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Activity Tips

Encourage your kids to be active and play everyday. Small amounts of physical activity, when it adds up to 60 minutes throughout the day, can really make a difference. Below are a few Activity Tips to get young kids and adults moving together.

 

THINGS TO REMEMBER

• Set time limits for the Television and Computer screen
  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children’s screen time to 2 hours per day. They recommend NO screen time for children under 2 years of age.
• Make Family Time Active
  Encourage all family members to get moving and have fun together!

 

 

 

WAYNE COUNTY PARKS & RECREATION AREAS

• Find your local recreation park. Hours are typically dusk to dawn.
• We will continue to add links and park locaitons to the Wayne County Map below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IDEAS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

 

Heartbeat Beat Boogie

1.      Make a muscle in your arm. Feel it.

2.      Make a fist… your heart is the same size as your fist. Your heart is the most important muscle in your body.

3.      Put on some fast pace music and dance.

4.      After the song is over, have child(ren) place their hand on their chest. Feel how hard it is beating. You need to get your heart beating fast everyday to grow up strong and healthy.

5.      Let child calm down and feel their heart again. It is beating slower now that you have stopped moving.

6.      Every day we use muscles in our arms and legs and also our heart.

 

 

Activity Alphabet

1.      We are going to move our bodies and pretend we are different moving objects

and animals.

2.      “A” is for astronaut, what do astronauts do? Show me how to be an astronaut.

Take big steps through space, etc.

3.      “L” is for lion, let’s pretend we are lions

4.      Choose other letters and activities.

 

Imaginary Trips

Children love imaginary play. Use these themes to act out the activities going on at these places:

·        A day at the beach

·        A visit to a farm

·        Playing at the park

·        Climbing a mountain

 

Adapted from “Color Me Healthy” -- North Carolina Cooperative Extension

 

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IDEAS FOR SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN

 

Abdominal Tag

1.      Set cones out to serve as boundaries for the playing area.

2.      Tell the group they’re going to play “Abdominal Tag.” Have them scatter around the playing area. Ask for one to two volunteers to start out as “chasers” who will be identified by wearing pinnies or by scarves tied around their arms.

3.      When I give the signal, the chasers will try to tag other people. If you’re tagged, you must lie on your back and put your feet and hands in the air with your toes and fingers pointed toward the ceiling or sky. This position will help strengthen your abdominal or stomach muscles. When you’re tagged, you can’t let your hands or feet touch the ground. This is so you won’t trip the chasers and they won’t step on you.

4.       To become unfrozen, you must be tagged on the hand by a free runner.

5.      Change chasers frequently and vary the movement (such as running, walking, hopping or skipping) the chasers and the escapers use when chasing and fleeing.

Circle Keep Away

1.      Divide the children into four-person groups.

2.      Have three members of each group form a triangle, with the fourth player standing in the middle of the triangle. Give each team a playground ball.

3.      Explain that the kids who are the triangle are going to try to keep the ball away from the person in the middle using straight passes or bounce passes. The kid in the middle should try to steal each pass.

4.      If the kid in the middle gets the ball, he or she trades places with the person on the triangle who tried to pass the ball. Likewise, if a child on the outside makes a bad pass or drops a good pass, that person switches places with the kid in the middle.

5.      Encourage the kids to keep the game moving quickly.

6.      After 10 minutes of play, have the groups stop. Discuss with them the strategies you’ve seen them use. For example:

·        Making the triangle bigger

·        Using bounce passes

·        Faking one way and moving another

7.      Resume play and encourage the kids to use the new strategies they’ve discussed.

 

Adapted from “Jump into Foods and Fitness” -- Michigan State University Extension