Stretching should play a role in any personal health and wellness program. Stretching is essential for helping keep your muscles and other connective tissue flexible, as well as for encouraging regular circulation throughout your body. These benefits can decrease your risks for injury and help maintain adequate range of motion. Help children develop stretching habits at a young age by introducing simple stretches that you can do together. This will help develop healthy habits at an early age for future benefit.
Toe Touch
A toe touch stretch is one of the most basic stretches a child can perform. This stretch targets largely the muscles of the legs, especially the calves and hamstrings. From a standing position, the child bends over at the waist and reaches for his toes with his feet together. If he can't quite reach his toes, he can stretch just as far as is comfortable. From a sitting position, the child sits with legs outstretched and together. The child then bends forward once again, reaching for the toes or as far as is comfortable. In both stretches, the child should hold the stretch for 15 seconds and then release.
Neck and Shoulder Circles
The child starts by looking towards the ceiling. She then rolls her head around in a circle clockwise for a full rotation, and then counter-clockwise in the other direction. Slow movements are important to protect the neck muscles from injury. Next, the child shrugs her shoulders and rotates them forward and down in a circle. Switch directions after five or six turns by shrugging the shoulders and then moving backwards in a circle.
Arm Circles
Arm circles can be used to stretch the muscles supporting the elbow and shoulder joint where the arm attaches to the shoulder. The child holds his arms out to the side, creating a horizontal line with his arms. The child then paints circles with his hands, starting with small circles and slowly growing to large circles, then back to smaller circles. Start first by drawing circles clockwise, and then reverse to counter-clockwise. Keep the movements slow, and prevent the child from just flailing his arms around.
Child's Pose
The child's pose is a stretch taken from yoga, but can also be used outside of yoga as part of your child's stretching routine for more of a full body stretch. To perform the child's pose, the child gets on her knees with her feet together. The child then sits on her heels and bend her body forward until the forehead touches the ground. Bring the arms around to each side of the body, resting with her palms facing towards the sky. Hold the pose for 30 seconds, then return back to an upright kneeling position.
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