Active Play is the Way

Active play is the way children learn, and they do this with their whole body. They learn about their world by holding, squeezing, climbing on, crawling under, dropping, poking, smelling, tasting, looking and listening.  As a caregiver, you can offer a wide variety of materials for playful learning experiences. 

Simple Everyday Objects: children enjoy using the same things adults use - pots and pans, dress up clothes, a lunch box. 

Natural and Found Materials: items such as shells, twigs, pine cones, cardboard boxes, paper tubes are easy to find and can be used in lots of ways.

Messy, Sticky, Gooey, Drippy, Squishy Things: children enjoy getting their hands into sand, water, paste, paint and dough.

Children learn by actively doing, moving, and using all their senses to understand and find answers to questions.

A Place for Pretending

“Where will I find the space for pretend play?” Keep in mind that an area for pretend play doesn’t have to take up much space. It could be in a corner or behind a sofa. Items that the children can use are things that might already be around the house:

· Large cardboard boxes for making pretend cars, stoves, desks, etc.

· Baskets, dolls, hats, and old clothes for dress-up.

· Toy telephones.

· Old pots and pans.

· A blanket to put over a table to make a house or tent.

Source: Penn State Extension Service

How To Create Painted Garden Rocks

Have a collection of smooth rocks? You can turn them into cheap art for the garden with just a bit of paint and imagination.

Here's How: Clean and dry your rock. Use a pencil to sketch out your design on the surface of the rock. It can be an animal, insect, flower or anything else that you desire. Once you're satisfied with your design, use acrylic paint to fill it in. Allow the paint to dry, and your rock is ready for its new garden home.

Tips: To make this craft easier for young kids, use black paint to create an outline of the design. Then, once it's dry, they can fill in the outlined areas just as they would a coloring book page. Wiggly eyes, buttons and other embellishments can be added to your design. For a fun alternative to plastic garden markers, paint the name of each of your plants on a rock.

Eat and Grow an Avocado

Materials needed: One or more avocados, lemon (for juice), toothpicks, crackers, forks, plastic knives, plates, carrot curls, clear plastic cup, water

 What to do: Have children wash the avocados and lemons. Select one (or more) ripe avocados. Peel the avocados and remove seeds. Cut lemons in half. Mash avocado and add lemon juice. Let children spread the mashed avocado on crackers. Top crackers with a carrot curl. Poke toothpicks into avocado seed around the mid-dle. Suspend the seed so the rounded half is down in the water, and the pointed half is out of the water. The seed should not dry out - so add water as needed. Germination takes place in about in about 30 days.  Plant the seed in a pot of dirt and watch it grow!

Beanbag Fun (for young children)

1 bean bag per child

Arrange the children in scatter formation or a circle.

Present the following bean bag challenges to the children. Repeat.

Put the bean bag on your:

arm                     elbow                   leg

shoulder               back                    hip

knee                    head                    calf

foot                      hand                    waist

The child responds by placing or touching the appropriate body part with the bean bag. Do the following with your bean bag: Balance it on your head and walk, put it on the floor and walk around it, jump over it, toss it and catch it!

Seven Jumps

Arrange the children in a circle, they can hold hands facing right which will have them move counterclockwise.

Move around the circle (slide, skip, gallop, fast walk or run). Stop the music. Everyone will touch one knee to the floor for 10 counts, then stand. Start the music and move in the opposite direction around the circle. Stop the music. Touch one knee to the floor for 5 counts, the other knee touches the floor for 10 counts, then stand. Start the music and move the opposite direction. This continues, each round add a body part as follows:

knee stomach forehead

other knee back

elbow other elbow

Kicking Fun (for very young children)

Arrange the children in 1 line facing long open area. The objective of this activity is to practice and develop kicking skill.

Kicking progresses in the following order: Push a newspaper-ball forward with foot, swing leg and contact newspaper ball with foot, take one step and kick newspaper ball with foot, take two or more steps and kick newspaper ball with foot, run, take a large step (which lifts child off the ground), kick newspaper ball.

Practice each skill, then once that skill is mastered move on to the next skill. Once the child has mastered 1-3 with a paper ball, use a foam ball, then a playground ball.

Source: USDA Team Nutrition Iowa

How to Limit Tube Time and Get Kids Moving

Experts recommend that kids get no more than 1–2 hours of TV/computer/video games a day — most kids get 4–6 hours.  Here are some ideas about how to limit kid’s sedentary time.

Have a plan. Be prepared to offer alternative activities to TV or video games. You might consider games, shooting some hoops, walking the dog or exploring a nearby park. Be active with the kids. Don’t just send them out to play — go play with them!

Plan TV watching in advance. Go through the TV guide and pick the shows you want to watch. Turn the TV on for those shows and turn it off afterwards. Don’t just watch whatever comes on next.

Avoid using TV as a reward or punishment.

Practice what you preach. The best way to influence kids’ behavior is through example.

How to Get Non-Athletes to be Physically Active

Team sports are a great way for kids to get their daily activity requirement, but competitive sports aren’t for everyone. Here are some ways to encourage the “non-athlete” to get up and get moving.

Some kids are embarrassed to participate in sports because they don’t think they’re good enough. If this is the problem, find time to practice together. This may help build confidence.

Some kids just don’t like competing in sports. That’s OK; there are lots of other ways to be active. Examples are dancing, cycling, skateboarding, yoga, walking, etc. Find out the child’s interests.

Don’t make exercise a punishment. Forcing a child to go out and play may increase resentment and resistance. Try using physical activity to counter something the child doesn’t want to do. For instance, make it the routine that the child can play for 30 minutes before starting homework after school. The child will beg for 20 more minutes outside just to put off the homework!

Source: American Heart Association

Recycle old bits of crayon...

Here’s an interesting idea that you can involve the kids in: When you wind up with the stubby ends of crayons, don’t throw them away. Rather, hold onto them until you get a bunch, then melt them in muffin pans in the oven to make multi-colored “cookies.” Guaranteed to appeal to the child who likes his coloring to incorporate a little bit of chaos.    
Source: FrugalWorld 2007

Nutrition Education teaches children about foods and how they support good health. It helps children develop healthy eating habits and positive attitudes about foods. Nutrition education activities expose children to a wider variety of foods.

Steps to plan a nutrition education activity:

• Think about the lesson you want children to learn.

• Choose an activity that will help them learn the lesson.

• Use different activities, such as arts and crafts, games, songs, cooking and role playing.
 

Think through the activity:

• Make a list of things you will need.

• Plan what you will do.

• Plan what the children will do.

Planning the activity step by step will keep the children busy rather than having to wait while you prepare the next step.
 

When to do it:

• Decide on a time to carry out the activity.

• Use the activity as a transition before mealtime to teach the children something new about food.

• Keep in mind that children will not pay attention well if they are hungry or tired.

Do the activity:

• Begin the activity by asking questions to find out what the children already know.

• Explain what they will do.

• Make the activity fun.

Follow-up after the activity:

• Ask questions to find out what children learned to reinforce the lesson.

• Remember to refer to this activity later to reinforce the lesson.

• Present a different activity at a later time to reinforce the same lesson.

• Start the follow-up lesson by talking with the children about what they learned in the original lesson.

• Songs and chants are great ways to reinforce nutrition lessons. Try making up your own song to a familiar tune.

Fun Nutrition Activities with Children

Talk about how potatoes grow. Pass around a whole potato and have the children sing, to the tune of  Mary Had a Little Lamb - “I’m a potato, brown and round, brown and round, brown and round. I’m a potato, brown and round, growing in the ground.”

Pizza Faces: Have children spread pizza sauce on half of an English muffin. They can make a face with olives (eyes) and sliced red or green peppers (smile). Provide grated cheese for hair.

Excerpted from: National Food Service Management Institute, University of Mississippi 2007