Head Start children work on their throwing skills with HSBS Physical Activity Consultant, Terri Braun.

It’s official. It’s THE PERFECT TIME to rededicate yourself to getting the children in your world physically active!

Why this week? 

It’s Screen Free Week and National Physical Education Week!

What does physical activity and physical education look like in the early years? Active play, of course!

Through active play, young children learn the fundamental movement skills while also learning to enjoy moving their bodies. Focusing on active play versus screen time and other sedentary activities in the early years can help children develop the love of movement and set them on the path to a healthy lifestyle.

Visit HSBS for a variety of resources to help you incorporate movement across the curriculum. Educators will also find free online courses and webinars. Parents can download our Healthy Homes Activity Sheets and monthly Get Moving Today! Activity Calendars.

Work with or have older children? Visit the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) for activity ideas and resources.

So what are you waiting for?! It’s time to move, play, and learn!

To keep up on related news and events, look for the hashtags #ScreenFreeWk and #NatPEWeek across social media platforms. And don’t forget to let us know how you are celebrating.

Unplug and go play outdoors! ~ Bethe  

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the Center Director for Head Start Body Start. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

7.5 = number of hours of screen time school aged children experience daily

32 = number of hours of television preschoolers watch weekly

19 = percentage of infants one year and under with televisions in their rooms

25,000 = average number of television commercials a preschooler sees

Sometimes when you mention Screen Free Week to adults they get a little freaked out. But there is no need to freak out, folks. Screen Free in this case dose not mean you can’t work or attend to emails. Or that children cannot do schoolwork that requires a screen.

What this week and all of us that celebrate it want folks to do is take a step back from all recreational or leisure screen use for a week — TV, video games, iPhone apps, etc. If it doesn’t need to get done, we’re asking you to take it off the table for a week.

Why, you ask?

Good question! Here are a few reasons to ponder:

1.  It’s no secret that most of us — and certainly children — spend too much time in front of screens. Screen time is associated with a host of health problems and behavior issues, including obesity, attention span issues, and sleep disturbances.
2. For children, screen time is a barrier to creative, self-directed play.
3. It’s indoors and predominantly inactive.  Today only 10% of children get outside on a daily basis. Outdoor play is associated with many health and learning benefits.
4. It will give you the opportunity to connect more as a family. Try game night, a cookout, family walks, etc. Unplug and get connected!
5. It will also give you time to really assess how much screen time you are spending and experience the benefits of a life less tethered to devices. How do you feel? Do you notice any difference in your child’s mood, behavior, or energy level?

So, join us and people across the globe April 30th – May 6th, 2012 for Screen Free Week! Visit the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood to download your free Organizer’s Kit and get more information.

Good luck, and let us know what you have planned!

Unplug and go play outdoors! ~ Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the Center Director for Head Start Body Start. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

The movement to save play and return childhood to its magical, less harried roots continues to gain momentum. We’ve been so excited by the creativity that play advocates are using to spread the word!

Here are just a few of our favorites from around the web:

•  Right Where You Are Now video, which for some strange reason, refuses to embed today. (Ugghh!)

From Marghanita at the Let’s Go Outside Revolution .

From Peekaboo Beans™.

From Kari at Active Kids Club.

From Explorations Early Learning LLC.

From Jenny Kable at Let the Children Play.

From STIHL®.

From The Grass Stain Guru.

From Head Start Body Start.

Fun. Thought provoking. Colorful. Powerful. Everything a movement needs to gain speed and get people on board.

Don’t see your favorite here? Post the link in the comments section below! We love discovering more gems like the ones above.

Get involved. Speak up. Join the Save Play Movement.

Playfully yours, Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the Center Director for Head Start Body Start. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

"Dance is the song of the body." ~ Martha Graham

We’re not monkeying around, the entry period for the Curious George Dance Contest has arrived!

This season on PBS KIDS® Curious George is learning all about the arts, including dance. Dance is a great way for young children to express themselves, and a fun way to be physically active! Educators and parents are invited to enter a video of children dancing to the Curious George theme song for a chance to appear on a Curious George DVD and other great prizes!

How fun is that?!

Head Start Body Start is excited to partner with Curious George on this contest to encourage little movers nationwide! In fact, I get to be one of the judges. Sometimes I really love my job!

Click here to learn more about the contest and how you and your child can enter. You can also find lots of activities from Curious George and his friends at PBS KIDS®.

Have fun and happy dancing!

Playfully yours,  Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the HSBS Education & Outreach Director. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

Top photo credit: Michele Mojher Reyzer

Physical activity is not just good for their bodies — for young children it is an important component of early brain development and learning. When adults model and teach the importance of physical activity, young children are more likely to adopt a lifetime of healthful practices and behaviors.

1. Practice spelling out the alphabet with your arms, using big motions. Then, try it with your feet!
2. Have a wheeled toy rodeo! Get out the wagons, push toys and tricycles and set up rodeo events — like weaving through cones and following chalk pathways.
3. Slide down a hill on a big piece of cardboard or push and pull friends around while they sit in a cardboard box.
4. Break out the pool noodles and play “Bumper Cars” — hold one end of the pool noodle in each hand, forming a U shape in front of you. Move around the track, bumping into other “cars”. Once cars bump, they have to jump five times before they can start again.
5. Add some hay bales to your play space. Not only do these look great, but the children can work together to move them around the play space. They will love having something new to climb over, sit on, jump off and more.
6. Play Throwing and/or Kicking Golf!  Using either throwing over hand, under hand, or kicking – pick a target (i.e., mailbox, a tree, a light pole, the corner of the house); you can either share a ball or each have your own ball. The goal is to take turns throwing or kicking the ball toward the target just like in golf. Use different locomotor movements to travel to the object each time. Keep track of the number of kicks/throws it takes to the target.
7. Spread paper plates on the ground. Pretend they are rocks in a stream. Get from one side to the other without stepping in the stream.
8. Work on moving in different ways. Go outside and practice walking, running, galloping, skipping, jumping and hopping.
9. Time to march! Pretend to have your favorite instrument and march as you play. Can someone guess what instrument you are playing? Bring real instruments outside and march in a band with friends.
10. Rainbow Run- talk about the colors of the rainbow as you name colors, run & touch 3 things that are that color.
11. Go for a walk. Breath in the air as you swing your arms and hold your head high. First go in straight lines, then curvy lines, and then try walking backwards.
12. Get outside and practice running. When you are running work on pumping your arms front and back and moving in a straight line.
13. Set up an obstacle course using things to jump over, go around, and even under. See how fast you can do it.
14. Find an open space and work on rolling in different ways…long, straight body and a curled up small body. Rolling down a hill is fun!
15. Blow bubbles outdoors. Chase and catch the bubble before it pops. If it’s winter, you may even be able to freeze the bubbles!
16. Pretend you are at a zoo. Identify an animal. then move and make sounds like that animal. ROAR!
17. Pretend to be a growing flower. First you are a tiny seed in the ground and then grow into a big flower.
18. Pretend to be a balloon – first without air, being blown up, floating around, and then being popped.
19. Act like the weather! Use your body to pretend to be different types of weather. Rain, wind, thunder, snow…get creative.
20. Pretend to move like different foods- melt like a popsicle or pop like popcorn.

Whatever you do, have fun and let the children see that you enjoy moving, too! Unplugged, creative and active play is the cornerstone of a happy, healthy childhood.

Get silly and get going — it’s good for your body, mind and spirit. 

Top  photo credit: epSos.de

“I like to play indoors better ‘cause that’s where all the electric outlets are.”

-   A 4th Grader in San Diego, quoted in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Many of us remember the phrase, “Go outside and play!” from childhood, but children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation (Clements, 2004; Hofferth and Curtin, 2006). Free play and discretionary time has declined more than 9 hours a week over the last 25 years. A new Nielson Company Report indicates that children ages two-five years old now spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a TV screen. According to the Keiser Family Foundation (2010), the amount of screen time only increases with age, with school-aged children spending 7.5 hours a day on electronic media.

The percentage of preschool children who are overweight more than tripled between 1971 and 2009, exploding from 5.8% in 1971 to 18.4% in 2009 (Odgen et al, 2007; Anderson, 2009). Six out of ten of these preschoolers will continue to be overweight or obese at age 12 (NICHD, 2006). The situation is so severe that this generation of children’s life span is predicted to be shorter than that of their parents.

Tap into the benefits of outdoor play!

Encouraging children to get outside, get moving, and connect with the natural world are all ways to reverse childhood obesity rates. But, the benefits don’t stop there.  Kids who play outside are happier, healthier, and stronger!

According to research (Fjortoft 2004; Burdette and Whitaker 2005), children who play outdoors regularly:

• Become fitter and leaner
• Develop stronger immune systems
• Have more active imaginations
• Have lower stress levels
• Play more creatively
• Have greater respect for themselves and others

Time spent outdoors is also the best way to get vitamin D. According to the journal Pediatrics, 70% of American kids are not getting enough vitamin D, which can lead to a host of health issues. Time spent outdoors is also shown to reduce myopia (nearsightedness) in children (Optometry and Vision Science, 2008).

Get outdoors!

Here are a few resources to help you take it outside:

• Trail Link will help you find a trail nearby.
• Find parks, nature centers and special events with Naturefind.
• Get lots of outdoor activity ideas from Nature Rocks.
• Learn about natural playgrounds and related topics in HSBS webinars on demand.

No matter what you do, make sure to make time to get you and the children in your world outside!

Playfully yours, Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the HSBS Education & Outreach Director. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

Top  photo credit: Uli Emmanuel

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.”

~Abraham Maslow

Head Start Body Start is proud to announce our newest addition to our website and the early childhood community — the HSBS Online Resource Guide!

We’ve developed an inventory of high quality, developmentally appropriate, and up-to-date resources related to early childhood physical activity, active play and nutrition. This user-friendly tool allows you to search by different types of resources (outdoor and nature, music and movement, etc.) and much more.

Find books, DVDs, websites and a host of other formats to help you meet the needs of today’s diverse classrooms, including inclusion resources for children with disabilities and special needs.  Our Online Resource Guide is designed for those working with young children from birth to five (0-5).

So, what are you waiting for? Come take a test drive of our new tool!

Playfully yours, Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the HSBS Education & Outreach Director. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

 Top photo credit: tanya_little

Editor’s Note: It may be winter, but what better time to dream and make plans for water-filled fun in your play space when the weather warms up?! Thanks to the charming Jenny Kable for this inspiring post! ~ Bethe

 

Image: Teacher Tom

Image from Preschool Daze Image: Instructables Water Courses

A custom water play sculpture set into the sand area:

Sand and water play areas with children pumping their own water into sand pits:

Katoomba Preschool @ Ric Mcconaghy

Abbortsford Long Day Care Centre @ Ric Mconaghy

Joey Club @ Ric Mcconaghy

Dog Lick Faucet

Friday Five –> Pronunciation:Fri•day ’fiv –> Function: Noun

Definition: Sampling of articles and blog posts that caught our eye that will be of interest to Head Start, parent and early childhood education communities.

Happy 2012, folks!

And talk about a hot topic – PLAY had a big week, this first week of the new year. It was hard to pick only five pieces to feature! (In fact, you might notice I snuck a sixth piece in. Shhhhhh!)

 This week’s Friday 5:

1. This week, there was a lot of buzz about young children’s inactivity, especially in day care centers. Med Page Today posed some interesting questions in their piece, Playgrounds Too Safe to Keep Little Kids Active.
2. A really important article in the Washington Post discussed parents as obstacles to children’s play, and we couldn’t agree more.
3. According to pediatricians (Reuters), poor children are missing out on play time.
4. Time gave a rally call for outdoor play with, Funding Public Parks Could Save Lives.
5. And ending our list on a high note, PLAY ranks highly in this list of 25 Things to Do More of in 2012.

So much great work is going on around the globe to promote play as a vital part of the overall health and optimal development for children. It makes me really optimistic that the play tipping point is close at hand!

Did anything catch your eye this week?! 

We would love to know about it — so please share it in the comments section.

Don’t forget to get outside and play this weekend. It’s good for the mind, body and spirit!

Play on! ~ Bethe

Blogger Bio: Bethe Almeras, MS, is the HSBS Education & Outreach Director. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

Top:  photo credit: timsackton

This is becoming a bit of a tradition here at HSBS!

On the 12th Day of Christmas, Head Start Body Start gave to Me…

12 beach balls bouncing

11 toddlers clapping

10 kids a leaping

9 infants crawling

8 children laughing

7 swings a swinging

6 trees to climb

5 hula hoops

4 push toys

3 container gardens

2 sand pits

and a naturalized playground!

No matter what holiday you celebrate, we hope that it is filled with play and laughter.

Season’s Greetings from the staff at Head Start Body Start!

Bethe Almeras, MS, is the HSBS Education & Outreach Director. A long time educator and play advocate, she is passionate about outdoor play and connecting children with nature. In her free time Bethe writes a blog, The Grass Stain Guru, and can often be found playing outside. She is particularly fond of squirrels. And turtles. And sandpipers. And…

photo credit: tsakshaug