Play Today * The Buzz in Play

A great article in the Denver Post this week explains the importance of exercise for kids. Here's a nifty snippet:

"Children are kinetic beings who love to move. While it might look like child's play, turning somersaults and playing tag involves the whole brain. 'Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time,' writes child-development specialist James L. Hymes in 'Teaching the Child Under Six.' 'It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met.'"

What I liked most about the article is how it explains the best exercises and play activities appropriate for each age group. For example, I was surprised to learn that "Healthy, full-term infants can start swimming as young as 6 months old, with parental supervision." (Did they really have to specify "with parental supervision"? I would hope that would be obvious...)

Go check it out!

If you ever doubt you can make your playground dreams come true...a 15-year-old is well on his way to getting a playground built at a children's hospital in Krasnoyarsk, a city in the Siberian region of Russia.

Alex Griffith of Forest Hill, Md. spent the first year of his life in that hospital. Recently, he read a journal that his father had written detailing their experience while traveling to Russia to adopt him in 1994. The journal mentioned a playground at Hospital #20 in a state of utter disrepair. The playground had one rusty swing with a rotten wooden seat, a sandbox mostly covered in dirt and mud, and a small gazebo with a picnic table. Alex thought the playground was unsafe and decided he wanted to build a new playground so that the children of Krasnoyarsk could have a safe, fun place to play.

At the time Alex was reading this journal, he was brainstorming ideas for his Boy Scout Eagle Project. An Eagle Project is a service project helpful to any religious institution, school or community and Alex decided he wanted to provide service to his birth home in Russia by building a new playground. He then spent 6 months doing research and planning for the project, and was given approval to do so from the Boy Scout Harford District Advancement committee.

Alex has already received help from over 500 people in 62 cities, 20 states and 4 countries in his effort to make his dream of building a playground at his birthhome a reality. He will be traveling to Krasnoyarsk this summer along with friends to install the playground. You can learn more about the project, and how you can support it, on his website.

Hooray for the First Family for valuing the importance of play!

According to Yahoo! News..."First daughters Malia and Sasha Obama got a big surprise after school: a brand new swing set. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, arranged for it to be installed Wednesday while their daughters were at school. It is set up on the White House grounds within sight of the Oval Office."

The wooden swing set is made by a South Dakota company. The girls were so excited they played on it for almost an hour in the chilly weather.