As a certified K-12 grade Health and Physical Education teacher in the State of Pennsylvania and a childcare worker I see children getting fatter. Children need to work on the three key elements of fitness endurance, strength and flexibility. Endurance is developed over time as children participate in aerobic activities. During aerobic activities the heart beats faster and they breathe faster. When done regularly over time it strengthens the heart and improves the body’s ability to circulate oxygen.
Elementary schools across the United States are trying to fight the battle of the bulge. Children need to exercise more! It has been recommended children over the age of two get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise on most day preferably all days of the week. Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. Today 1 out of 3 children are considered overweight or obese in the United States. If the rates continue at this pace 75% of children will be overweight or obese by 2015. Programs have been started during recess to encourage children to walk laps to earn prizes. However children naturally want to run. How many times do you hear children saying I’ll race you to the car! Across the country elementary school are starting running programs to help lower the obesity rate among school age children as well as many other health benefits. Today you can find hundreds of running races that encourage children to finish the race. Races are turning up that are “children only races”. By following these simple guidelines you could have a running group started in no time at next to no cost.
Have you ever wanted to help your child get in shape for a sport, or loss weight? Why not start a running group to help your child and any other child in the school do the same? The group will help the children progress from walking to running at a pace that’s right for each child and help prepare them to comfortably finish the 1 mile fun run/ 5k race. The children will have a period of time they run followed by a period of time that they walk. The first thing to do is to make sure all participants have an updated physical and parental permission to participate in a running group. You should write a letter explaining why the group is being started. Do not let anyone run if the form is not signed. Parents challenge your child and run the race with them!!! Finishing is the most important thing.
I have found two products that are specially made with children exercising in mind. They are the Youth Timex Collection Tween Digital and Timex IronKids sports watch. Children like to see how fast or how long they run. What better way to encourage children to exercise is by having their very own watch? The Youth Timex Collection can be clipped the child’s belt loop making it easy to workout and share. The Timex IronKids watch is the first child’s sport watch with fun colors and easy to use features. It comes in two colors variations blue/black and pink/silver.
Begin the session with about 15 minutes of stretching. The stretching should not be ballistic or bouncing in style but rather stretch and hold it for about 20 seconds. The children could run at there own pace or partner up with a friend. Make sure to emphasize they should be able to talk clearly without huffing and puffing while they run. If they can’t talk they are running to fast and should slow down. Also emphasize the goal is to finish.
The children run in a field or parking lot that has a coned off area. They run the coned area like they would run around the track (continuously the same loop). Blow a whistle to indicate the time to run and blew and yell run at the end of the run session I would blow the whistle again and yell walk. The cycle continues until the activity is complete.
Program Overview
Week 1 -Run 1 minute followed by walk 1 minute continuing this rotation until the total time is about 20 minutes
Week 2 -Run 2 minutes followed by walk 1 minute continuing this rotation until the total time is about 20 minutes
Week 3 -Run 3 minutes followed by walk 1 minute continuing this rotation until the total time is about 20 minutes.
Continue adding a minute a week to the running if the group is adjusting quicker add 2 minutes. If the children need to walk at anytime during the run rotation they should have it be a brisk walk.