Movement and the Brain: Moving Our Bodies to Move Our Brain!

It is no secret that exercise is good for the body. But many people don’t realize just how much physical movement is great for the brain as well. Movement and the brain isn’t generally the first connection to come to mind.

You see, during movement (exercise) the brain gets flooded with important nutrients and neurotrophins. Physical movement helps the brain form neural pathways, which increases cognition, improve memory and help us to acquire knowledge faster.

Physical activity also increases oxygen to the brain, which is critical for attention and learning. Biologists suggest that 90% of the oxygen in our body is “stale”. That is, low-quality.

Yet, when we yawn, take deep breaths, or get up and move our whole body, oxygen-rich air circulates throughout our system. This is especially important in our brain for learning! Focus and ability to remember new material are directly linked to the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Movement gives kids a mental and sensory break. This is particularly critical for children with sensory processing disorder (SPD), ADHD and dyspraxia. And, children who also need regular movement intervals throughout the day to provide sensory input their body craves.

Movement and the Brain: Activities for the Whole Family

Efficient brains have high levels of interconnectivity. So, how do we get that higher interconnectivity?

It is actually easy! All we have to do is MOVE!

In addition, there are added benefits to getting your children to move. An added benefit is the whole family can get involved and build positive family interaction and relationships.

Movement activities that the whole family can enjoy include:

Fine motor movements – Doodling, colouring in and painting.

I fill spray water bottles with different colour water-based paint. Next, I cover one of my garden walls with old cardboard boxes or scrap paper. Then, we have lots of fun spray painting. And they can do this from as young as 1 year old (might need to help them pull the trigger on the spray bottle though).

Drawing on the pavement with black board chalk is fun. Furthermore, washing off is easy and fun as well!

Gross motor movements – Sitting on yoga balls.

Have a contest of who can stay on an exercise ball the longest!  What about while moving from one point to another? Who can do it the fastest? Moving up and around chairs – how about playing musical chairs?

Body movements.

• Kicking and throwing balls
• Balancing games
• Hopping – old school hop-scotch
• Rolling – forward, side ways

Sticky Spider Web Obstacle Course

You will need:

• Masking tape (some places call this Painters tape)
• Hallway or somewhere with two walls close-ish together
• FLEXIBILITY and AGILITY!!

What to do:

Úsing the tape, create a spider web. Then, have fun figuring out ways to get to the other side to save each other! Challenge: to get Mom and Dad to join in on the fun.

Pantyhose Bowling

You will need:

• one pair of pantyhose
• one tennis-ball or similar size ball could also work
• bottles of different sizes and shapes filled with either water or sand,

What to do:

Put tennis ball into one of the pantyhose legs, and pull pantyhose over your head. Make sure not to pull over eyes, nose or mouth.

Challenge: try to knock over water bottles placed on the floor. Be sure to have loads of laughter with this one! Have teams of boys vs girls or kids vs parents!

Pillow Sumo Fights

You will need:

• Pillows and more pillows
• 2 x Large T-shirts (Dad’s works best)
• 2 x strings

Rules of the game:

• Adult supervision needed
• Stay on the secure soft area (more pillows, duvet’s blankets anything really)
• Agree on a word that if someone shouts this out the game is stopped immediately e.g Time out!

The main reason why you put pillows on them is for safety. So, make sure the area that they play in is secured and doesn’t have any sharp furniture corners, windows near by.

Have each child put on a t-shirt. Then, push 2 pillows inside the T-shirt (one in front and one at the back). Lastly, fasten with a string around the waist. Let the fun begin!

Balloon Volleyball Tennis

You will need:

• 4x Paper plates
• Stretchy String
• Balloon

What to do:

Make two holes on each of the paper plates and tie the string to it. You should be able to fit in your hand and secure the paper plate to your hand to use as racket/ bat. Tie string to two poles, doors, or anything you can find to create a suitable ‘net’. Then, start to play!

Giant snakes and ladders

You will need:

• Chalk
• Dice (make one with a box or use one from a boardgame)

What to do:

Draw blocks, number them and put in some snakes and ladders! Whala, easy as pie!

Follow the leader

You will need:

• paper
• black marker
• masking tape or painter’s tape

What to do:

Start by drawing feet and hands, make sure you it shows a difference between the right hand and left hand. Do the same with the feet. (If you have access to a printer, you can search for Clipart and print it). 

When you are done, start your layout. You can create your own pattern of feet and hands. Secure the papers with the tape to ensure you don’t slip when stepping on them. Get dad and mom to join in on the fun!

Happy moving and enjoying quality time with the whole family!