Packing a Backpack for School
Preparing the backpack for school might be a stressful activity. Even elementary school kids carry gear to and from school. Before picking up a backpack, its weight is often underestimated. New courses and extracurriculars are added as students progress through school, increasing their load. Rucksacks for high school students weigh between 16 and 20 pounds (Lee et al., 2021). The student may need to carry an additional bag depending on extracurricular activities.
Backpack Activity and Key Actions
Parents engage in several activities to design a functional backpack. This includes discovering an appropriate backpack for students. Locating a proper backpack is the first step in developing a useful backpack. Unless it has wheels, a large backpack can be strenuous for young children, especially those with difficulty in motor skills. The principal task is to create categories, and then organize all of the supplies in the classroom. School supplies should be arranged logically, for instance, by grouping writing instruments such as pens, pencils, and highlighters. Folders and books need to be sorted out to go with the notebooks.
Fine Motor Skills
Children who have developed their motor skills are better able to move around, play, and eat independently. Not all children reach motor skill milestones at the same age. Hand-eye coordination includes coordinating the hands and sight. Fine motor abilities help children learn to wield a pencil and form letters in the classroom and real life when caring for their health and cleanliness (Caramia et al., 2020). They will find zippers, buttons, Velcro, and buttons easier to use for shoes and personal hygiene. Academic success and becoming confident, self-reliant young adults require these skills.
Gross Motor and Visual Perception Skills
Training is required for one’s gross motor abilities in the arms, legs, and trunk. Walking, running, throwing, lifting, kicking, etc., rely on gross motor skills. Developing a child’s muscle and core strength increases self-esteem. Children’s motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and muscle control can all benefit from these types of physical activity (Caramia et al., 2020). Making assault courses in the backyard, park, or woods is a fun way to start a PE program. The term “visual perception” describes how the human brain processes visual data to make it meaningful. Vision is crucial for learning to read, write, and move about. Homework, puzzles, and even getting dressed can become significant sources of anxiety for kids who do not have gross motor skills.
Oral Motor Skills
“Oral motor development” involves the proper function and use of the lip, tongue, jaw, teeth, and hard and soft palates. Speech production, safe swallowing, and enjoying a variety of food textures depend on these structures. Taste and texture discrimination is essential for health, well-being, and digestive system efficiency. Children with oral discriminating issues may develop food aversions, become inattentive while eating, or avoid particular foods due to texture, flavor, or warmth. Because of texture variances, they may make a mess when eating. Oral bias affects both speech and oral hygiene.
Social, Cognitive, and Sensory Skills
Teaching students social skills can positively or negatively affect their behavior. Social skills help teens succeed in school, stay healthy, and avoid bullies and drugs. Students need cognitive skills to succeed in school. Academic success requires reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, remembering, problem-solving, and understanding. They encourage creative problem-solving. Discussions about the content at hand are strongly encouraged. Lastly, they assist students in comprehending the links between concepts.
Proposed Age Range
Children grow up and want to take on more responsibilities; this includes everything from making their waffles in the toaster to cleaning up their rooms with a vacuum. Between the ages of 4 and 8, children begin to participate in developmental milestones and backpack activities. Children of this age are capable of serving themselves cold cereal with juice or milk. A child of eight years old may be capable of using a toaster oven to warm breakfast foods like muffins and bagels. As early as age 8, a child should be able to pack his backpack for school, including his lunch, snacks, and any instruments or sports equipment he might need for the day. Until then, parents should assist them in amassing the necessary materials.
Upgrades of School Backpack
Backpacks for school have many upgrades, which include the following. A good backpack has enough room for daily requirements, compartments, and features to keep a student-organized. Backpacks make carrying books, clothes, and other items easy. Weight and contents will not matter as much as convenience and security. A backpack helps one to carry more, keep your hands free, and maintain a more comfortable carrying position (Perrone et al., 2018). Backpacks are safe ways to carry items. Most backpacks are watertight, lightweight, and flexible and protect objects well. A backpack makes it harder for thieves to steal other students’ belongings.
Downgrades of School Backpack
There are several problems associated with backpacks, which contribute to their decreased desirability. Putting an unbalanced load on your shoulders can cause you to take a step backward. Therefore, it is common for people carrying big backpacks to lean forward. Shoulder, neck, and back pain are all possible outcomes of this high load and awkward position. Secondly, when students carry books in slinging bag backpacks over one shoulder, they could find themselves slouching to one side to compensate for the imbalance (Perrone et al., 2018). This strains their neck and shoulders, and they end up with lower back pain as a result. Thirdly, if the straps on their backpack are too small and dig into their shoulders, they may experience tingling, numbness, and weakness in their arms and hands.
References
Caramia, S., Gill, A., Ohl, A., & Schelly, D. (2020). Fine motor activities in elementary school children: a replication study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(2), 7402345010p1-7402345010. Web.
Lee, J. C., Li, S. S., & Chow, D. H. (2021). School backpack design: A systematic review and a summary of design items. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 103166, 84. Web.
Perrone, M., Orr, R., Hing, W., Milne, N., & Pope, R. (2018). The impact of backpack loads on school children: A critical narrative review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(11), 2529. Web.