Day: November 4, 2021

Active Play with Staff Members

According to the authors of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2^nd Edition, regular physical activity can help adults reduce the risk of many ailments, manage weight, reduce stress, get better sleep, and simply feel better overall.

Teachers working with young children in early learning environments tend to be more active than people working in other fields, due to the need to keep up with the children in their care. Even with the possibility of higher levels of activity, there could also be extended periods of inactivity in early learning environments so it is important to look for opportunities to encourage employees to increase their physical activity.

Here are a few ideas:

• Take a walk with staff. Have a meeting scheduled with a staff member? Consider taking the meeting outside. Walk around the building a few times while you discuss the meeting topic or brainstorm ideas for your next event.
• Stretch prior to meetings. Spend a few minutes at the beginning of staff meetings doing a few slow, simple stretches. This gives staff a chance to release some of the tension of the day and refocus on the meeting topics.
• Host step competitions. Hold a series of friendly competitions to see who can get the most steps in a day. The recommended number of steps for adults is 10,000 per day. Provide staff with inexpensive step counters (pedometers) to help them track their activity. Award prizes for accomplishments for each day, week, and month.
• Dance breaks. Find opportunities within your day to move your body in a joyful way. Encourage teachers, children, and families to join in the fun.
• Include physical activities into professional development days. Long days of sitting and listening to presenters can be broken up with planned 10-minute periods of physical activity. These team-building and self-care activities will help participants return their attention to the important information being shared.

For the main article Opportunities for Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Types of Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for School-Age Children, CLICK HERE

Active Play Ideas for School-Age Children

School-age children enjoy exploring a variety of traditional sports and making up their own games. They create and adapt rules throughout their play. Their cognitive and social-emotional development are better suited for the competition that often accompanies these activities.

Some school-agers also enjoy organizing and creating events and competitions. Other children just want to sprint and tag one another. Follow their interests as they explore their interest in physical activities.

To help children meet the recommendations for at least 60 minutes of active play per day, programs can:

• Invite guest coaches – welcome coaches and players from high school or college teams to visit your program and introduce skills to children.
• Provide sports equipment – after introducing different games, make sure children have access to a variety of sports equipment.
• Offer classes – Work with martial arts and dance instructors in the community to offer classes to the children enrolled in the program.
• Community walks – Take field trips to well-maintained hiking and walking paths.
• Cheering – encourage children to create different school spirit cheers and dances.
• Mini competitions – hold contests that encourage children to jump rope, do push-ups, or do jumping jacks for a certain amount of time or a set number of repetitions.
• Relay races – This resource describes 45 variations of relay races that you could try.
• Yoga and stretching – help children strengthen muscles, improve balance, and build flexibility with kid-friendly yoga and stretching activities. These are great for helping children transition to and from your program in the mornings and afternoons.
• Curriculum links – look for opportunities to link physical activities to curriculum topics. For example, if you are exploring local habitats, take the children on a nature walk.

*When working with children with disabilities, consult with the child’s family and physical therapist to determine the best types of activity for the child and ways to adapt certain activities to meet the child’s active play needs.

For the main article Opportunities for Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Types of Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play with Staff Members, CLICK HERE

Active Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Young children are naturally active. They enjoy moving their bodies in new and creative ways. As coordination and muscle strength improve, young children will explore climbing, rolling, and throwing. In the classroom, these activities don’t always align with adult plans or safety standards.  Rather than attempting to change the nature of child development, educators should find safe and fun ways for children to practice their emerging skills with guidance and encouragement.

Generally speaking, toddlers and preschoolers are too young for organized sports. They are still developing the cognitive and self-regulation skills that will help them succeed in these activities in the future.  Here are activities that will instill a love of physical activity that meet children where they are developmentally:

• Follow the leader games – be sure to incorporate bone-, balance- and flexibility-building movements.
• Obstacle courses – include jumping jacks, dancing, crawling, and kicking stations. Older children can help design these activities by making up stations or picking from a stack of activity cards.
• Bikes and trikes – riding toys help children build muscle strength and coordination. Set up different routes for children to follow from time to time.
• Throwing games – beanbags, snowballs, and traditional sports balls can all be used to build tossing and catching skills.
• Climbing – opportunities to climb should be encouraged indoors and on the playground. Indoor climbing areas are especially important during periods of time when children do not have access to outdoor play spaces.
• Movement transitions – as children move through the daily routine, ask them to march, move like butterflies, or tiptoe.
• Tag and relay races – introduce different types of tag and relay races that promote gross-motor and cooperation skills.
• Yoga and stretching games – add a few simple yoga or stretching poses into morning meetings, nap preparation, and transitioning from outdoors to indoors.
• Big body play – explore resources related to big body play (sometimes called rough and tumble play) and determine how it might fit into your program.

*When working with children with disabilities, consult with the child’s family and physical therapist to determine the best types of activity for the child and ways to adapt certain activities to meet the child’s active play needs.

For the main article Opportunities for Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Types of Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for School-Age Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play with Staff Members, CLICK HERE

Types of Active Play

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, physical activity is defined as:

Any bodily movement produced by the contraction of skeletal muscle that increases energy expenditure above a basal level.

But did you know that not all activity is the same?  There are different levels of activity intensity:

• Light-intensity activity includes leisurely strolls and light housekeeping.
• Moderate-intensity activity includes brisk walks and yardwork.
• Vigorous-intensity activity includes jogging or shoveling heavy snow.

In addition to different levels of activity, there are also different types of activities that should be included in daily activities. These types of activities include:

• Aerobic activities – sustained large muscle movement that raises the heart rate. Walking, running, swimming, and biking are common examples of aerobic activity.
• Muscle-strengthening activities – repeated movement of muscles moving against a source of resistance. Resistance can be provided by weights, elastic bands, or body weight. Squats, lunges, and push-ups are examples of this type of activity.
• Bone-strengthening activities – movements that create a force or impact on the bones. Climbing stairs, dancing, and hiking are examples of exercises that promote bone strength.
• Balance activities – movements that strengthen muscles responsible for keeping us upright. Yoga, standing on one foot, and using a balance beam help us improve balance to prevent falls.
• Flexibility activities – movements that increase the range of motion in our joints help improve flexibility. Stretching and yoga are great exercises for building flexibility.

There are some activities that fall into multiple categories of activity. For example, walking would be considered an aerobic and bone-strengthening activity and if you add ankle weights to your walk, you will also be strengthening your muscles, too.

These types of activities are important for people of all ages. The Department of Health and Human Services reports:

Physical activity also has brain health benefits for school-aged children, including improved cognition and reduced symptoms of depression. Evidence indicates that both acute bouts and regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity improve the cognitive functions of memory, executive function, processing speed, attention, and academic performance for these children. 

The remaining sections of the newsletter will provide examples of how educators can incorporate these types of activities into the daily routine.

Adapted from Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2^nd Edition.

For the main article Opportunities for Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for School-Age Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play with Staff Members, CLICK HERE

Opportunities for Active Play

By now, you have probably heard about the importance of regular physical activity. You are likely aware that establishing strong physical activity habits at a young age increases the chance of maintaining healthy activity levels into adulthood.  The list of benefits of physical activity is long and includes:

• Improved heart health
• Weight management
• Better bone health
• Decreased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer
• Improved sleep
• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Better cognitive functioning
• Improved quality of life

Experts have established recommendations for physical activity that state:

• Preschool children should have opportunities for physical activity throughout each day.
• School-age children should engage in moderate-to-vigorous activity for at least 1 hour each day.
• Adults should accumulate 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, such as brisk walking.

In this month’s newsletter, we will explore ways that early learning programs can help children and adults meet these recommendations and take advantage of the benefits that physical activity provides.

For the article Types of Active Play, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play Ideas for School-Age Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Active Play with Staff Members, CLICK HERE