Well.....Duh?

More recess and play helps to improve productivity:

But ask the adults and they'll tell you it's because Eagle Mountain is part of a project in which the school day is modeled after the Finnish school system, which consistently scores at or near the top in international education rankings. The project's designer is Texas Christian University kinesiologist Debbie Rhea.
"I went over there to find out where they've come in the last 20 to 25 years. Yes, their test scores are good, but they are also healthy in many regards," she says.
The biggest difference Rhea noticed was that students in Finland get much more recess than American kids do. "So, I came back with the idea to bring recess back to the schools. Not just one recess, but multiple recesses."

Read (or listen) at NPR.

I wonder if he tried it again

Why do I keep watching this over and over and not feel guilty?

All the world's a playground...

...when you're a gymnast:

Post by Darryl Thompson.

That's my friend's 7 yr old level 4 gymnast, seeing a gymnastics mushroom out of a fixture outside of a Target store.

I believe this is a Czech gymnast, Itziu Cardena:

Post by D99.

You've goat to be kiddin'?!

Conditioning Pool Side with Texas Dreams

"A good gymnast needs good equipment; but a great gymnast needs any equipment."

I love the improvised, creative use of playground equipment for conditioning.




Nica Hult is a former AOGC student whose family had to move out to Texas. This video is posted from 3 years ago to the day:

Nica Hults training with her new team called the "Dream Team" with Texas Dreams under the coaching of World Champion and 4-time US All Around Champion American gymnast, Kim Zmeskal Burdette, and her husband, Chris Burdette. Among her teammates are 2010 US National Team Members: Senior gymnast Chelsea Davis, and Junior gymnast Kennedy Baker.

If you understand concepts and principles behind exercises, then you can improvise many things to achieve the same desired results obtained by more conventional or well-known equipment.

Karen Goeller has specialized herself in swingset fitness:




And here's Eddie Umphrey having some fun with his gymnasts from a few years back:

Let Them Fail

 "Once you realize life is hard, it gets easier"

Do we coddle our children too much in the States?  Bubble-wrap them into the self-esteem generation of 19th place ribbons?  The Rapunzel Syndrome of over-insulation?

A friend of mine linked to this interesting piece.  It's really not about playgrounds, per se, but the larger picture:

I am not sitting here, 15 whole feet away from my kids, because I am too lazy to get up. I am sitting here because I didn't bring them to the park so they could learn how to manipulate others into doing the hard work for them. I brought them here so they could learn to do it themselves.

They're not here to be at the top of the ladder; they are here to learn to climb. If they can't do it on their own, they will survive the disappointment. What's more, they will have a goal and the incentive to work to achieve it.

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