Be Physically Active: Keep your family fit by encouraging them to be physically active.
Physical activity is crucial to healthy development, but also comes with a variety of safety concerns. Preschoolers are learning about their own coordination and abilities as they play. As young children develop new skills and try new things, they need supervision to prevent injury. Here are some important safety tips for your active child:
- When riding tricycles or bicycles, children should always wear a helmet
- Encourage your child to take short breaks to drink water
- Talk to your child about street safety
Always supervise your child when playing with, in, or near water Active play can happen indoors as well as outdoors. Play music and dance with your child, create a scavenger hunt, or play follow the leader to encourage movement. Help your child practice balancing skills by standing on one foot or pretending to be statues.
*The Nemours Foundation. (2012). KidsHealth: Raising a Fit Preschooler. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/fit_preschooler.html
Family Fun Activity: Obstacle Course
Use this easy activity to help your child learn.
What You Need:
- Your choice of a variety of household items, such as:
- Broomstick
- Pillows
- Hula hoop
- Ball
- Jump rope
What To Do:
- Create an obstacle course with your child
- Set up obstacles to move over, under, or around
- Challenge your family to move in different ways throughout the course. For example:
- Run to the first pillow
- Jump into the hula hoop
- Duck under the broomstick
- Ride a bike or tricycle between objects (like cones)
- Jump rope 5 times
- Kick or throw a ball
This is publication 21 out of 24 in the Eat Healthy, Be Active: Keeping Children Healthy at Home and School series. For more information visit www.eathealthybeactive.net
