Physical activity can have an enormous impact on improving a child’s physical and emotional well-being. A study led by Kristen Copeland, MD, division of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Faculty Scholar reveals that, many of the three quarters of preschool-age children in the U.S. who attend child care get insufficient outdoor physical activity.
Three primary obstacles to
children's physical activity were identified:
- Financial limitations
- Injury worries
- More focus on academics than outdoor activities
- Teachers felt pressure from both upper- and lower-income parents
- Playgrounds are less physically challenging and interesting to children due to recent stricter licensing codes.
Some interesting examples of outdoor activities incorporated in some of the child care centers in USA
include:
Girls on Track: is a year-long
program in Vermont that uses games, interactive learning, and
training workouts to expose middle
school girls to healthy lifestyle choices. The program
begins with an intensive eight-week
summer session, where the girls train for a 5K race
and explore a number of relevant issues
including goal-setting, addressing challenges and
overcoming barriers, building
self-esteem and positive body image, and understanding the
importance of good nutrition.
VERB™: It’s what you do is
a national campaign coordinated by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention to encourage
young people ages 9 to13 to be physically active
every day.
Planet Health:
is an interdisciplinary curriculum developed by the Harvard School
of Public
Health to teach
middle school students about nutrition and physical activity. Four
simple
health themes can
be integrated into physical education, language arts, math, science,
and
social studies
classes
The benefits
of being active for young children include:
- Growth and development
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Building strong bones and muscles
- Improving cardiovascular fitness, balance, coordination and strength,posture and sleep,concentration and thinking skills,confidence and self-esteem
- Maintaining and developing flexibility
- Assisting with the development of gross motor and fine motor skills
- Providing the opportunity to develop fundamental movement skills
- Helping to establish connections between different parts of the brain
- Relieving stress and promoting relaxation
- Providing opportunities to develop social skills and make friends
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