Growth & Body
Typically, children in middle childhood gain about this many pounds per year
What is 5-7 pounds?
This type of motor skill involves large muscle movements like running, jumping, and swimming.
What are gross motor skills?
According to the CDC, children whose BMI is at or above this percentile for their age are considered obese.
What is the 95th percentile?
By age 7, the brain has reached this percentage of its
What is adult size?
This is the most common vision problem in middle childhood.
What is nearsightedness (or myopia)?
While growth is slower than early childhood, this part of the body grows faster than the trunk, leading to a lanky appearance.
What are the limbs/extremities?
This type of motor skill improves dramatically, allowing children to write, draw, and play musical instruments.
What are fine motor skills?
This chronic respiratory disease is common in school-aged children and is triggered by allergies, cold air, or exercise.
What is asthma?
This process increases the speed of information processing and reaction time in the brain.
What is myelination?
This term refers to the lack of recognition from parents that their child is overweight.
What is "oblivobesity"?
This term describes the phenomenon where children of immigrants are often taller than their parents due to better nutrition.
What is the secular trend in growth?
These often replace simple skills, allowing for activities like riding a two-wheeler, jumping rope, or soccer.
What are complex abilities/coordinated movements?
Many school districts rely on selling this type of food in the lunchroom to earn revenue, despite contributing to poor nutrition.
What is junk food/vending machine snacks?
This area of the brain, responsible for planning and coordinating, continues to develop between 10 and 12 years of age.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This is the minimum amount of daily, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommended for children by health experts.
What is 60 minutes?
This type of pain often occurs at night during middle childhood due to long bone growth stretching muscles and ligaments.
What are growing pains?
In terms of gross motor skills, this gender tends to outperform the other during middle childhood.
Who are boys?
This is the best solution for managing weight in children, rather than restrictive dieting.
What is increasing physical activity/exercise?
This part of the brain responsible for memory shows increased myelination, allowing children to process information faster.
What is the hippocampus?
This is the top reason children stop playing organized team sports.
What is "they were not having fun"?
During this period, the body typically slims down and gains in this, allowing for more strenuous physical activity.
What is muscle strength?
This type of activity involves wrestling, chasing, and laughing, which helps children build muscle and develop social skills.
What is rough-and-tumble play?
This is a condition that does not involve an immune response but causes unpleasant symptoms (e.g., lactose intolerance).
What is a food intolerance?
The loss of density in gray matter during this period reflects the "pruning" of these, which actually makes the brain more efficient.
What are unused dendrites/synapses?
High, constant levels of stress can reduce the size of the hippocampus by producing too much of this hormone.
What is cortisol?