constantly hearing: “Increase children’s physical activity every month until they are doing at least 90 minutes a day”. What was I supposed to do: record every time my kids run or jump?  What I felt the headlines have the most of are scary statistics, but no practical solutions of how to increase children’s fitness level. So I decided to put together some physical indoor games to keep children active, even as the weather outside turns cool.  All you need is couple rolls of masking tape, an elastic band, helium balloons and your imagination. The games were tested on my two sons 2 and 5 years old, and I can assure you they are fun!

1. Helium balloon – sometimes we have balloons flying in our house for days after birthday party, so one day I decided to put them into use. I shortened the string just so that my sons could barely reach it when they jumped, and they were preoccupied for a solid fifteen minutes, straining to reach those balloons.
2. Elastic band – you would need 2 chairs and approximately 5 metres of an elastic band (it is very important to use elastic, rope might be unsafe). Tie the elastic band to create a huge loop, then stretch the elastic around the two chairs and let children jump in and out of the formed loop. You can change the height or width to make it more challenging and keep the children interested.

3. Hopscotch – I love masking tape; you can do so much with it! One of my favourites is a classic outdoor game, modified for indoor use. Use the tape to mark hopscotch grid on your floor or carpet.  The rest – you know the rules.

4. Islands – create “islands” with masking tape in your hallway, spaced out just enough to make kids jump. Whoever steps off the islands is eaten by sharks.

5. Number squares – yup, masking tape again. Divide a large square into 9 or more small squares and make numbers in the middle of each square, not necessary in order. Then ask your children to jump from one number to another (guess what, they are burning energy and learning numbers at the same time).

For more ideas of how to keep children active sign up for our newsletter at www.KidsDreamGym.com