Who Knew? Kids + Work = Gain

From the Department of Duh comes this finding. My guess is some toy corporation staged this study in order to point to it when the new weighted toys line is rolled out.

Weighted toys may help kids get fit during playtime

NEW YORK (Reuters Health, by Charnicia E. Huggins) - Adding weights to children's toys may help them improve their fitness during playtime, the results of a small study suggest...

Their study included five boys and five girls, who were an average of 7.5 years old, who were randomly assigned to carry either large, cardboard toy blocks that weighed less than a quarter of a pound (0.10 kilograms) or blocks that weighed about 3.4 pounds (1.55 kilograms).

The weighted toys had small steel blocks glued inside the larger blocks. The children picked up the blocks, one at a time, and carried them with two hands over approximately 26 feet. Days later, the children were assigned to the opposite type of toy block and repeated the activity.

Overall, after an average of 10 minutes of carrying weighted blocks, the children experienced significantly greater increases in heart rate, oxygen uptake and energy expenditure than they did after carrying the lighter blocks, study findings indicate.

"Handling heavier objects, either through play or instruction, may provide opportunities to increase workload intensity in a benign manner allowing for subsequent improvements in children's physical fitness," Ozmun's group concludes.


Image from a vinyl decal offered by Signs by You