ADHD makes your child to experience many abnormal behaviors. Help your ADHD child to deal with the abnormal behaviors. You need to know the ways to deal the toddler with ADHD.
Children with ADHD know what to do but, they do not know how to implement and organize the things. They often fail to utilize their potential energy properly. ADHD child needs support and encouragement from the parents. Physical activity will greatly help to reduce the symptoms of ADHD.
This article discusses the benefits of physical activities for the child with ADHD. It presents the games and activities to handle hyperactive kids.
Why Do ADHD Children Need Activities?
The ADHD child needs activities because of the following reasons:
1. To utilize energy properly:
ADHD child often have the sufficient energy to burn. But, they struggle in finding the effective ways to burn their energy. Organized sports and other physical activities will help them to utilize their energy in healthy ways.
2. To limit distractions:
ADHD child suffer with a short attention span and they often come across the distractions. Physical activities will help your child cope with the distractions and enhance the attention levels.
3. To understand the instructions:
Activities like exercises and games involve a set of instructions to execute them. Children involving in the activities will find a framework where they can practice following instructions.
4. To enhance the brain activity:
Physical activity and brain functioning are interlinked with each other. Physical activities supply oxygen to the brain thereby promoting the production of new cells in the brain. Exercises stimulate the production of two most important brain chemicals known as norepinephrine and dopamine.
5. To Overcome Health disasters:
Physical activities offer many health benefits. They keep your ADHD child away from Heart problems, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and childhood obesity. Team building games and activities will make the kids feel empowered.
Best Activities for Toddlers with ADHD:
The activities that work well for the child with ADHD child will depend on the type of ADHD.
- ADHD, inattentive and distractible type
- ADHD, impulsive/hyperactive type
- ADHD, combined type- featured by impulsive and hyperactive type/featured by inattentive and distractible type
Here are a few best activities for child with ADHD:
1. Martial Arts:
Martial arts are the best after school activities for ADHD child. They help in keeping the kid active, build strength and flexibility. They help in enhancing the levels of self confidence and self esteem. While children respect and listen to the rules of the instructor they develop respect and listening skills.
Benefits:
- They help to develop a healthy life style
- They improve focus, self confidence, and stillness
- Martial arts help to develop the art of perseverance and
- They help to build strength and endurance
- Martial arts are the great way to enhance your mood
2. Team Sports:
Team sports help the kids develop emotionally and mentally. They will allow kids to build and develop team work and communication. Team sports involve team efforts. Kids will come to know the qualities of leadership. Team sports will offer kids chance to learn behavioral skills in social environment.
Benefits:
- Team sports help to learn time management
- Team sports help to develop competitive spirit
- They help to promote the discipline
- They indulge the art of goal setting
- Team sports stimulate attitudes like patience, accountability, and respect
3. Swimming:
This is one of the best activities for toddlers with ADHD. It is the best exercise which involves the movement of entire body through the water. This activity allows the child to develop concentration and self esteem while swimming off all the excess energy. Michael Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7 years. Swimming helped him to combat the signs of ADHD and become a successful world class swimmer.
Benefits:
- Keeps the heart rate up
- Swimming helps to build muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.
- It helps in securing the muscles’ tone and strength.
- Swimming helps in reducing the stress and helps in enhancing the team coordination.
4. Board Games:
This is one of the best games and activities to control child with ADHD. Board games are great exercise for mind. There are many board games to improve the attention of ADHD child. Here is the list of board games that help ADHD child:
- The memory game
- Chutes and ladders
- Battleship
- Headbanz
Benefits:
- Brings people closer and helps to strengthen the relationship
- They are the best platforms of laughter, and relieving stress levels
- Playing board games triggers the release of happy hormones.
5. Cycling:
Outside activities will help to enhance the mood of the kids. Cycling is one of those. Cycling combines physical exercise with the joy of being outdoors. Here are a few benefits of regular cycling:
Benefits:
- Exercise increases cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, and flexibility.
- It reduces stress levels.
- Exercise will help to reduce the body fat levels.
- It reduces the levels of anxiety and depression.
6. Dance:
Dance is one of the aerobic exercises and offers many physical, mental, and emotional benefits.
Benefits:
- Dancing improves muscle tone, strength, and fitness.
- It is a great platform to meet new people
- It enhances physical confidence and mental functioning.
- It helps to achieve social skills.
7. Running:
This is one of the best toddler ADHD activities. It provides movements to the body parts all over the body.
Benefits:
- Running keeps your weight in control
- It improves the strength of immune system
- It helps in boosting the strength of legs.
- Running is a great way to relieve stress
- It helps to gain control over the body and life
8. Story Telling:
Story telling is the best choice to enhance the listening skills of your kid. They provide a great platform to view the outside world from the different perspective.
Benefits:
- It improves the listening skills of your child.
- Stories will help to teach kids moral values and ethics
9. Role Play:
Role plays are the best ways to teach your kid the art of silence.
Benefit:
- Role plays help to enhance the bonding between the siblings
- They help to improve communication skills
- Role play allows the kid to explore, investigate and experiment.
- It aids the intellectual development and enhances children’s creativity
10. Music:
Join your kids in music education. Music therapy helps to deal with many brain related issues. Listening to music will help in enhancing the brain activity.
Benefits:
• Music strengthens the auditory, visual, and motor cortices
• Some research suggests that music strengthens the areas of mind which are usually weak in ADHD child.
• Listening to music enhances the levels of dopamine in the brain which enhances the focus levels in ADHD child.
11. Shopping:
For the beginners, it is a bit difficult to take the ADHD child to shopping. But some organized tips will help to make shopping with ADHD child a pleasant experience. Shopping offers the kid with ADHD a framework to learn social skills.
Benefits:
- Shopping teaches kid how to behave in the public
- It helps them to habituate good behavior
12. Art Therapy:
It is a powerful tool to help your ADHD child build problem solving and communication skills. Art therapy is the best exercise that helps your ADHD child to deal with and express the emotions like anxiety, sadness, or anger.
Benefits:
- Art therapy will help to develop mental flexibility.
- It helps in enhancing motor skills
- It develop positive interactions in the child like sharing materials and space, making compliments, and making suggestions
13. Brain Balance Programs:
It is a drug free program to help children with ADHD. It brings all the activities together at one place.
Benefits:
- Brain balance program helps in eliminating the behavioral symptoms
- It improves learning ability of the child
- Brain balance program helps in regulating the impulsivity, attention, and socially appropriate behavior.
14. Warm up Activities:
Warm up activities will help your ADHD child release excess energy and enter into creative state of mind. Some of the few warm up activities are jumping rope, jumping jacks, side leg swings, forward leg swings etc.
Benefits:
- Warm up exercises help in increasing flexibility.
- Increases blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain
- Warm up activities will strengthen the muscles
- They help in preparing the muscles for workouts
- Warm up activities help in building the strength, mobility, and coordination
You may also Read Food Items to Avoid with ADHD Children
Parenting Tips to Deal with ADHD Child:
Here are a five best parenting tips to deal with the ADHD child:
Tip 1# Maintain positive attitude:
It is the best tool to help your ADHD child deal with the behavioral issues. Develop yourself the art of positive attitude and common sense. When you are calm and focused you are more likely to connect well with your ADHD child.
Tip #2 Teach your child good sleeping habits:
Good sleeping habits will help to regulate the energy levels. It will help to deal with the stress and negative emotions. Help your ADHD child develop quality sleep habits.
Tip 3# Reduce screen time:
Encourage your child to have less screen time and more time for outdoor games.
Tip 4# Discipline your child:
It is difficult to discipline a ADHD child when compared to normal child. Both the parents should work together to learn some discipline principles to ADHD child.
Tip 5 # Create a healthy environment:
Create a healthy home environment for the development of your child. Help them to break the tasks.
In conclusion, Impulsivity and lack of focus do not allow the ADHD child to succeed. Help your child to build and develop social maturity with the best parenting tips and the activities to deal with ADHD child.
