First Snow of the Season

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, I am sure that many of you are just as shocked as Brain Balance of Summit is to have received all of this snow yesterday! In Summit we got anywhere from 4-6 inches! All of this weather has caused a lot of our families to be stuck at home and unable to come to sessions! In light of that we just wanted to reiterate that even though we are encouraging all of our families to be diligent with their home exercises that there is always time for fun!
Winter time is tough for a lot of our kids because it is hard to get outside - it's either too cold, or too dark. But Brain Balance of Summit is here to tell you that we should capitalize on those impromptu snow storms and to work and play outside!

Building snow men requires following direction, planning, core strength, and fires those mirror neurons!

A snow ball fight causes little ones to use their fine motor skills, eye muscle coordination and upper body strength!
Snow angels are not just for decoration any more! They actually stimulate a primitive reflex that a lot of our children still display, and by strengthen it, it helps our children sit still! So bring on the snow angels!
Ice skating builds balance and synchronization as well as coordination and core strength.
Shoveling and cleaning off the car works both the core and upper body. So don't be afraid to put those kids to work!

There are so many fun things to do outside in the snow and who would have thought that it could actually be benefiting our children other than getting them outside and away from the video games!

Sandy Can't Stop Us

The Brain Balance Center is alive and well. We did not sustain any damage and maintained power throughout the storm. Our beautiful City of Summit was not as fortunate. Most of our surrounding neighbors are still without power, and the line is out the door for our building mate Dunkin' Donuts. We are keeping all of our families and friends in our thoughts, and we hope that everyone has a warm, safe place to be.

In the mean time! Here are some fun games/things that can be played while the power is out. These games will work on your child's fine motor skills, strategy, turn taking, multi-step rule following, and more. As a plus these games are fun! The whole family can enjoy them, and your child won't even know that they are doing more than having fun!

Here are some ideas:

·        Playing with LEGOs (the small ones)

·        Chinese Checkers (using marbles)

·        Kerplunk

·        Traffic Jam

·        Jenga

·        Operation

·        Molding and rolling play dough into balls

·        Bed Bugs the game (using tweezers to pick up tiny plastic bugs)

·        Playing with finger puppets

·        Lacing and sewing activities such as stringing beads, Cheerios, macaroni, etc.

·        Turning over cards, coins, checkers, or buttons, without bringing them to the edge of the table.