Summer Safety - Water

Let's Talk Swimming By: Amanda Miller

With Summer comes hot weather. With hot weather comes swimming pools, lakes and other bodies of water. Have your kids had swim lessons yet? These days you can start with infants, getting them used to water. I went to the CDC's website and found these startling statistics:

In 2007, there were 3443 fatal unintentional (non-boating) drownings in the United States. This averages 10 deaths per day!

More than 1 in 5 of these fatal drownings were of children 14 years of age and younger. For every child who died from drowning, another 4 children received emergency room care for non fatal submersion injuries.

 Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. In 2007, among children 1 to 4 years old who died from an unintentional injury, almost 30% died from drowning. Fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years.

Nearly 80% of people who die from drowning are male.

Participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88% among children aged 1 to 4 years.

Seconds count. CPR performed by bystanders has been shown to improve outcomes in drowning victims. The more quickly intervention occurs, the better change of improved outcomes.

I know that these statistics are frightening and it is not my intention to scare you into keeping your children away from water. Be sure your kids can swim. Sign them up for a quality swim class; if the skills are not mastered yet, be sure they wear a life jacket in and around water; be sure there is always a responsible adult watching kids around water and be sure the adult knows CPR.

Enjoy your summer this year and every year to come!

Family Fitness

Every time you turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper, you are bombarded with stories about the obesity epidemic in the United States. You are also bombarded by advertising from people trying to sell you "convenience foods". Whether they are fast food restaurants or just pre-packaged prepare at home meals, we all know that these are not our healthiest options.

How do you battle the bulge with your family, without spending $100s on a gym membership for the whole family? There are several inexpensive options available. We are going to explore a few here.


1) Jump rope: You can buy a jump rope for each family member. Start out just getting your skills down and then you can work on getting faster and faster. The video above is former U.S. Olympian Buddy Lee showing you his prowess with a jump rope. Jumping rope is no longer just a little girl's game as she sings a cute rhyming song. A jump rope is a versatile and useful training too.

2) Geocaching: Have you ever gone Geocaching? It is a great activity for a family. I downloaded an app onto my IPhone but you can also just use your computer at home if you do not have a smart phone. You put in your location and it will tell you of all the caches near you. You then set out on a hike to the area it tells you to go to. The caches will be hidden so it will take some searching to find. Once you find the cache, there is usually a small gift inside with a notebook and pencil to sign in. Always remember when you are caching, if you take something, leave something. If you take the small gift, be sure to leave one in its place for the next person. Once you find the cache, you also put it back exactly where you found it. Now, be sure and log back onto the website to claim the find. Once you get started, it can be addictive! There are caches hidden all around the world, so wherever you are, there is a cache near you.

3) Pool Noodles: They are no longer just a fun pool toy! You can use them for a variety of activities. The picture above is from Parents Magazine and shows an obstacle course that was set up with pool noodles that had the ends taped together to form rings. There are tons of games you can play with pool noodles. In addition to the obstacle course, set up hopscotch with the rings; just toss a ring back and forth; toss bean bags into rings, the list goes on and on. The best news? You can purchase the pool noodles at the Dollar Stores!

Get outside and get active with your family! Good health is an amazing gift for your kids.

Wordless Wednesday - Rockstar

Raising a new generation of Rockstars!!

Tuesday Teachings - Plant Parts

My son has been learning about plant parts, so we decided to work on that at home also. This was a quick and easy project. I cut out all of the supplies and stacked them to the side for him to glue down. He had to name the parts as he glued them down.

Supplies:
Construction paper (background color, flower color and green for leaves)
Green craft foam for stem
Black or brown pipe cleaners for stems
Glue
Scissors

I went with the green craft foam for the stem to show the difference in the feel, but you could use construction paper for that also. We have also used brown yarn for the roots, I just had pipe cleaners available this time.

Cut out any flower shape you want, along with a few leaves, stem and roots. This is a fun project. In addition to working on the words: roots, stem, leaves & flower, we also talked about what flowers need to survive: Water, soil, light.

Wordless Wednesday - Go Big Blue

We won! We really won!!

Monday Meanderings - Farm Time

This week, I thought we could take the outdoors theme a little further with farm activities. Here are some great ones.

First up is The Diary of Dave's Wife, she had a birthday party with a farm theme for her son, which was adorable. For this segment, we will be focusing on her Barn Backdrop. I love it and she was able to make it inexpensively. How cute to set that up to play with farm animal toys!

Counting Coconuts has a great Farm sensory box. What child wouldn't want to break out singing "Old McDonald" after playing with this? She also has an amazing number of other sensory box ideas on her blog.

Here is an adorable hand print craft. Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas contributes this. I love that the kids first paint on the barn, pond and meadow. Then they have to turn their hands in different directions for the animals.