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When the circus isn't in town, children can still enjoy it at a birthday party, summer camp, drama class, or elementary school thanks to this colorful collection of circus-based games and activities.

Ideal for children ages 4-12, the book draws on popular circus elements such as acrobatics, clowns, animal numbers, and balancing acts. The games are presented in a clear, simple way, range from 10-45 minutes in length, and vary in complexity. Each section includes a "circus program" children can use if they want to plan an actual performance. Readily available props are used for some of the games, and costumes are encouraged for all! Noncompetitive and playable without special skills training, the activities in 101 Circus Games for Children provide delightful entertainment for participants and spectators alike.

Everybody enjoys the chance to escape from reality from time to time, to climb inside the skin of another character. This book encourages children and adults to explore their dramatic sides and has playful ideas everyone can get involved with and enjoy. Throughout drama games, children get more in touch with themselves, what they want to be, and what they can do. The games are improvisational, framed to encourage total involvement and cooperation - the participants gain as much as they contribute. Each drama game contains an age guideline, an estimate time of play, and suggestions for the most appropriate type of music. The games can be played by children and adults of all ages, and are flexible enough to be used by parents, teachers, camp leaders, daycare providers, or other group leaders in a variety of settings.

303 Preschooler-Approved Exercises and Active Games is written specifically for children ages 2-5 years old. In the Building Blocks of Fitness section, each fitness and sport skill is taught in different stages. This allows teachers, counselors, or parents to teach their preschooler a skill that sets the foundation of a more difficult skill; the next level adds a new and more complex element. By doing this, the preschool child will be safe and will feel confident about themselves.

Children will learn:
• Sportsmanship
• Socialization skills
• Self-control
• How to focus and follow rules
• How to share
• Reasoning and thinking skills

The preschool years are filled with milestones and major physical changes; young children will develop physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. During this time, lifestyle behaviors begin to emerge that can define a pattern of behaviors all the way through adulthood. It is vital to a child’s health to instill healthy lifestyle habits, behaviors, and disciplines during these young years. Through creative physical activities and easy-to-follow guidelines, this book will teach families how to navigate their dynamic and hectic lifestyles into a healthy and active lifestyle. Being physically active is an invaluable gift for a child, a gift that keeps on giving even into adulthood.

What motivates a five year old will be different than what motivates a twelve year old. It’s not a “one size fits all” when it comes to fitness. Children have specific physiologic differences that make them unique; they grow, mature and develop skills at different ages, so what may be skill appropriate for one child could be harmful for another child, fitness programs, exercises and activities must be designed specific to each developmental stage. Think of fitness in terms of building a pyramid. In order to have a strong foundation, preschoolers must learn the basic building blocks of fitness. Each year, as kids grow older, they are building on the foundations that were created in the previous years and moving on to more complex movements and skills. Moving from hitting a stationary ball to one that is thrown, bouncing a ball with two hands to bouncing it with one, and progressing from a bike with training wheels to one without, are all milestones that are accomplished during childhood. Kids will play longer and harder than those at the earlier stage of development. They can actually follow multi-task directions (e.g., run to the cone, jump up and down three times, then run back to me) and enjoy playing in a group more.

For quick access and easy to follow directions, the activities are organized into six sections of different games and exercises that can easily fit into a child's allotted playtime. Throughout these sections, children can become more aware of their bodily functions, develop sportsmanship and team-working skills, increase energy expenditure, help strengthen muscles and bones, and improve cardiovascular endurance. Preschoolers can decrease the risk of serious illnesses later in life while increasing their creative development. Play and exercise helps children to grow and learn about how the world works. 303 Preschooler-Approved Exercises and Active Games is a physically active way to bring fun and laughter into a child’s life.

This book is not just for classrooms or families with overweight or unhealthy kids--every family that has children with televisions, computers, and/or video games under one roof should take care to exercise regularly. ‘Tweens spend as much time sitting down watching TV, playing video games, or using computers as they spend in school each week. According to statistics from the U.S. Health and Human Resources Department, one third of American children are overweight or obese due to our lifestyle choices. The number one concern that parents bring up to pediatricians is keeping kids fit, and half of all children are not physically active enough for the development of a healthy cardiovascular system. In this age of electronic media, where we become watchers instead of doers, we are simply forgetting the many wonderful ways of playing and exercising together.

‘Tweens in particular are susceptible to overweight issues; the drop-out rate of structured sports programs is highest at this age group.303 Tween-Approved Exercises and Active Games is written specifically for kids ages 9-12 years old. Kimberley Wechsler, a specialist in Kid’s Fitness, took into account the fundamental attributes of being a child while developing these exercises. Children have specific physiologic differences that make them unique. They grow, mature, and develop skills at different ages, so what may be skill appropriate for one child could be harmful for another child. These exercises reflect the emotional, social, physical level of this age group.

Children of this age group are now at the skill level in which physical challenges like mind, body, meditation, balance, muscle strengthening, and sport performance building exercises become very important. Sports skills and drills can now be developed, and competition is highlighted and welcomed within this age group. Kids at this age like to show off their talents so it is important for teachers and parents to observe and provide positive feedback on all of their accomplishments. At this age, tweens want to belong to a sport, group, or identify with a sport celebrity to begin to define who they are and what their likes are; friends also tend to become more of an influence than parents at this age. Bad behavior patterns and peer pressure have now developed--making it more difficult to change current patterns--but it can be done. 303 Tween-Approved Exercises and Active Games can help tweens build confidence in high-pressure situations and build their social skills through playing team sports.

Kids within this age group are now experienced with the basic fundamentals of fitness and prefer games, sports, and exercises that are more challenging and competitive. They are physically, intellectually, emotionally becoming young adults. They can think abstractly, make decisions, understand rules and challenge rules; they are more mature then kids 6-8 years old, and their games and physical challenges must reflect these characteristics. They have formed a sense of self-identity and they are more independent, yet their friends are very important to them. Many of the exercises are written to include their friends--they can challenge their friends or work as a team with their friends.

Tweens have a preferred Fitness Personality--a style of fitness that suits their likes. Therefore, they can choose their style of exercises from 303 physical challenges. They can choose to do them independently, with a friend, or with a group of friends. They can choose from many styles of fitness in 303 Tween-Approved Exercises and Active Games: mind/body, military style fitness, sports performance, functional resistance, strength training, plyometric style, outdoor challenges, circuit/interval/obstacle course training. 303 Tween-Approved Exercises and Active Games allows ‘tweens to choose the type of exercise. By giving each challenge/game a point value, ‘tweens can freely choose their exercises and will receive a complete workout each and every time. Teachers and parents can join in on the fun too!

This invaluable resource helps K-3 teachers deal with restless, energetic students including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The book contains quick movement breaks that can be used between other classroom activities to minimize disruptions and maintain a positive learning environment for all students. The activities, labeled according to appropriate age levels, length of play time, and group size, include shape recognition, stretching and relaxing, pantomime and imagination movements, balancing, and team relays. None of the activities require special skills, and there are enough for every day of the school year.

Recently, the connection between inflammation and heart disease, arthritis, and other chronic diseases has become established. Many food allergies inefficiently and overabundantly stimulate the immune system to react and cause inflammatory responses. Any inflammation in the body interferes with and slows down metabolism and the healing response. Chronic inflammation within our bodies erodes our wellness and paves the path for ill health.

Today's research clearly shows that our health is very dependent on the food we eat. Poor nutrition choices and hidden food allergies can cause inflammation in the body, which can lead to serious, chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and stroke, the three leading causes of death in the United States. Inflammation is also linked to arthritis, diabetes, asthma, and allergies.

Dr. Black wrote The Anti-Inflammation Diet & Recipe Book in 2006, the first book to give the complete anti-inflammation program with specifics on how to eat and cook in order to prevent and counter inflammation, because many of her patients wanted to follow a naturopathic, anti-inflammatory diet but couldn't find any recipes to use.

The anti-inflammatory diet eliminates many common allergenic foods that may promote inflammation in the body and reduces intake of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotic residues. The diet is full of whole foods, eliminates processed foods, sugars, and other man-made foods such as hydrogenated oils, and encourages ample vegetable intake for essential nutrients. The anti-inflammatory diet therefore promotes simpler and easier digestion and offers less insult on the body by reducing intake of toxins and other difficult to digest foods. If the blood and lymph are properly supplied and difficult to digest or assimilate foods are eliminated, cellular function, or in other words, metabolism, improves. Therefore the body is supported in such a way as to facilitate cellular regeneration and not cellular degeneration, which may promote disease.

After the success of her first book, Dr. Black follows up with even more information, recipes, and tips to minimize or prevent inflammation by changing your diet. As stress and emotional issues are connected to inflammation, she encourages people to adopt an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle (AIL) that includes exercise and lifestyle suggestions. The first part of the book uses the latest research to explain the benefits of the anti-inflammatory diet, detailing the science behind the recipes. Then, she reveals the basics of cooking to reduce inflammation. She gives the low-down on using different kinds of oil, sweeteners, and substitutions, and she includes a resource list on where to get certain foods, a grocery list of food you should have in your kitchen, and charts of foods to eat chart and foods to avoid. (Leading up to publication these charts and perhaps a daily recipe will be available as downloads, after publication they will be part of a smart phone app).

The second half of the book contains 150 recipes, many of which can be used as templates for even greater meals. Dr. Black and her two daughters prepared and tested all the recipes, using organic and nutrient-rich foods, eliminating common allergenic foods, and reducing the intake of pesticides and hormones--all of which help to build stronger, healthier, healing bodies. The author offers substitution suggestions and includes a full nutrition analysis with each of the recipes. Icons identify recipes that are responsive to dietary restrictions, i.e., vegan, gluten-free, dairy free, etc.

Whether you're ready for breakfast or dessert, Dr. Black has a delicious recipe for you to use and share with your family and friends so that you can live healthy, inflammation-free lifestyles.

The Yoga Adventure for Children is an illustrated manual for teachers at primary schools and yoga teachers who wish to create children's classes. Featuring 80 drawings of poses, the book playfully acquaints children with yoga stretches and postures and the philosophy behind the practice. Blending yoga, play, dance, music, drama, and drawing, the book requires very little preparation before use. Parents too can share The Yoga Adventure for Children with their child at home. Practicing yoga together offers an opportunity to both parents and the child to laugh, play, and have fun together.

Many yoga positions are inspired by animals and stimulate suppleness and strength, and all aspects of yoga are included in the games: relaxation, breathing, concentration, meditation, self-awareness, and visualization. Concepts like karma, chakra, and the elements are explained and developed without too much confusing detail. The games in this book can also be used to increase children's concentration and self-esteem, and to stimulate them to express more creativity, imagination, and better social skills.

Yoga provides not only an excellent, low-impact workout, it also helps young people in key areas such as body awareness, flexibility, concentration, stress reduction, and self-expression. The exercises and games in this easy-to-follow guide are specifically designed to fit the needs of teenagers and to show teens how to work out and train their bodies in a relaxed way. It requires no advance knowledge or preparation and can be used by anyone working with teens between the ages of 10 and 20. The exercises are divided into static postures, dynamic postures, and exercises in pairs. There are also visualization and meditation exercises based on the four elements of nature as well as an introduction to the basics of yoga philosophy. The book can be used with large and small groups or as part of a parent-teen activity. Practicing yoga together is a perfect opportunity for parents and teens to exercise, talk, and spend time together in a healthy, positive manner.