kids activity

We all know how important it is for our kids to be active and involved in physical activities. And that is the reason why we often arrange our backyard in a way that helps them to remain involved in some kind of activity. But one thing that we regularly overlook is the playground surface and how protective it is. If we are talking about public playgrounds then almost 0% of them are relatively safe with shock-absorbing protective surfacing under the playground equipment. But what is startling is that only 9% of the home backyard playgrounds have any kind of protective surface. These are the figures that have been arrived at during a research study conducted by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). There are other facts which are equally shocking. Of the 50,000 injuries that happen on an average every year which can be associated to home backyard playground equipment, about 70% are because there was no protective surfacing installed.

The playground surface is generally made from either grass or dirt. But both these surfaces don’t offer much of a protection against serious injuries due to falls. Someone falling from even a height of two and a half feet can suffer fractures of arms and hands, lacerations and contusions of the head and face. In fact these are the most common reports of injuries that happen for a child falling from the playground equipment to a non-protective playground surface.

The good news is that there are plenty of playground surface options that will give your kids protection against such falls. Recycled rubber mulch is one such option. They are very durable and you don’t require to replace them once every year. In fact there are manufacturers who claim that there rubber mulch would not require to be replaced even in fifty years time. If such claims are true then you can have your kids and your grandchildren playing on the same rubber mulch. But before buying the rubber mulch check with the dealer as to what guarantee or warranty comes with the product.

Rubber mulch is generally cleaner and unlike many other protective surfaces they don’t make your kids get dirty during the play hours. There clothes, shoes and hands remain cleaner even during active play.

There are other advantages too. There are no issues like mold and fungus growth, neither are insects or animals attracted towards it.

Thomas MacIntosh
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/offer-your-kids-protection-in-the-playground-get-playground-rubber-mulch-72285.html

You think Hawaii is for romantic vacations only? Think again. Hawaii is actually a great place for a family vacation, especially the main Island of Oahu and the Waikiki Beach area. There are many cool and fun things to do, nature and marine life to see, and great places for rest and relaxation. More than likely, your greatest worry is going to be how to squeeze in so many great places into your short vacation time…

Here are some cool places that you can enjoy with your kids:

Atlantis Submarine

This popular adventure takes you more than 100 feet below the surface for a 45 minutes underwater tour of Marine life in Waikiki. The submarine passes by coral riffs, sunken shipwrecks and airplanes, sea turtles, and countless fish and other sea creatures. The 64-passenger submarine is air-conditioned and has large view ports and comfortable seating.

Bishop Museum

The new Science Adventure Center feature Over 16,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and high-tech displays that let kids discover the volcanoes, oceans and diverse environment of Hawaii and the Pacific. Other exhibits of the museum include live hula performances, planetarium shows, garden tours, dramatic storytelling, Hawai’i Sports Hall of Fame and exciting traveling exhibits in the Castle Memorial Building.

Cirque Hawaii

Cirque Hawaii is a multi million dollar state of the art theatrical extravaganza in the heart of Waikiki. The show is an exotic blend of strength, balance, humor, skill, beauty and grace, and features aerial, dance and acrobatic acts, including Trapeze, Flying Silk, Skip Rope, Bungee, Clown, and Polynesian Warriors. This awe-inspiring 1 hour and 15 minutes show is a great entertainment for the whole family, and can be combined with dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Dole Plantation

Dole Plantation is a popular Hawaii attraction. It has “The world’s largest maze” (2001 Guinness Book of World Records), two-mile, 20-minute “Pineapple Express” train ride, and a Plantation Garden tour.

Hawaii’s Children’s Discovery Center

The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is a world-class interactive center. Kids are invited to explore, experiment and play with interactive exhibits, using their senses of touch, sight, hearing, and smell to better understand themselves and the world around them.

Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park

Hawaii’s only water park offers many fun rides and adventures, including inner tube rides, free-fall six stories down speed slides, mega wavepool, body surf or inner tube ride on 2 to 4 foot waves, tube cruise down an 800-foot long continuous river, interactive children’s playground filled with waterfalls, mini-slides and water cannons, multi-level activity pool with seven family slides, lily pad walks and other water attractions.

Honolulu Zoo

The Honolulu Zoo features over 1,230 animals in specially designed habitats. You can get a glimpse of the endangered nene which is the Hawai’i state bird, visit the African Savanna, native Hawaiian forest birds, Pacific Islands and the Children’s Zoo. The zoo also features family programs such as Twilight tours, Snooze in the Zoo, Breakfast with a keeper, birthday Parties, and day camps.

Luau

A luau is a Hawaiian party and feast. Most Luaus feature native Hawaiian food and entertainment, such as Hawaiian music and hula dancing. Many Luaus greet you with the traditional lei, and feature the traditional imu ceremony, in which the roast Kalua Pig will be dug up from the rock-filled underground oven (imu) where it has been slow-roasting all day. Dinner buffet usually includes multi-course Polynesian delicacies as well as American favorites. After dinner it’s show time – a Polynesian revue featuring songs and dances from Hawaii and other Polynesian islands.

Polynesian Cultural Center

This popular attraction is located about an hour from Waikiki. This 42-acre open-air park has seven native villages that are designed to immerse the visitors in the Hawaiian and other South Pacific cultures. Natives will be demonstrating the arts of dancing with fire, making jewelry from plants, and climbing 50-foot trees in bare feet. There are also native arts and crafts demonstrations such as carving tiki statues, canoe pageant, reenactment of war dances and wedding ceremonies, an IMAX theater, an authentic luau and a Polynesian night show.

Sea Life Park

Sea Life Park is a world-class marine attraction located 15 miles from Waikiki on Oahu’s beautiful and scenic Makapuu Point. The park features a 300,000-gallon aquarium, housing sea lions, dolphins, sharks, stingrays, turtles and other marine mammals in a variety of entertaining and educational attractions such as dolphins dancing, sea lions singing, and penguins performing. Other attractions are the Sea Lion Feeding Pool, Sea Turtle Lagoon, Sea Bird Sanctuary, Hawaiian Reef Exhibit and Pirate’s Lagoon. There are also some interactive programs for swimming with dolphins and snorkeling by the stingray’s side.

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay is located along the East Oahu coastline, and is a protected marine life conservation area and underwater park. This bay, which is all that remains from an ancient volcano, is one of Hawaii’s favorite places for snorkeling, scuba diving, or swimming among turtles and tropical fish. There are over 450 species of colorful tropical fish in Hanauma Bay, many of them are indigenous to Hawaii.

Waikiki Aquarium

This great family attraction features an amazing variety of marine life from the tropical Pacific and Hawaii. It has a wonderful collection of bright and colorful exotic tropical fish, as well as sharks, living corals, endangered Hawaiian monk seals, graceful sea jellies, and many more unique and fascinating marine creatures.

Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Beach is one of the best known beaches in the world. It is usually crowded but is a very nice area for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, surfboarding, sun tanning, sand castle building, and outrigger canoe riding.

Waikiki Trolley

The Waikiki Trolley is a popular means of transportation in Oahu, and is fun and convenient. The Trolley’s four lines routes cover almost all tourist attractions and stops at most major shopping malls in Oahu.

For more details and photo gallery please visit the Kids Vacations section of our web site: http://www.cool-kids-places.com/kids-vacations-hawaii.html

Dee Adams
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/vacation-with-kids-in-hawaii-707792.html

Mom, You can make exchanging gifts much more exciting for kids at their school Christmas party!   Try some of these fun school party ideas this holiday season!

Christmas season — it’s that time of year when everybody feels the spirit of gift giving, young and old alike. Many schools let their students exchange gifts before they go off to the much-awaited Christmas break. But there are some things you can do to spice up this activity.

To make the school Christmas party more fun you may want to plan a gift hunt.  Of course you  should set out rules regarding items to give. For example, you can specify that the items must be handmade. This will ensure that the gifts are truly from their hearts, as they put much time, effort and personalization on them. You can also limit the items to be exchanged by a color scheme. State that it can only be anything with the colors red, green or yellow. Remember that these are just young students, so hand them out a note to give to their parents, and limit the budget to a minimum, like $5 or below per item only.

On that day when the kids exchange gifts with one another, there are many ways you can try out to make the activity extra fun and unforgettable. One way to spice up this gift-giving activity is to gather all the gifts in one spot. Have each student pick a number; the student who gets number 1 will get to go to the pile of gifts and pick the gift he likes, followed by the student who gets number 2, and so on. Also, they can choose to swap what they have in hand with someone else’s who is also up for the dare. They will surely get a thrill out of this.

You can also have the students randomly pick a name of the recipient of the gift. Of course this is to be done days before the gift exchanging activity takes place. Each one will definitely have a blast scouring the shopping mall as they try to find something suited for their friends or classmates. But make sure to remind everyone no to tell one another whose name they were able to pick, so as not to spoil the element of mystery.

To heighten this element of mystery in exchanging gifts, you can ask each one to open the gifts that they got, and try to figure out who it is from. This is extra fun if you combine this twist with the rule of giving only handmade items. For instance, a recipient will have a great time guessing who made a really nice portrait of him or her. If they fail to guess correctly who the gift is from, the real giver of the gift should stand up and give the recipient a task. It could be a little silly dancing, singing a Christmas carol, or any other talent that they can share to the class.

Another way to jazz up the activity is by asking everyone to participate in a game board — a really huge one, that is! It doesn’t have to be a familiar game; you can invent one and set out the rules carefully before the start of the game. In fact, playing a game board that’s new to everyone will be a lot more exciting. The huge game board is something you can fashion out of a large rug or sheet of cardboard. Since it’s the Christmas season, you might as well whip up something that’s related to it. You can tweak the famous Snakes and Ladders game board and turn it into something that needs to get Santa and the reindeer back to the North Pole.

Jillian Gallo
http://www.articlesbase.com/holidays-articles/you-can-make-exchanging-gifts-much-more-exciting-for-kids-669729.html

Forming a Social Network Of Kids

It might sound really amusing to consider building a social network of kids but that’s a great solution to the problem at hand. What do I mean by a social network? Well its simple, in any neighborhood you will certainly find at least a bunch of kids who are around the same age group as your kid. Basically you will need to get them all together for one, it possible to work it up with the parents of the other kids ( I am sure they are also facing the same problem as you) and get them to bring their kids over to the park every evening. Once the kids get together they usually start playing some game or the other, have you noticed? It might be as simple as hide and seek but at least now they are playing outside. You could even get to organize some small baseball games or athletics of some form during weekends. The kids would look forward to it and would work at practicing to win at the events.

Devoting Time For Outdoor Sports

In today’s day and age it is not difficult to find working parents who hardly find the time for their kids. This is not a healthy scenario at all, not only would the kid feel deprived of the care which would be due but also the attention of an elder. The growing stage is really crucial and it is important for a parents to spend at least the evenings with their kids. In the good old days dads used to play catch with their wards, you see that happening nowadays. Its important to inculcate this habit into our routines. You can take the kids for a evening walk to a children’s playground or play with the kid for sometime. Kids don’t usually venture out on their own since they are under the supervision of a nanny or a babysitter and hence develop the habit of becoming a couch potato. In fact as per the recent studies there is a huge surge in the obesity cases in children of the age group of 8 – 15 mostly due to their sedentary habits.

Get Them Enrolled In Sports Camps

This is the best solution one can come up with in case the parents find it difficult to devote much time everyday to their kids during the evenings. There are lot of sports camps around which have excellent programs for kids. There are soccer camps, baseball camps, tennis camps you name them, the coaches are very professional and inculcate a sense of discipline with respect of regular exercise and workouts. The kids might complain about their schedule for some time but they will get used to it and even start enjoying it. Physical activity performed in these camps targets at building stamina and agility which is crucial during the growing years to ensure that they don’t develop any weak muscles or bones due to lack of exercise.

Gaming through play stations and other media is greater way of enhancing the brain especially during the developing stages. You should encourage you kids to indulge in it, but make sure it is not at the cost of outdoor activities. A balance would always need to be maintained.

About The Author:

I hope the article was useful. You can buy kids sports gear at closeoutathletics.com at lower prices. This article can be reprinted at will as long as all the links are maintained active.

Marcus Peter
http://www.articlesbase.com/water-sports-articles/getting-kids-to-play-outdoors-755953.html

The requirement of internet monitoring software is so prevalent today that even a tiny startup business cannot get away without implementing the proper tools. There is different internet monitoring software and tools available to check the online activity of employees at work, or of kids and spouses at home.

The requirement of employee tracking and internet monitoring software

Computers and the internet have radically changed the way we do business. Broadband now allows a business to find customers from other end of the continent or even from other side of the world. This in a sense gives tremendous power to the business. On the flip side, the internet is also a resource that people use to seek both good and bad things. Employees are more than likely to allow themselves to wander throughout the virtual world, mostly spending their time idly. Different internet activities that distract employees from doing their work include pornography, email and chatting, online dating and matchmaking, social networking sites like MySpace.com, legal and illegal download of music and video, online games and the list goes on.

Implications of employee internet abuse

While non-business activities can diminish the productivity of employees, a few activities can even have far reaching legal aspects. The owner of the computer resources, like the network and computer hardware, is responsible for the content stored on the system. Suppose an employee had downloaded pirated music. Without a proper internal monitoring system, the employer will be held responsible for the presence of the illegal digital content. Having a solid employee computer activity and internet monitoring tool in place can actually help point out the person who is responsible for the illegal content.

The employer will also be paying huge monthly bills for the broadband he/she uses.

Privacy and Legal Issues

Laws in the United States actually allow an employer to use internet monitoring software and tools. A prior agreement can be made between the employer and its employees to not use the company’s resources for non-business activities. The policy can be handed over to every new employee in the organization. The emails or deleted content will all remain as the exclusive property of the organization.

What does internet monitoring software do?

Internet monitoring software tools are powerful tools that allow the tracking of web activity without the user’s knowledge. When implemented over a corporate network, the tool monitors the websites to which the user navigates and the amount of time spent at different websites, email programs, instant messenger programs, etc. The reports are then sent to the administrator who had installed the monitoring program.

Recommendations

The internet monitoring software for employee tracking available from WorkExaminer.com provides extensive reports about web activity for individuals that use the computers on the corporate network. Work Examiner is not spyware and has no malicious code. Employee web activity reports are available in many common formats. Work Examiner helps a manager keep an accurate log of individual computer usage by different people in the network. Whenever the manager feels it is necessary to take disciplinary action, he or she can have a look at the actual performance of each employee.

Mason
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/internet-monitoring-software-for-employee-activity-tracking-91135.html

The brain is no longer considered to be hard wired.  In fact it is now known that the brain is plastic (malleable).  It can change depending on the fuel and activation of its neurons.  Fuel is glucose and oxygen but here we are addressing the activation part.  Dr. Randy Beck stated, “Neural plasticity refers to the way in which the nervous system can respond to external stimuli and adjust future responses based on the outcome of previously initiated responses.  In essence, the ability of the nervous system to learn is dependent on plasticity.”

If we localized the area of the functional lesion “under connectivity” we can devise a treatment program to strengthen the weakened pathways.  Under connectivity and desyncrinzation are features of autism.  Here is an article supporting the concept of under connectivity.

Department of Child Psychiatry, Charles University, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. robertkulisek@seznam.cz

OBJECTIVES: Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with a high rate of epilepsy and subclinical epileptiform activity. High physical connectivity on a microcolumnar level leading to epileptiform activity and low functional informational connectivity are assumed in autism. The aim of this study was to investigate nonlinear EEG brain dynamics in terms of synchronization in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders compared to a control group. We expected a lower degree of synchronization in autistic subjects. METHODS: The autistic group consisted of 27 patients with autism spectrum disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10. The mean age of the sample was 7.1 (SD 3.6) years, 14 of them were mentally retarded. Normal EEG was found in 9 patients, epileptiform EEG in 18 autistic patients. Four patients had a history of epileptic seizures, fully compensated in long term. The control group consisted of 20 children (mean age of 8.4, SD 2.3 years) with normal intelligence, without an epileptic history, investigated within the frame of the research program for cochlear implantation. They had normal neurological examination and suffered from perceptive deafness. Normal EEG was found in 17 of the control subjects, epileptiform EEG was in 3 control subjects. We analyzed night sleep EEG recordings from 10 channels (F3, F4, F7, F8, C3, C4, T3, T4, P3 and P4) with the inclusion of sleep stages NREM 2, 3 and 4 in the subsequent analyses. Coarse-grained entropy information rates between neighbouring electrodes were computed, expressing the synchronization between 11 selected electrode couples. RESULTS: Synchronization was significantly lower in the autistic group in all three examined NREM stages even when age and intelligence were taken into account as covariates. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study confirmed the validity of the under connectivity model in autism.

The doctor must localize the level of the functional lesion ( brainstem, pons, midbrain, cerebellum, cortex)  and design a program specific to the child to create neuroplastic changes that correct the under connectivity.

Dr. Mane offers one on one consultation as well as Group Seminars  for parents and children who suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorders.  If you are interested in scheduling a consultation or to attend a seminar please call 813-935-4744. 

For more information about Dr. Nelson Mane, D.C. and his treatment approach for ASD go to http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm. 

Nelson Mane
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/tampa-dr-nelson-mane-talks-about-how-the-brain-changes-can-this-help-autistic-kids-681566.html

The brain is no longer considered to be hard wired.  In fact it is now known that the brain is plastic (malleable).  It can change depending on the fuel and activation of its neurons.  Fuel is glucose and oxygen but here we are addressing the activation part.  Dr. Randy Beck stated, “Neural plasticity refers to the way in which the nervous system can respond to external stimuli and adjust future responses based on the outcome of previously initiated responses.  In essence, the ability of the nervous system to learn is dependent on plasticity.”

If we localized the area of the functional lesion “under connectivity” we can devise a treatment program to strengthen the weakened pathways.  Under connectivity and desyncrinzation are features of autism.  Here is an article supporting the concept of under connectivity.

Department of Child Psychiatry, Charles University, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. robertkulisek@seznam.cz

OBJECTIVES: Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with a high rate of epilepsy and subclinical epileptiform activity. High physical connectivity on a microcolumnar level leading to epileptiform activity and low functional informational connectivity are assumed in autism. The aim of this study was to investigate nonlinear EEG brain dynamics in terms of synchronization in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders compared to a control group. We expected a lower degree of synchronization in autistic subjects. METHODS: The autistic group consisted of 27 patients with autism spectrum disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10. The mean age of the sample was 7.1 (SD 3.6) years, 14 of them were mentally retarded. Normal EEG was found in 9 patients, epileptiform EEG in 18 autistic patients. Four patients had a history of epileptic seizures, fully compensated in long term. The control group consisted of 20 children (mean age of 8.4, SD 2.3 years) with normal intelligence, without an epileptic history, investigated within the frame of the research program for cochlear implantation. They had normal neurological examination and suffered from perceptive deafness. Normal EEG was found in 17 of the control subjects, epileptiform EEG was in 3 control subjects. We analyzed night sleep EEG recordings from 10 channels (F3, F4, F7, F8, C3, C4, T3, T4, P3 and P4) with the inclusion of sleep stages NREM 2, 3 and 4 in the subsequent analyses. Coarse-grained entropy information rates between neighbouring electrodes were computed, expressing the synchronization between 11 selected electrode couples. RESULTS: Synchronization was significantly lower in the autistic group in all three examined NREM stages even when age and intelligence were taken into account as covariates. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study confirmed the validity of the under connectivity model in autism.

The doctor must localize the level of the functional lesion ( brainstem, pons, midbrain, cerebellum, cortex)  and design a program specific to the child to create neuroplastic changes that correct the under connectivity.

Dr. Mane offers one on one consultation as well as Group Seminars  for parents and children who suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorders.  If you are interested in scheduling a consultation or to attend a seminar please call 813-935-4744. 

For more information about Dr. Nelson Mane, D.C. and his treatment approach for ASD go to http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm. 

Nelson Mane
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/tampa-dr-nelson-mane-talks-about-how-the-brain-changes-can-this-help-autistic-kids-681566.html

The brain is no longer considered to be hard wired.  In fact it is now known that the brain is plastic (malleable).  It can change depending on the fuel and activation of its neurons.  Fuel is glucose and oxygen but here we are addressing the activation part.  Dr. Randy Beck stated, “Neural plasticity refers to the way in which the nervous system can respond to external stimuli and adjust future responses based on the outcome of previously initiated responses.  In essence, the ability of the nervous system to learn is dependent on plasticity.”

If we localized the area of the functional lesion “under connectivity” we can devise a treatment program to strengthen the weakened pathways.  Under connectivity and desyncrinzation are features of autism.  Here is an article supporting the concept of under connectivity.

Department of Child Psychiatry, Charles University, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. robertkulisek@seznam.cz

OBJECTIVES: Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with a high rate of epilepsy and subclinical epileptiform activity. High physical connectivity on a microcolumnar level leading to epileptiform activity and low functional informational connectivity are assumed in autism. The aim of this study was to investigate nonlinear EEG brain dynamics in terms of synchronization in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders compared to a control group. We expected a lower degree of synchronization in autistic subjects. METHODS: The autistic group consisted of 27 patients with autism spectrum disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10. The mean age of the sample was 7.1 (SD 3.6) years, 14 of them were mentally retarded. Normal EEG was found in 9 patients, epileptiform EEG in 18 autistic patients. Four patients had a history of epileptic seizures, fully compensated in long term. The control group consisted of 20 children (mean age of 8.4, SD 2.3 years) with normal intelligence, without an epileptic history, investigated within the frame of the research program for cochlear implantation. They had normal neurological examination and suffered from perceptive deafness. Normal EEG was found in 17 of the control subjects, epileptiform EEG was in 3 control subjects. We analyzed night sleep EEG recordings from 10 channels (F3, F4, F7, F8, C3, C4, T3, T4, P3 and P4) with the inclusion of sleep stages NREM 2, 3 and 4 in the subsequent analyses. Coarse-grained entropy information rates between neighbouring electrodes were computed, expressing the synchronization between 11 selected electrode couples. RESULTS: Synchronization was significantly lower in the autistic group in all three examined NREM stages even when age and intelligence were taken into account as covariates. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study confirmed the validity of the under connectivity model in autism.

The doctor must localize the level of the functional lesion ( brainstem, pons, midbrain, cerebellum, cortex)  and design a program specific to the child to create neuroplastic changes that correct the under connectivity.

Dr. Mane offers one on one consultation as well as Group Seminars  for parents and children who suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorders.  If you are interested in scheduling a consultation or to attend a seminar please call 813-935-4744. 

For more information about Dr. Nelson Mane, D.C. and his treatment approach for ASD go to http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm. 

Nelson Mane
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/tampa-dr-nelson-mane-talks-about-how-the-brain-changes-can-this-help-autistic-kids-681566.html